WEBVTT

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Well , it's great to see everyone back

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again today . Uh , I hope you enjoyed

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the dinner last night and the memorial

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tour , um , and I hope it was a really

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memorable experience for everyone .

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Just a couple administrative notes

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before we get started , if you could

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please silence your phones . I also

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want to remind everybody that there is

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a survey form in your folder , but we

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also have it available online . And we

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really would appreciate any , uh ,

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feedback that you have , um , whether

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it's about the hotel , whether it's

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about the buses , um , whatever you

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would like , uh , but I would

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especially appreciate feedback on the

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program and what you would like to see

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next year . Uh , we created this

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program , um , it's for the families ,

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it's not DPAA's program , it's your

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program , so please let us know what

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you'd like to see . Once again , lunch

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is going to be available in the uh

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restaurant here in the hotel if you

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would like to partake in that and

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there's also some restaurants uh I hope

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within walking distance of the hotel we

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have just over an hour if we stay on

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schedule today for lunch . Um , before

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we get started with our formal program ,

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I wanted to introduce and ask , uh ,

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Pam Kane to come up . Uh , Pam is

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instrumental in the establishment of

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the National POW MIA Memorial Museum ,

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and I just . Just want to give her an

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opportunity to talk to you a little bit

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about that , Pam .

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Good morning and to all who might be

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live live streaming this morning , um ,

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and thank you to Jennifer Anne Kelly

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for giving me a chance to speak with

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you about the National POW MIA Memorial

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and Museum . This museum on

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26 acres that was part of Cecil Field

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down in Jacksonville , Florida is in

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progress . It is slow going only

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because we depend on only donations and

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grants and gifts , but I'm here to ask

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how many in this room have actually

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heard about this memorial museum ?

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How many ? OK . Um , what I'm trying to

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do is get the word out to so many

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others . I do serve on the board of the

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nonprofit and for the last 3 or 4 years

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have been kind of giving my blood ,

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sweat , and tears to getting this off

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the ground . It is based on a

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very small memorial that was dedicated

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um in 1973 by some of the wives

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who had . Their husbands fly out of

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Cecil and either be taken prisoner , uh ,

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go missing , or , um , be , um , killed

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during the Vietnam War and it fell into

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disrepair . The chapel nearby fell into

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disrepair and when it was rediscovered

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after the base was decommissioned . The

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nonprofit realized that hey we need a

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real comprehensive complex , uh , a

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real memorial and museum to our POWs

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and MIAs we need to focus on the

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families and our journeys and just for

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those of you who don't know me , my dad

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is still . it's been 59 years since he

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was shot down over Laos , uh , flying

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an A1E , so go Air Force , um , but ,

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uh , near and dear to me , um , we do

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have as part of our temporary museum ,

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a DPAA room . And uh they are

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providing support to us and we have

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made it part of our mission to also

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support DPAA follow what DPAA is

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doing and keep up with the accounting

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effort . Um , but back to the Memorial

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Museum real quickly , that vision for

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just refurbishing the small memorial

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grew to encompass , as I say , the

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whole POW MIA effort .

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All wars and we wanna tell the stories

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you hear often tell you know say their

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names tell their stories that's what we

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wanna do and I just wanted to have this

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couple of minutes we do have brochures

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out on the DPAA table . Um , as part of

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phase one , which is almost done , we

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have an aircraft on display , we have a

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memorial brick plaza , and I encourage

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you not just for MIAs and

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POWs or families , anyone who has

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served their country in any .

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Particular way civilian or military can

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purchase a brick uh that is going

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to be a memorial they're in the ground

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we have about 400 to 500 bricks um

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already installed . I walked through

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there and . It's not quite like being

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at Arlington or even the punch bowl ,

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but it really does when I see the names

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and I can , I can picture some of the

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families associated with those names .

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I don't know . I just get , I don't

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know if it's comfort , but I just get a

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sense of family , um , so we're trying

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to make this a reality . I wanna make

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sure you know about it . We do have a

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bill in Congress to . Um , have

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Congress authorize the use of the word

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national . We are not saying we're the

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only national . There is a national

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prisoner of war museum at Andersonville

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in Georgia . We are not competing with

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them . Uh , we wanna be partners with

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them . We're just ideally located on

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I-10 . And it's a great place for 26

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acres , a lot of , uh , it's gonna be a

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place for research , uh , place to

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bring in new generations and educate

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them about the wars and the , the kind

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of the horror of war and the scars of

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war . Uh , we'd love to tell your story .

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I will be around . I would love to talk

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to you . About the legislation we don't

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have to have that national designation

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from Congress , but we wanna do do it

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the right way and get it and we need

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people from all over the country to

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congre um contact your congressional

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delegations uh you can do it on email

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or online and . And urge the

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the to co-sponsor that legislation it's

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bipartisan there's no money involved .

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It's just really just for the name

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itself .

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Can can you hold your question , Ned

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till later ? OK , yeah , they wanna

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start the formal program and I promised

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I wouldn't take long . So anyway , I am

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around . Ask me questions . I have my

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business cards if you'd like one and um

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hope to see you in Jacksonville .

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Also , um , if you are interested ,

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there's a few of Pam's brochures back

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in the , um , foyer area on the DPMO or

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DPAA table , so please feel free to

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talk to her later today . All right ,

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uh , the next thing on our program ,

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first thing of the morning is we're

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gonna begin with some very special

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guests . Um , we get incredible support

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as Mr . McKegg mentioned yesterday from

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our veterans community . And today

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we're gonna hear from three of them .

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Uh , their bios are in your program ,

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so I don't want to read through those ,

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uh , but Mr . Gene Murphy serves as a

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treasurer for the disabled American

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Veterans . Mr . Brian Walker is the VFW

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adjutant general , and Mr . Grant Coats

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is the POW MIA committee chair for the

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Vietnam Veterans of America . So

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gentlemen , if you are ready , please

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come up .

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Yeah .

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I think we've given them assigned

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orders and speaking so I just let them

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begin .

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Uh thank you very much , uh , ladies

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and gentlemen , again , I'm Gene Murphy .

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I was a sergeant in Vietnam . I was

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there in '68 , 69 . Um , I come from

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a family of , uh , actually I have uh

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four brothers and uh four of us are ,

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uh , the four oldest are all Vietnam

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vets , um and uh three of us actually

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served in Vietnam . I come from a

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little village in South Dakota of about

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400 people and uh actually about 34

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uh young men went to Vietnam and of

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course with uh with with our I guess

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our God he sent us all back home , you

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know , and I'd encourage , you know ,

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you younger , I mean I guess you

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Vietnam vets that are out there , you

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know , they just passed the PAC Act .

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And if you , you know , if you haven't

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talked to a service officer I would

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encourage you to , you know , to , to ,

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you know , to do that and I guess I

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look back at , you know , my service

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and freedom isn't free . I look at what

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the veterans did , but you know I guess

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you know this is my first uh time that

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I've come to a conference like this and

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I look at the families of our missing

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in action and you know uh I guess I'm

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I'm thinking the sacrifices that you've

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done . You know , when I look at this ,

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it's over , it's been over 50 years .

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We just celebrated , you know , the

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50th anniversary of the Vietnam War and

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I look at that and , and what you as a

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family went through , God bless all of

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you . uh I , I guess , uh , and I

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remember in the 70s and 80s , I mean ,

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I would tell my senators and my rep ,

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you know , if it was my brother that

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was still missing . I said you would

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probably get a call from me every

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morning asking you what the hell have

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you done to return my brother to to our

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family uh I I guess I think of that and

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uh I guess I get a little emotional

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because I'm thinking boy you you folks

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have given . You know , if given to

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America , um . You know , I look uh

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You know , and I've been very fortunate .

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I , I was shot up in Vietnam . I've got

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a spinal cord injury from 3 gunshot

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wounds . I was roughly 40 days from

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coming home or we used to say back to

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the world , um . I got a buddy that

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lives only about 50 miles from me . He

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actually carried me out uh after

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afternoon . I was shot up , um ,

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carried me about 400 m , then we , we

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got pinned down for 14 hours . He

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actually dug a hole for me because we

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thought we'd get overrun that night ,

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um , you know , so I always think that

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Sergeant Bowes and , and I guess my

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good Lord Jesus Christ saved Sergeant

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Murphy's tail , um . But then I look at

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all the work we've gotta do . I mean ,

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I've worked with the DAV for 50 years

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and I , I still , still go in daily and

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I've been from a lobbyist forum to

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raising money to , uh , well I guess

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you can name it anything we've done it ,

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uh , I guess I always feel I'm a , a

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jack of all trades and a master of none ,

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uh , but again we've got so much more

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work to do . I look at the younger vets

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coming home from Iraq , Afghanistan .

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That we've got a lot of work for them

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with the burn pits , uh , sometimes I

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don't think the government is is

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treating our veterans right . I know at

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times they tell me that Murph , we

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can't introduce that bill because it's

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gonna cost us too much money and I

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always think of they never told

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Sergeant Murphy when they sent me to

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Vietnam that you're gonna cost too much

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money because you're gonna use too many

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bullets . You know , and , and so I get

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upset at times and um I know my

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senators from South Dakota and my rep ,

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they know me personally because they

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get calls and sometimes they don't even

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want to take my calls , but , uh , uh ,

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you know , when I look at the DAV , you

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know , we've got many programs uh we

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started the transportation program in

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1984 in Sioux Falls , South Dakota ,

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1987 and went throughout the nation to

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give a free ride . To any veteran that

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has appointment at the VA , you know ,

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we have a network of national service

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officers that you can use . We got

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about 280 of them throughout , uh , the

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USA , you know , and they will help you

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file for benefits , um , you know , we

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got the Women's veterans program and ,

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um , emergency relief I guess I could

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go on and on , um , but I , but I

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always look at that and I look back and ,

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and , uh . I look at the future . Where

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is the future ? Where's the future for

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returning our , I guess I call my

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brothers , you know , and I , I handed ,

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uh , some of , some of them are the

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helicopter , you know , the pilots ,

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the door gunners , and we ran 4 man

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lurps in Vietnam , which is like recon ,

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and , uh , and sometimes they'd come in

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and get us out , which they probably

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never should have , uh , I mean , and

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uh it seems like they had no fear . You

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know that they would make sure that

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they were gonna get that 4 man lerp

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team out and uh and God bless them

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because they did many times um .

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I just , I mean I guess I could go on

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and on , but I mean I , I look at , you

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know , I look at the families again and ,

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and . And uh it would be hard for me if

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uh um the two other brothers that

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served in Vietnam , my oldest brother

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and myself , Bob , we served the same

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year , uh , I actually got to see him

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uh after I was wounded , um , and he

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actually tried to come home with me . I

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spent about 18 days in the back

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hospital . They couldn't stabilize me

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at all . And then they ended up

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shipping me to Yokohama , Japan with

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actually a doctor escorted me and . It

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was funny because his name was Major

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Murphy and they'd read my tag and it

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said Sergeant Murphy and they'd say ,

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oh this is your dad and I said , uh ,

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he just doesn't seems like a real nice

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fella and , uh , but I spent about 14

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months in 4 different hospitals had

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about 5 surgeries , um , my weight

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dropped , weighed about 165 when I went

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to Vietnam . Uh , when I was wounded

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roughly 11 months later , I went down

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to about 135 and 2 months after being

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wounded , they shipped me to

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Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver and

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I actually only weighed in at 83 pounds ,

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um , full of infection . Uh , they told

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my older brother in Vietnam that I had

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a 50/50 chance . That's why I guess I

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always say Sergeant Bo and and , and

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God saved Sergeant Murphy's tail , um .

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You know , I look at my time in the

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hospital and there was always somebody

15:55.349 --> 15:57.405
worse off than Sergeant Murphy . I ,

15:57.405 --> 15:59.516
and I can tell you I had like I had 3

15:59.516 --> 16:01.789
buddies that were triple amps . I had

16:01.789 --> 16:03.869
another buddy , uh , uh , Charlie

16:03.869 --> 16:06.909
Fratford , quad quadriplegic . I mean

16:06.909 --> 16:08.798
paralyzed but the neck and down ,

16:09.070 --> 16:11.690
couldn't even move his fingers . And I

16:11.690 --> 16:13.857
remember the day they announced uh you

16:13.857 --> 16:16.609
guys are gonna get 2 beers a day at

16:16.609 --> 16:18.890
night and it was funny because Charlie

16:18.890 --> 16:21.112
said Murph , how am I gonna drink the 2

16:21.112 --> 16:23.057
beers ? And I said , don't worry ,

16:23.057 --> 16:25.279
Charlie , I got a couple guys that will

16:25.279 --> 16:27.409
drink them beers for you . And I said

16:27.409 --> 16:29.298
we're gonna have to adapt Charlie

16:29.298 --> 16:31.409
because we're gonna have to look , so

16:31.409 --> 16:33.631
we built him a table for his wheelchair

16:33.631 --> 16:35.742
and uh you know again the first night

16:35.742 --> 16:38.076
we put that beer there and Charlie said ,

16:38.076 --> 16:40.298
Well , I still can't drink it . I can't

16:40.298 --> 16:40.210
pick it up , you know . I said , Well ,

16:40.250 --> 16:42.417
you gotta give us time , Charlie . And

16:42.417 --> 16:44.583
so I got a long straw , put that straw

16:44.583 --> 16:46.472
in there and said then drink up ,

16:46.472 --> 16:48.694
Charlie . And about two nights later he

16:48.694 --> 16:50.583
said , Merk , you light me up the

16:50.583 --> 16:52.750
cigarette . I said , Charlie , I don't

16:52.750 --> 16:54.694
smoke . He said , I don't give a .

16:54.694 --> 16:56.820
Light the cigarette . Yeah , so of

16:56.820 --> 16:59.042
course we lit the cigarette and I , I'm

16:59.042 --> 17:01.264
holding it , putting it up to his mouth

17:01.264 --> 17:03.264
and stuff . I said , boy , we gotta

17:03.264 --> 17:05.264
adapt again , Charlie , because you

17:05.264 --> 17:07.320
know I don't like to do this . So we

17:07.320 --> 17:09.264
ended up mowing the ashtray on his

17:09.264 --> 17:11.487
wheelchair and I went and told the head

17:11.487 --> 17:13.650
nurse I need about probably about 18

17:13.650 --> 17:15.761
inches of tubing . Well , what do you

17:15.761 --> 17:17.983
need that for ? And I said , never mind

17:17.983 --> 17:20.094
what I need it for . Just give me the

17:20.094 --> 17:21.872
tubing . And of course put that

17:21.872 --> 17:24.094
cigarette lit that cigarette and put it

17:24.094 --> 17:25.817
in the tube and then put it in

17:25.817 --> 17:25.680
Charlie's mouth . I said , Charlie ,

17:25.719 --> 17:27.920
let me know when when I need to remove

17:27.920 --> 17:31.079
the tube , but you know , so but I'm

17:31.079 --> 17:33.670
gonna try to wrap it up here again ,

17:34.199 --> 17:36.310
you know , if the DAB can do , I mean

17:36.310 --> 17:38.959
we , we wanna be partners , you know ,

17:39.160 --> 17:41.438
because I , I look at this and it's 50 ,

17:41.438 --> 17:43.400
I mean it's too long ladies and

17:43.400 --> 17:45.660
gentlemen . You know , I , I look at

17:45.660 --> 17:47.882
that and , and , and , you know , and ,

17:47.882 --> 17:49.993
and we've got , we've gotta make sure

17:49.993 --> 17:52.790
that uh DPAA has an adequate budget .

17:53.459 --> 17:55.459
You know that we can go and get our

17:55.459 --> 17:57.959
brothers and sisters and return them

17:58.449 --> 18:00.671
you know and and that's where we've got

18:00.671 --> 18:02.671
to fight for we've got to be more I

18:02.671 --> 18:04.910
guess more vocal , more aggressive .

18:05.630 --> 18:07.880
You know , and , and , uh , you know ,

18:08.000 --> 18:10.630
and , and we even had there was another ,

18:11.040 --> 18:14.040
uh , about probably 35-40 years ago we

18:14.040 --> 18:16.400
passed a resolution because we didn't

18:16.400 --> 18:18.567
think the VA was treating the veterans

18:18.567 --> 18:20.920
properly and we passed a resolution

18:20.920 --> 18:23.087
that we would put the president , vice

18:23.087 --> 18:25.160
president , and Congress exclusive

18:25.160 --> 18:27.439
under the VA health care system , you

18:27.439 --> 18:29.272
know , so what's good enough for

18:29.272 --> 18:31.328
Sergeant Murphy , My God , it's good

18:31.328 --> 18:33.328
enough for the president , the vice

18:33.328 --> 18:35.383
president , my senators and my rep .

18:35.383 --> 18:37.161
And of course when we sent that

18:37.161 --> 18:39.328
resolution and we had passed it at our

18:39.328 --> 18:41.495
our state convention we sent it to the

18:41.495 --> 18:43.550
national convention and right away I

18:43.550 --> 18:45.661
get a phone call from our legislative

18:45.661 --> 18:47.989
director Joe Balanti , uh , Marine

18:47.989 --> 18:51.349
Corps lawyer Vietnam vet , and he said

18:51.349 --> 18:53.571
right away because he , I think we sent

18:53.571 --> 18:56.709
in like 52 resolutions that year and he

18:56.709 --> 18:59.849
said right right away he said . Murph ,

19:00.040 --> 19:02.207
what the hell are you doing ? I said ,

19:02.207 --> 19:04.373
you're calling me on resolution number

19:04.373 --> 19:07.439
37 . How did you know ? And it was

19:07.439 --> 19:09.550
funny and , and I said , I think this

19:09.550 --> 19:11.772
is super and because he thought we were

19:11.772 --> 19:13.995
a little crazy , and I said , no , this

19:13.995 --> 19:16.217
is just putting , putting them on and 2

19:16.217 --> 19:18.328
years ago somebody finally introduced

19:18.328 --> 19:20.272
it . You know , so we're gonna see

19:20.272 --> 19:22.328
where that goes because I just think

19:22.328 --> 19:24.606
it's super that , uh , that they would ,

19:24.606 --> 19:26.661
they would , they would have to , we

19:26.661 --> 19:28.606
would get a uh I guess an adequate

19:28.606 --> 19:30.772
budget or a better budget , and then I

19:30.772 --> 19:32.883
even tell my senators and my rep from

19:32.883 --> 19:34.883
South Dakota that they'd be picking

19:34.883 --> 19:37.459
Sergeant Murphy up in a limo for my

19:37.459 --> 19:40.500
appointments . Yeah , but again ,

19:40.579 --> 19:42.801
ladies and gentlemen , it's just a real

19:42.801 --> 19:45.180
pleasure to be here with you and and to

19:45.180 --> 19:47.689
the MIA families . God bless you .

19:47.819 --> 19:48.819
Thank you .

19:58.540 --> 20:00.873
Hey everybody , my name is Brian Walker .

20:00.873 --> 20:02.984
Um , first , welcome home , brother .

20:02.984 --> 20:05.096
So all our Vietnam veterans , welcome

20:05.096 --> 20:08.150
home . Um , I'm a post 9/11 guy , uh ,

20:08.520 --> 20:12.270
raised by , by you guys . Um , I got to

20:12.270 --> 20:15.079
take my first trip , DPAA trip , um ,

20:15.880 --> 20:19.030
back in March to Thailand and Vietnam .

20:19.920 --> 20:23.920
Uh , I've experienced

20:23.920 --> 20:26.400
a lot of things in my life . I've

20:26.400 --> 20:29.973
witnessed , um . things that no one

20:29.973 --> 20:32.613
should ever witness . But to build a

20:32.613 --> 20:36.572
stand on a site where you

20:36.572 --> 20:40.422
know a fellow comrade

20:40.692 --> 20:42.025
that you've never met ,

20:44.733 --> 20:47.932
that there's service members , today's

20:47.932 --> 20:50.099
current service members , sometimes we

20:50.099 --> 20:52.210
met a first time enlistee out there .

20:53.806 --> 20:57.306
Dedicated and finding the remains of

20:57.306 --> 20:59.296
that missing service member .

21:02.365 --> 21:04.465
It's something I , it's hard to put

21:04.465 --> 21:08.225
into words . Um , in fact , I

21:08.225 --> 21:11.306
have a new appreciation . I've always

21:11.306 --> 21:13.536
had an appreciation for the Vietnam

21:13.536 --> 21:15.985
generation , um , football coaches ,

21:16.066 --> 21:19.910
baseball coaches , teachers . Um ,

21:20.599 --> 21:22.766
but after being over there and walking

21:22.920 --> 21:25.760
through the jungle , um , I was in the

21:25.760 --> 21:28.599
Air Force . So as soon as they told me

21:28.599 --> 21:31.079
there was leeches , my socks were up to

21:31.079 --> 21:34.310
my knees over my pants , um .

21:36.459 --> 21:38.459
That was the that was the tough one

21:38.459 --> 21:40.681
there , the leeches . I had a hard time

21:40.681 --> 21:44.660
with that one . and then

21:44.660 --> 21:47.319
going over to Thailand . And hiking an

21:47.319 --> 21:50.760
hour up a mountain , steep

21:50.760 --> 21:53.800
terrain , and to know

21:53.800 --> 21:56.640
that there are volunteers , they're

21:56.640 --> 22:00.349
they're doing this every single day ,

22:01.079 --> 22:02.189
making this hike .

22:06.520 --> 22:08.583
It's something that . I believe

22:08.583 --> 22:11.052
personally in my heart that's

22:11.052 --> 22:13.243
connecting today's current generation

22:14.572 --> 22:16.083
with the past generation .

22:19.052 --> 22:20.885
And if it wasn't for the Vietnam

22:20.885 --> 22:24.652
generation , you talked about burn pits

22:24.652 --> 22:28.505
and . We've

22:28.505 --> 22:31.865
learned so much from y'all , and we

22:31.865 --> 22:33.921
continue to fight because of y'all ,

22:34.946 --> 22:36.255
and we will not stop .

22:41.385 --> 22:43.329
As you guys can tell , this is the

22:43.329 --> 22:45.607
first time I've done one of these . So ,

22:45.607 --> 22:47.829
um , I actually had like a whole speech

22:47.829 --> 22:49.941
prepared because I wasn't sure what I

22:49.941 --> 22:52.052
was gonna do . But I do have a couple

22:52.052 --> 22:54.218
of things that I do want to touch on ,

22:54.218 --> 22:56.163
um , and this is my promise and my

22:56.163 --> 22:58.569
position with the VFW . Um , and , and

22:58.569 --> 23:00.513
talking with our leadership that's

23:00.513 --> 23:02.736
coming through the chairs is that the ,

23:02.736 --> 23:06.619
the , the VFW will not rest until we

23:06.619 --> 23:08.841
achieve the fullest possible accounting

23:08.841 --> 23:11.410
for every missing American , and I can

23:11.410 --> 23:13.810
tell you that statement runs deep in me

23:13.810 --> 23:17.300
now . It's something that

23:17.689 --> 23:19.810
I do think about at night and I think

23:19.810 --> 23:21.866
about in the morning . I think about

23:21.866 --> 23:25.050
y'all and the build to walk around this

23:25.050 --> 23:27.780
hotel . Last night and this morning and

23:28.010 --> 23:30.849
and look in some of your eyes , it

23:30.849 --> 23:34.250
burns even deeper . I can tell you that

23:34.250 --> 23:36.194
I got to accompany our junior vice

23:36.194 --> 23:38.139
commander in chief Tim Peters over

23:38.139 --> 23:40.609
there , and this is Tim's core mission

23:40.609 --> 23:42.665
when he becomes commander in chief .

23:45.369 --> 23:47.425
I was just talking with the director

23:47.425 --> 23:49.536
earlier , and when we started putting

23:49.536 --> 23:51.536
this on our social media , I had so

23:51.536 --> 23:52.800
many post 9/11 guys .

23:59.400 --> 24:02.890
This one works I thought that was a

24:02.890 --> 24:04.779
fire alarm . I was like someone's

24:04.779 --> 24:06.223
looking out for me . Um ,

24:09.530 --> 24:11.586
but the amount of post 9/11 veterans

24:11.586 --> 24:13.641
that stepped up and said , I want to

24:13.641 --> 24:15.910
volunteer , I want to go . And when the

24:15.910 --> 24:18.188
director and I were talking , you know ,

24:18.188 --> 24:20.299
I , he brought up that this is a form

24:20.299 --> 24:22.243
of PTSD treatment , and I truly do

24:22.243 --> 24:26.104
believe that to be able . To

24:26.505 --> 24:29.055
take our own internal wounds

24:30.344 --> 24:34.025
and heal y'all . It's something

24:34.025 --> 24:36.704
special . It's something

24:36.704 --> 24:38.655
that

24:42.425 --> 24:44.592
I could honestly say when I , if I get

24:44.592 --> 24:46.536
to reach the pearly gates . That I

24:46.536 --> 24:48.425
could say would be one of the top

24:48.425 --> 24:50.481
things on my list that I did on this

24:50.481 --> 24:53.310
worth . And this mission , I mean ,

24:53.349 --> 24:55.460
obviously marrying my beautiful bride

24:55.460 --> 24:57.989
is number one on my list . My kids ,

24:58.310 --> 25:00.643
they float up there somewhere sometimes ,

25:01.589 --> 25:03.478
but this is definitely up there .

25:04.109 --> 25:07.430
um , anyway .

25:08.050 --> 25:09.772
We will continue advocating in

25:09.772 --> 25:12.790
Washington in foreign capitals and on

25:12.790 --> 25:15.012
the ground of recovery sites around the

25:15.012 --> 25:17.068
world . We will leverage our voice ,

25:17.270 --> 25:19.437
our relationships , and our unwavering

25:19.437 --> 25:22.189
determination to ensure this mission

25:22.189 --> 25:26.030
never loses momentum . I'm 46

25:26.030 --> 25:29.560
years old . God willing . I get to see

25:29.560 --> 25:33.469
47 , but as long as I'm

25:33.469 --> 25:35.790
in this position and working for the

25:35.790 --> 25:38.270
veterans of Foreign Wars , this will

25:38.270 --> 25:42.189
remain a top priority for me . So

25:42.189 --> 25:44.522
hopefully I can give you guys a good 25 ,

25:44.522 --> 25:47.550
30 years because my generation is not

25:47.550 --> 25:48.939
going to get to retire .

25:55.099 --> 25:58.800
There it is . I did , didn't I ?

26:03.439 --> 26:07.280
But thank you all , and we

26:07.280 --> 26:11.239
will not stop until we bring all of our

26:11.239 --> 26:13.680
missing service members home . Thank

26:13.680 --> 26:14.030
you .

26:33.079 --> 26:34.079
I'm ignoring it .

26:41.729 --> 26:44.530
Well , I'm Grant Coats with Vietnam

26:44.530 --> 26:48.250
Veterans of America , and for most of

26:48.250 --> 26:50.650
you it's the first time that I've seen

26:50.650 --> 26:52.872
you or had the opportunity to talk with

26:52.872 --> 26:56.189
you . For those of you that know me ,

26:56.599 --> 26:58.766
you know that when we get on the topic

26:58.766 --> 27:01.920
of the missing , I don't , I don't stop

27:01.920 --> 27:05.270
talking . Most of what I say is true ,

27:05.380 --> 27:08.439
some of it is my opinion , but the fact

27:08.439 --> 27:10.439
remains that they are missing and

27:10.439 --> 27:13.449
they're not home . So because I do talk

27:13.449 --> 27:15.449
a lot , I wrote notes if I can read

27:15.449 --> 27:18.369
them , uh , it might help us keep on

27:18.369 --> 27:22.359
schedule , Jennifer , wherever you are .

27:23.930 --> 27:27.489
Vietnam Veterans of America is , we'll

27:27.489 --> 27:30.160
say an exclusive veteran service

27:30.160 --> 27:33.300
organization . To be a member , a

27:33.300 --> 27:35.979
veteran has to have served during the

27:35.979 --> 27:39.699
Vietnam War period that

27:39.699 --> 27:41.699
restricts our membership . We're in

27:41.699 --> 27:44.859
92,000 now , but we're getting more

27:44.859 --> 27:47.699
members all of the time . We're also

27:47.699 --> 27:51.020
losing members , so that means for

27:51.020 --> 27:53.420
every member that has passed , there

27:53.420 --> 27:56.020
has to be two members that join in

27:56.020 --> 27:58.530
order for our numbers to go up . But

27:58.530 --> 28:02.130
since the uh origin of our veteran

28:02.130 --> 28:04.770
service organization , our number one

28:04.770 --> 28:07.439
priority and our

28:08.130 --> 28:11.079
first point in our legislative agenda .

28:11.430 --> 28:13.699
Is the fullest possible accounting of

28:13.699 --> 28:17.420
the missing . VVA is diehard on

28:17.420 --> 28:20.290
that topic . We have an obligation to

28:20.290 --> 28:23.930
the Gold Star families to

28:24.140 --> 28:28.060
not stop our mission . We don't have

28:28.060 --> 28:31.380
a lot of money . We don't have a lot of .

28:31.484 --> 28:35.035
Of expertise we have heart and through

28:35.035 --> 28:38.625
the experience of going over to Vietnam

28:39.555 --> 28:42.035
we've learned some of the culture we

28:42.035 --> 28:45.964
try to increase the

28:46.594 --> 28:49.074
operation relationships with the

28:49.074 --> 28:50.104
Vietnamese .

28:52.560 --> 28:55.469
DVA's longtime top priority , as I said

28:55.469 --> 28:59.079
is remains a demand for

28:59.079 --> 29:00.912
continued funding and logistical

29:00.912 --> 29:03.079
support of DPAA to provide the fullest

29:03.079 --> 29:05.079
possible accounting and recovery of

29:05.079 --> 29:07.135
service members and civilians of the

29:07.135 --> 29:10.930
Vietnam War and of all other conflicts .

29:11.479 --> 29:14.800
I had the privilege when DPO

29:14.800 --> 29:18.680
DPMO changed over to DPAA . And at that

29:18.680 --> 29:21.869
time the director was on the upper

29:21.869 --> 29:25.849
echelon of the founding board ,

29:25.939 --> 29:28.979
I guess we call our titles so our

29:28.979 --> 29:31.140
friendship has gone back quite a few

29:31.140 --> 29:34.979
years and VVA supported , uh , his

29:34.979 --> 29:36.979
nomination and acceptance to the

29:36.979 --> 29:40.680
position of director . But back then

29:41.569 --> 29:45.010
we tried to explain what VBA's position

29:45.010 --> 29:47.729
was and the support that we wanted to

29:47.729 --> 29:49.959
give whatever way that we could .

29:51.969 --> 29:54.660
In 1993 , a congressional delegation

29:54.660 --> 29:56.930
with VSOs a company that went to

29:56.930 --> 30:00.119
Vietnam . And

30:00.959 --> 30:03.319
a Vietnamese general had made the

30:03.319 --> 30:05.329
statement , you want us to help you

30:05.329 --> 30:07.496
find yours , but who's helping us find

30:07.496 --> 30:11.280
ours ? And that question came back

30:11.280 --> 30:15.069
to VVA and

30:16.479 --> 30:18.959
a motion was made to create .

30:20.300 --> 30:22.133
at that time was called Veterans

30:22.133 --> 30:25.739
Initiative Task Force , and this was

30:25.739 --> 30:29.619
going to be an American veteran to

30:29.619 --> 30:33.140
Vietnamese veteran exchange of

30:33.140 --> 30:36.650
information and partnership to . Try to

30:37.560 --> 30:40.000
what our intent was we have information

30:40.000 --> 30:42.699
of where your war dead are we will

30:42.699 --> 30:44.866
reach out to our veterans and get that

30:44.866 --> 30:47.032
information and give it to you so that

30:47.032 --> 30:49.032
you can recover your dead . Are you

30:49.032 --> 30:52.780
going to do the same for us ? The

30:52.780 --> 30:54.669
information came back and we have

30:54.669 --> 30:56.669
talked to some Vietnamese that have

30:56.669 --> 31:00.579
assisted in identifying

31:00.579 --> 31:02.890
and locating and giving the information

31:03.180 --> 31:06.859
to . Debt to and there have

31:06.859 --> 31:09.300
been successful recoveries based on

31:09.300 --> 31:13.099
that relationship . One of the cases

31:13.099 --> 31:15.780
was a marine pilot by the name of

31:15.780 --> 31:19.739
Sherman , so we found that

31:19.739 --> 31:22.500
this veterans initiative task force was

31:22.500 --> 31:24.722
successful . So we've been running this

31:24.722 --> 31:27.300
program for over 30 years . We've had

31:27.300 --> 31:29.770
over 30 missions that we have gone back

31:29.770 --> 31:33.290
to Vietnam . And given the Vietnamese

31:33.290 --> 31:36.140
information based on our veteran

31:36.900 --> 31:40.660
recall to the possible

31:40.660 --> 31:43.739
location of about 12,000 Vietnamese war

31:43.739 --> 31:47.459
dead , we've been told by the

31:47.459 --> 31:51.459
military in 23 that they

31:51.459 --> 31:54.300
have recovered over 1500 based on the

31:54.300 --> 31:56.560
information that was given . So we know

31:56.560 --> 31:59.550
that that is successful . We are hoping

31:59.550 --> 32:01.719
that the Veterans Association of

32:01.719 --> 32:04.719
Vietnam through our act of giving them

32:04.719 --> 32:07.560
the information will reach out to their

32:07.560 --> 32:10.989
veteran community and try to obtain

32:10.989 --> 32:14.609
information that can help DPAA

32:14.609 --> 32:17.550
locate , recover and return are missing .

32:22.119 --> 32:24.119
Jeez , I'm doing pretty good here .

32:25.000 --> 32:27.469
Thank you . You wanna keep it ? OK .

32:29.880 --> 32:32.349
Reflecting over 50 years since

32:34.920 --> 32:37.800
many of the losses , we understand that

32:37.800 --> 32:41.479
we as VBA cannot forget . We use all of

32:41.479 --> 32:44.869
our media platforms giving information

32:45.479 --> 32:48.479
on the missing . Every identification

32:48.479 --> 32:50.701
and announcement is published and we're

32:50.701 --> 32:52.959
hoping that those 92,000 members will

32:52.959 --> 32:55.070
tell somebody else will tell somebody

32:55.070 --> 32:57.237
else . We want to educate the veterans

32:57.237 --> 32:59.459
and it doesn't matter what organization

32:59.459 --> 33:01.630
on the missing . We want them to be

33:01.630 --> 33:03.741
intelligent enough to be able to talk

33:03.741 --> 33:05.797
to somebody that walks up and says ,

33:05.797 --> 33:08.074
what is that emblem ? What is that POW ?

33:08.074 --> 33:10.241
What is that black flag ? What does it

33:10.241 --> 33:12.130
mean ? What are you doing ? We're

33:12.130 --> 33:14.074
hoping that we can spread the word

33:14.074 --> 33:16.186
through the veteran community so that

33:16.186 --> 33:18.019
they can be the educators of the

33:18.019 --> 33:19.963
general public . We don't want the

33:19.963 --> 33:22.074
issue to go from page one to the back

33:22.074 --> 33:24.297
page . There are no newspapers that you

33:24.297 --> 33:27.209
can hold anymore , so the priority on

33:27.209 --> 33:29.689
the media platforms when it's on the .

33:29.880 --> 33:32.609
Computer , even if they did a story ,

33:32.650 --> 33:34.761
we don't know if it's gonna be at the

33:34.761 --> 33:38.689
top , so we're counting on our veteran

33:38.689 --> 33:40.911
community to by word of mouth by street

33:40.911 --> 33:42.967
fairs , by lectures to be able to go

33:42.967 --> 33:44.849
into the schools and any other

33:44.849 --> 33:46.905
organization be able to continue the

33:46.905 --> 33:48.405
education on the missing .

33:51.449 --> 33:53.449
I was supposed to get a hand signal

33:53.449 --> 33:55.616
that the time is up and I don't how we

33:55.616 --> 33:59.150
doing ? Oh , fingers , OK .

33:59.849 --> 34:03.609
Uh , basically , uh , that , that's a

34:03.609 --> 34:06.040
quick wrap up . Uh , we're privileged

34:06.040 --> 34:08.909
to be here . It's , uh ,

34:11.040 --> 34:12.984
hopefully it would have been under

34:12.984 --> 34:15.207
different circumstances , but there's a

34:15.207 --> 34:16.762
common cause and we're very

34:16.762 --> 34:18.262
appreciative . Thank you .

34:27.360 --> 34:30.290
Distinguished family members . We

34:30.290 --> 34:32.770
talked yesterday about how this is the

34:32.770 --> 34:36.658
2nd constituency that we serve . You

34:36.658 --> 34:40.339
have 3 combat veterans here . The

34:40.339 --> 34:44.019
fact remains is that like you

34:44.019 --> 34:47.618
pine for your loved one , each of them

34:47.618 --> 34:50.458
have lost comrades in arms during

34:50.458 --> 34:54.059
combat that they

34:54.059 --> 34:56.115
established great friendships with ,

34:56.618 --> 34:59.208
that they loved , and more importantly ,

35:00.099 --> 35:02.128
were in the crucible of battle .

35:04.105 --> 35:06.585
To use the word champion would do all

35:06.585 --> 35:08.716
three and their organizations an

35:08.716 --> 35:12.476
injustice simply because they

35:13.305 --> 35:16.615
are your voice , they're our voice ,

35:17.266 --> 35:19.906
and they have loud , strong voices on

35:19.906 --> 35:23.746
Capitol Hill . It's not

35:23.746 --> 35:26.506
just talking the talk , they walk the

35:26.506 --> 35:30.266
walk and whether it's the DAV , the VFW .

35:30.362 --> 35:33.501
Or VVA , they just do absolutely

35:33.501 --> 35:36.552
incredible championing staunchly ,

35:36.592 --> 35:39.751
steadfastly , and doggedly for you ,

35:39.802 --> 35:41.802
your loved ones , and our mission .

35:42.001 --> 35:44.223
Gentlemen , on behalf of the families ,

35:44.223 --> 35:47.271
on behalf of DPAA , thank you . We ask

35:47.271 --> 35:49.160
for your continued support , your

35:49.160 --> 35:51.104
continued bird dogging , and again

35:51.104 --> 35:53.327
we're very grateful for the donations ,

35:53.327 --> 35:55.382
but more importantly for championing

35:55.382 --> 35:56.882
this mission , my friend .

36:00.800 --> 36:04.760
See , Thanks very much . Thank you .

36:09.679 --> 36:13.260
Yeah . You on

36:15.649 --> 36:17.427
behalf of the disabled American

36:17.427 --> 36:20.399
veterans , we'd like to give you , uh ,

36:20.459 --> 36:22.181
we had a professor down at the

36:22.181 --> 36:25.020
University of South Dakota . Uh , he

36:25.020 --> 36:27.379
was gonna interview like 6 Vietnam vets

36:27.379 --> 36:30.810
and get a book out quickly . And 9

36:30.810 --> 36:34.250
years later and interviewing 31 Vietnam

36:34.250 --> 36:37.229
vets , uh , we ended up , uh , we had

36:37.229 --> 36:39.689
to raise like $35,000 to put out the

36:39.689 --> 36:42.489
1st 1000 , but all the money was going

36:42.489 --> 36:44.959
back to the veterans organizations and ,

36:45.290 --> 36:47.401
uh , to date I think we've given back

36:47.401 --> 36:51.250
about $52,500 and this book is called

36:51.250 --> 36:53.540
again Vietnam Vets Still Coming Home

36:53.969 --> 36:56.330
and it's a , uh , it's available you

36:56.330 --> 36:59.840
can go online , uh , and now . Again ,

36:59.949 --> 37:03.229
it's a story of 31 , mainly South

37:03.229 --> 37:07.080
Dakota , Vietnam tell the story of

37:07.080 --> 37:09.870
Bud Day Medal of Honor , and so we'd

37:09.870 --> 37:12.037
like to present this to the director .

37:12.189 --> 37:15.909
Thank you , Gene . Yeah

37:18.580 --> 37:21.100
And , and I'd be remiss if I didn't

37:21.100 --> 37:23.409
introduce , we do have a Medal of Honor

37:23.409 --> 37:25.580
from South Dakota with us , and I'd

37:25.580 --> 37:27.691
like to have Michael Fitz Moore stand

37:27.691 --> 37:30.689
up and be recognized and Mike , thank

37:30.689 --> 37:31.090
you .

37:36.270 --> 37:38.469
And I have another , I have another

37:38.469 --> 37:40.540
South Dakota vet and he said , don't

37:40.540 --> 37:44.270
introduce me and , and , uh , we have

37:44.270 --> 37:47.270
a POW MIA interim committee on a

37:47.270 --> 37:49.510
national level . We have a million

37:49.510 --> 37:51.590
members for the DAB and we have 5

37:51.590 --> 37:54.000
members on that . And I'd like to

37:54.000 --> 37:56.167
introduce Marty Pinnock , who's on the

37:56.167 --> 37:58.479
committee the last 3 years and the last

37:58.479 --> 38:00.840
2 years he's actually been the chairman

38:00.840 --> 38:02.729
of the committee . We have like 5

38:02.729 --> 38:06.679
resolutions to do with the POW MIA . So

38:06.679 --> 38:08.879
again , Marty , be recognized . Don't

38:08.879 --> 38:10.159
stand ups , Colonel .

38:15.929 --> 38:17.762
Gene , we , we will display this

38:17.762 --> 38:19.929
prominently . I think it's appropriate

38:19.929 --> 38:22.151
more than appropriate that the subtitle

38:22.151 --> 38:24.530
of this , as it relates to you is still

38:24.530 --> 38:27.280
coming home . Thank you .

38:34.239 --> 38:35.239
OK .

38:38.959 --> 38:39.959
No .

38:45.739 --> 38:48.017
Yeah . Thank you very much , gentlemen .

38:50.800 --> 38:54.399
Um , DPM DPAA enjoys a strong

38:54.399 --> 38:56.177
partnership with many different

38:56.177 --> 38:58.600
organizations who have enhanced

38:58.600 --> 39:00.840
technologies to support our accounting

39:00.840 --> 39:03.040
efforts . Uh , one of those is the

39:03.040 --> 39:05.320
world renowned Scripps Institution of

39:05.320 --> 39:08.000
Oceanography , and today Doctor Drew

39:08.000 --> 39:10.774
Petrus . will provide a presentation on

39:10.774 --> 39:14.135
their capabilities and support to DPAA

39:14.135 --> 39:16.357
and the work in the Gulf of Tonkin . So

39:16.357 --> 39:16.834
Drew .

39:33.919 --> 39:36.030
Um , so today I'm gonna talk to you a

39:36.030 --> 39:38.300
little bit about the partnership that

39:38.300 --> 39:40.800
Scripps and DPA has . It's an ongoing

39:40.800 --> 39:44.300
partnership . Uh , we started in 2020 ,

39:45.159 --> 39:48.469
um , and as you can see , um , from our

39:48.469 --> 39:51.310
timeline , we've done 4 projects now

39:51.310 --> 39:53.532
over there . We did miss a year because

39:53.532 --> 39:55.679
of COVID . Uh , actually our first

39:55.679 --> 39:58.510
project , we , we were on a ship when

39:58.510 --> 40:00.790
sort of the whole world shut down and

40:00.790 --> 40:02.846
we had no calms in the outside world

40:02.846 --> 40:04.901
and we pulled back into port and our

40:04.901 --> 40:07.068
phones were blowing up that none of us

40:07.068 --> 40:09.401
have flights home or anything like that ,

40:09.401 --> 40:08.379
and we thought we were going to get

40:08.629 --> 40:10.740
quarantined in Vietnam for quite some

40:10.740 --> 40:14.030
time . Um , we also , we , we had to

40:14.030 --> 40:16.709
take a year off this year . Uh , we had

40:16.709 --> 40:18.931
some sort of conflicting , uh , other ,

40:18.931 --> 40:21.098
other research that we had to do , but

40:21.098 --> 40:21.030
we are , uh , happy to say that we will

40:21.030 --> 40:23.141
be going back in , uh , the summer of

40:23.141 --> 40:26.550
26 . Um , my talk today is going to

40:26.550 --> 40:29.979
focus a little bit on the technology

40:29.979 --> 40:32.469
and methodology that we use for

40:32.469 --> 40:34.191
investigating or searching for

40:34.191 --> 40:37.830
underwater cases in Vietnam . Um ,

40:38.300 --> 40:40.469
and then , uh , but I , but I can talk

40:40.469 --> 40:42.580
to maybe later on during questions or

40:42.580 --> 40:44.580
something , uh , if , if people are

40:44.580 --> 40:46.358
interested in sort of the , the

40:46.358 --> 40:48.580
recovery side of that aspect too , um ,

40:48.580 --> 40:51.149
I actually spent 4 years with DPAA , uh ,

40:51.159 --> 40:53.270
prior to joining Scripps , uh , as an

40:53.270 --> 40:55.381
underwater archaeologist and recovery

40:55.381 --> 40:57.603
leader , so I'm very familiar with sort

40:57.603 --> 40:59.659
of both sides of the equation , both

40:59.659 --> 41:01.492
finding sites and and recovering

41:01.492 --> 41:03.492
remains from sites . So in terms of

41:03.492 --> 41:05.715
like our technology and our methodology

41:05.715 --> 41:07.826
that we employ for finding underwater

41:07.826 --> 41:09.937
sites , what we've done at Scripps is

41:09.937 --> 41:11.939
we've adopted sort of a military

41:12.110 --> 41:14.332
tactical targeting solution called Find

41:14.332 --> 41:16.166
Fix Finish and and we've sort of

41:16.166 --> 41:19.479
applied this to . Uh , a paradigm or

41:19.479 --> 41:22.129
framework on how we can find , uh ,

41:22.139 --> 41:24.780
aircraft , uh , identify them and

41:24.780 --> 41:26.947
document them and get that information

41:26.947 --> 41:29.290
back to DPAA . So the fine portion of

41:29.290 --> 41:32.270
that is what we call wide area survey .

41:32.340 --> 41:34.745
So this is where . Uh , working with

41:34.745 --> 41:36.745
DPA analysts and stuff , we've been

41:36.745 --> 41:38.967
handed a case . Uh , they've done a lot

41:38.967 --> 41:41.078
of analytical research . They've kind

41:41.078 --> 41:43.301
of outlined , uh , brought in all these

41:43.301 --> 41:45.523
primary documents and stuff , and , you

41:45.523 --> 41:47.689
know , they've kind of put the X marks

41:47.689 --> 41:49.689
the spot on , on a map for us of of

41:49.689 --> 41:51.801
where the survey should be . Uh , our

41:51.801 --> 41:51.590
group typically works with them . After

41:51.590 --> 41:53.812
that , we'll , we'll look at it , we'll

41:53.812 --> 41:55.979
sort of think through the lens of what

41:55.979 --> 41:58.090
our technologies are capable of , and

41:58.090 --> 42:00.257
we might refine those survey areas and

42:00.257 --> 42:02.201
stuff . But the first step then is

42:02.201 --> 42:04.423
taking the , the historical information

42:04.550 --> 42:07.469
and then applying that to in the field

42:07.469 --> 42:09.550
discovery of a of a site . So we do

42:09.550 --> 42:11.494
that through wide area search . So

42:11.494 --> 42:13.661
we're trying to search a large area to

42:13.661 --> 42:15.328
see if we could find wreckage

42:15.328 --> 42:18.340
underwater . The primary sort of piece

42:18.340 --> 42:20.979
of technology and and uh tool that we

42:20.979 --> 42:24.459
use is called a Remus uh AUV autonomous

42:24.459 --> 42:26.626
underwater vehicle or sometimes you'll

42:26.626 --> 42:28.903
hear a UUV unmanned underwater vehicle .

42:28.939 --> 42:31.161
So these are , these are drones of , of

42:31.161 --> 42:33.106
the ocean , right ? So they're not

42:33.106 --> 42:35.272
tethered . They're , they , as you can

42:35.272 --> 42:37.328
see here , um , you know , they're ,

42:37.328 --> 42:39.606
they're a little two man portable , uh ,

42:39.606 --> 42:41.828
they look kind of like a torpedo , uh ,

42:41.828 --> 42:43.995
which is . when you're trying to clear

42:43.995 --> 42:46.106
like customs and and things like that

42:46.106 --> 42:48.328
um but but you could take these out and

42:48.328 --> 42:50.495
you could deploy them in the water and

42:50.495 --> 42:52.606
they kind of work right just like any

42:52.606 --> 42:54.828
other drone or or you could think of it

42:54.828 --> 42:54.375
like your your Roomba at your at your

42:54.375 --> 42:57.135
house we preprogram it to go do

42:57.135 --> 42:59.079
something underwater very and they

42:59.079 --> 43:01.191
could do it very precisely , uh , and

43:01.191 --> 43:03.302
then we set it out , it goes and does

43:03.302 --> 43:05.468
its job . We collect it at the end and

43:05.468 --> 43:07.635
then we download data off of it and we

43:07.635 --> 43:09.857
can analyze that data . Um , one of the

43:09.857 --> 43:12.024
advantages that Scripps has , uh , and

43:12.024 --> 43:14.079
makes me very , very fortunate as an

43:14.079 --> 43:16.246
underwater archaeologist working there

43:16.246 --> 43:18.468
is we have resources . We , we do a lot

43:18.468 --> 43:20.302
of work at our lab at our lab at

43:20.302 --> 43:22.468
Scripps , uh , with Big Navy Office of

43:22.468 --> 43:24.635
Naval Research and stuff . We do a lot

43:24.635 --> 43:26.857
of research and development , so we are

43:26.857 --> 43:29.079
helping the Navy , uh , develop cutting

43:29.079 --> 43:31.302
edge , uh , survey techniques that they

43:31.302 --> 43:33.370
want for mine countermeasure UXO sea

43:33.370 --> 43:35.481
floor mapping for various things that

43:35.481 --> 43:37.703
they want to do . And then the fun part

43:37.703 --> 43:39.926
of my job is I get to take that cutting

43:39.926 --> 43:42.092
edge technology and apply it uh to the

43:42.092 --> 43:44.419
to the MIA mission uh uh from from a

43:44.419 --> 43:46.419
sort of archaeological and forensic

43:46.419 --> 43:48.475
lens , uh , which a lot of my , uh ,

43:48.500 --> 43:50.611
underwater archaeologists do not have

43:50.611 --> 43:52.419
access to this kind of uh uh uh

43:52.419 --> 43:54.586
technology . Because of the cost , for

43:54.586 --> 43:56.752
example , those , those vehicles right

43:56.752 --> 43:58.752
there , each of those vehicles with

43:58.752 --> 44:00.586
their sensors is about a million

44:00.586 --> 44:02.808
dollars . So you know , that's , that's

44:02.808 --> 44:05.086
$3 million sitting on the back of that ,

44:05.086 --> 44:07.086
that boat right there , um , and we

44:07.086 --> 44:09.197
have a fleet of about 12 of them that

44:09.197 --> 44:11.363
we can , we can use at various times .

44:11.363 --> 44:13.641
Um , and just so you can see , sort of ,

44:13.641 --> 44:15.419
you know , the , the real world

44:15.419 --> 44:17.530
application , uh , you know , there's

44:17.530 --> 44:19.697
the picture there of , uh , you know ,

44:19.697 --> 44:21.641
a boat and they're picking up what

44:21.641 --> 44:21.149
looks like a parachute . That's

44:21.149 --> 44:23.316
actually , if you remember the Chinese

44:23.316 --> 44:25.371
spy balloon that that we shot down a

44:25.371 --> 44:27.538
couple of years ago , the US Navy used

44:27.538 --> 44:29.830
the exact same vehicles and survey

44:29.830 --> 44:32.750
technology that we're employing in

44:32.750 --> 44:34.830
Vietnam to find crash tracks . To go

44:34.830 --> 44:36.886
find that material because obviously

44:36.886 --> 44:38.886
they want to recover it and and see

44:38.886 --> 44:41.108
what what exactly the Chinese were were

44:41.108 --> 44:43.219
sending over now the way these things

44:43.219 --> 44:45.330
work is again we can sort of set them

44:45.330 --> 44:47.441
and forget them . They , they have uh

44:47.441 --> 44:49.274
really precise navigation that's

44:49.274 --> 44:51.219
something that's very advantageous

44:51.219 --> 44:53.163
opposed to sort of old traditional

44:53.163 --> 44:55.219
systems where you would tow behind a

44:55.219 --> 44:57.552
boat these , these sort of sensors , um ,

44:57.552 --> 44:56.830
so you can put in different fields and

44:56.830 --> 44:59.669
we can get close to . Uh , I mean ,

44:59.679 --> 45:02.550
easily submeter accuracy on , on

45:02.550 --> 45:04.661
positioning and stuff , which , which

45:04.661 --> 45:07.310
is very useful . We can also cover very

45:07.310 --> 45:10.189
large areas . Uh , so here's just some

45:10.189 --> 45:12.467
examples . Those are all in kilometers ,

45:12.467 --> 45:14.411
so 25 square kilometer , 35 square

45:14.411 --> 45:16.467
kilometers , and 73 square kilometer

45:16.467 --> 45:18.522
survey that we've done . Uh , that ,

45:18.522 --> 45:21.229
that's a very , very large area of the

45:21.229 --> 45:23.679
sea floor . Uh , and like that 73 ,

45:23.709 --> 45:25.820
well , that's actually a Vietnam case

45:25.820 --> 45:27.931
I'll touch at the end . Uh , you know

45:27.931 --> 45:29.987
that we did that in about 12 days of

45:29.987 --> 45:33.320
work . Um , so the primary tool that we

45:33.320 --> 45:36.639
use for our wide area survey is , uh ,

45:36.649 --> 45:38.919
site scan sonar . So , uh , the

45:38.919 --> 45:41.141
vehicles have sonars on them . They can

45:41.141 --> 45:44.229
ping out acoustic beams out on the side .

45:44.439 --> 45:46.879
The acoustic beam hits the sea floor

45:46.879 --> 45:48.712
and it reflects differently . If

45:48.712 --> 45:50.935
there's an object there versus sand and

45:50.935 --> 45:50.760
stuff like that , and then the computer

45:50.760 --> 45:52.816
algorithm sort of decodes it , gives

45:52.816 --> 45:54.982
you a two dimensional image of the sea

45:54.982 --> 45:57.149
floor . Uh , then we get that back and

45:57.149 --> 45:59.204
then as researchers we download that

45:59.204 --> 46:01.371
and we we examine it . So this is sort

46:01.371 --> 46:03.482
of see if this plays out . So this is

46:03.482 --> 46:05.593
kind of how we view it real time . So

46:05.593 --> 46:07.816
we , we see this two dimensional vision

46:07.816 --> 46:09.760
of the sea floor that the that the

46:09.760 --> 46:12.038
vehicles map for us . We go through it .

46:12.038 --> 46:14.038
We're looking for anomalies . We're

46:14.038 --> 46:13.689
learning what the sea floor looks like ,

46:14.060 --> 46:16.116
and then we see an anomaly like that

46:16.116 --> 46:18.338
that sticks out , right ? We don't know

46:18.338 --> 46:20.282
what that is , but it's definitely

46:20.282 --> 46:22.560
something different from what's around .

46:22.560 --> 46:22.439
And then we look for certain

46:22.439 --> 46:24.439
characteristics that we do know are

46:24.439 --> 46:26.439
more indicative of sort of man-made

46:26.439 --> 46:28.661
objects that could be aircraft wreckage

46:28.661 --> 46:30.883
or something like that . And so we mark

46:30.883 --> 46:33.106
them . But at this point we still don't

46:33.106 --> 46:35.439
know what that what that is necessarily .

46:35.439 --> 46:37.383
Sometimes we do , sometimes we get

46:37.383 --> 46:39.439
extremely lucky and you don't need a

46:39.439 --> 46:41.661
PhD in archaeology to be able to say we

46:41.661 --> 46:43.661
found a plane here . Um , and , and

46:43.661 --> 46:45.717
these are all real images that we've

46:45.717 --> 46:48.050
gotten . Um , unfortunately , uh , this ,

46:48.050 --> 46:50.050
this is not the norm . uh , this is

46:50.050 --> 46:52.050
sort of the exception to the rule .

46:52.050 --> 46:54.383
This is more what our targets look like .

46:54.469 --> 46:56.580
Uh , I lost the key to this . This is

46:56.580 --> 46:58.802
an older slide , but this is actually 3

46:58.802 --> 47:01.025
of these are actual aircraft wreckage ,

47:01.025 --> 47:03.136
uh , images , and 3 of these are just

47:03.136 --> 47:05.302
sort of rocks and coral and stuff like

47:05.302 --> 47:07.525
that . The point being , I think if you

47:07.525 --> 47:09.358
look at this , it's very hard to

47:09.358 --> 47:11.525
discern which which is which , right ?

47:11.525 --> 47:13.780
They look very , very similar . Um , so

47:13.780 --> 47:16.058
we could use that to map the sea floor ,

47:16.058 --> 47:17.947
get targets that we might want to

47:17.947 --> 47:17.790
interrogate . Another thing we could

47:17.790 --> 47:20.389
use is a magnetometer . You can think

47:20.389 --> 47:22.556
of this as like a big metal detector .

47:22.556 --> 47:24.833
Uh , it only detects ferris items , uh ,

47:24.870 --> 47:27.149
but we can put this on our AUVs . We

47:27.149 --> 47:29.260
can run it . Now . I will be honest ,

47:29.260 --> 47:31.371
we don't use this very often for wide

47:31.371 --> 47:33.482
area surveys because it restricts the

47:33.482 --> 47:35.593
area . So where you saw I was able to

47:35.593 --> 47:37.816
do those huge swaths . I can usually do

47:37.816 --> 47:39.871
about 4 square kilometers a day with

47:39.871 --> 47:42.093
side scan sonar at a lower resolution .

47:42.093 --> 47:44.149
Um , where this , uh , you know , in

47:44.149 --> 47:46.371
there I'm running , I , I , I'm getting

47:46.371 --> 47:48.593
200 m swaths of the sea floor with each

47:48.593 --> 47:50.705
run . When I run this , I get about a

47:50.705 --> 47:52.705
10 m swath , so you can imagine the

47:52.705 --> 47:54.982
reduction of the area sea floor we get .

47:55.000 --> 47:57.669
So unless we really think something is

47:57.669 --> 47:59.891
buried , which is where this would come

47:59.891 --> 48:02.002
in and useful because our , our sonar

48:02.002 --> 48:04.336
doesn't penetrate , uh , below the sand ,

48:04.336 --> 48:06.558
uh , we , we , we , we don't , uh , use

48:06.558 --> 48:08.780
this as often , but , but it is , it is

48:08.780 --> 48:12.090
useful . Um , so after we've done our

48:12.090 --> 48:14.312
wide area survey , we , we've looked at

48:14.312 --> 48:16.368
a bunch of the sea floor and we have

48:16.368 --> 48:18.368
various targets , but we don't know

48:18.368 --> 48:20.479
what those targets are yet . We don't

48:20.479 --> 48:22.646
know which one is aircraft , which one

48:22.646 --> 48:24.868
is a false positive . So now we go into

48:24.868 --> 48:24.649
what we call the fixed phase , and

48:24.649 --> 48:26.371
again we can use this suite of

48:26.371 --> 48:28.649
technologies that this almost the same .

48:28.649 --> 48:30.760
Suite of technologies uh to to try to

48:30.760 --> 48:32.927
hone in and figure out what do we have

48:32.927 --> 48:35.260
and so again we can use side scan sonar .

48:35.260 --> 48:37.427
Now the thing about side scan sonar is

48:37.427 --> 48:39.482
it has different frequencies . So if

48:39.482 --> 48:41.427
you use a lower frequency , so for

48:41.427 --> 48:43.482
example a wide area , we tend to use

48:43.482 --> 48:47.360
600 kilohertz . Um , and that gives us

48:47.360 --> 48:50.840
uh a larger area , a bigger view , uh ,

48:50.889 --> 48:52.833
but lower resolution . That's your

48:52.833 --> 48:55.111
trade off that you get with with sonar ,

48:55.111 --> 48:57.167
or we can , we can bump it up and we

48:57.167 --> 48:59.389
could go to something like 1200 or 1800

48:59.389 --> 49:01.729
kilohertz . We get a lower area that we

49:01.729 --> 49:03.929
get to cover , uh , but we get a much

49:03.929 --> 49:06.040
higher resolution . So this is a test

49:06.040 --> 49:08.207
case that we often use off it's , it's

49:08.207 --> 49:10.429
located right off our , our institute .

49:10.429 --> 49:12.879
It's a P38 , uh , no MIA associated

49:12.879 --> 49:14.990
with it , uh , but it's nice . So you

49:14.990 --> 49:17.659
can sort of see there , uh , what the

49:17.659 --> 49:19.881
image of the of the aircraft looks like

49:19.881 --> 49:21.937
at different resolutions that we can

49:21.937 --> 49:24.260
that we can use . uh , and here's

49:24.260 --> 49:26.538
another example . These are , you know ,

49:26.538 --> 49:28.816
boats . You can see the 600 resolution .

49:28.816 --> 49:31.038
We would easily see that and say , OK ,

49:31.038 --> 49:33.260
that's something . I don't know what it

49:33.260 --> 49:33.020
is , it's something that I should look

49:33.020 --> 49:35.076
at , uh , and sometimes I could just

49:35.076 --> 49:37.131
run the vehicle back out over that ,

49:37.131 --> 49:39.409
send it with a higher resolution sonar ,

49:39.409 --> 49:41.520
and get a really good image and right

49:41.520 --> 49:40.510
there . I could be like , OK , that's a

49:40.510 --> 49:42.732
boat , it's not an aircraft , move on ,

49:42.732 --> 49:44.732
right ? Let's not waste our time on

49:44.732 --> 49:47.066
that . We can also use the magnetometer .

49:47.066 --> 49:49.232
Um , this is an example from Papua New

49:49.232 --> 49:51.288
Guinea . This comes from an aircraft

49:51.288 --> 49:53.232
that actually was in Life magazine

49:53.620 --> 49:55.820
crashing into the water with all the

49:55.820 --> 49:58.042
background . We knew exactly where this

49:58.042 --> 49:59.987
aircraft should be . Uh , went out

49:59.987 --> 50:02.098
there , surveyed with our , uh , side

50:02.098 --> 50:04.098
scan sonar , didn't really find any

50:04.098 --> 50:06.320
anomalies . We had one very small one .

50:06.320 --> 50:08.487
Uh , which was the radial engine there

50:08.487 --> 50:10.487
on the bottom . We went back with a

50:10.487 --> 50:12.487
magnetometer . What we were able to

50:12.487 --> 50:14.376
show is you could see those those

50:14.376 --> 50:16.598
yellow dots or the magnetometer sort of

50:16.598 --> 50:18.598
signatures , and you can see how it

50:18.598 --> 50:20.709
spreads out from the concentration of

50:20.709 --> 50:22.820
of that wreckage . So it's telling us

50:22.820 --> 50:22.629
that there is a debris field that is

50:22.629 --> 50:24.851
under there . We're not just looking at

50:24.851 --> 50:27.018
a single element . Uh , divers can use

50:27.018 --> 50:29.185
a , a dive navigator . They can , they

50:29.185 --> 50:31.296
can dive down to the sea floor and we

50:31.296 --> 50:33.407
have forward facing sonar that , uh ,

50:33.407 --> 50:35.462
can help us locate the objects while

50:35.462 --> 50:37.407
we're diving down so we can get on

50:37.407 --> 50:39.629
target quickly and document those or or

50:39.629 --> 50:41.796
investigate them . We have a series of

50:41.796 --> 50:45.235
ROVs . Um , ROVs are different from

50:45.235 --> 50:47.179
AUVs in that they're tethered , so

50:47.179 --> 50:49.513
they're , they're tethered to your ship ,

50:49.513 --> 50:51.679
uh , that you're working off of . Uh ,

50:51.679 --> 50:53.834
this has pros and cons , uh , a con

50:53.834 --> 50:56.056
being that it's tethered to your ship ,

50:56.056 --> 50:58.056
so your ship has to stay in station

50:58.056 --> 51:00.223
over your object that you're trying to

51:00.223 --> 51:02.445
work on . Uh , the pro is , uh , unlike

51:02.445 --> 51:04.556
the remits that are battery limited ,

51:04.556 --> 51:06.723
they can only run for so long before I

51:06.723 --> 51:08.723
got to collect them . Uh , this can

51:08.723 --> 51:10.945
stay down theoretically forever because

51:10.945 --> 51:12.945
it's , it's powered from , from the

51:12.945 --> 51:12.860
ship that's sitting , sitting on top .

51:12.989 --> 51:15.045
So we can use this to view different

51:15.045 --> 51:17.290
things , uh , and collect data . I'm

51:17.290 --> 51:20.989
gonna skip that . Um , probably the ,

51:21.030 --> 51:23.270
the , the neatest technology that I've

51:23.270 --> 51:26.929
seen develop in , in my time . Working

51:26.929 --> 51:29.330
with these AUVs is the camera systems

51:29.330 --> 51:31.441
that are coming online for them . And

51:31.441 --> 51:33.552
so this is a Voy camera , so we could

51:33.552 --> 51:35.774
take , put this camera system on . Uh ,

51:36.389 --> 51:38.445
and go out and image the sea floor ,

51:38.445 --> 51:40.556
and you can see an example there with

51:40.556 --> 51:42.778
the stingray of the quality of image we

51:42.778 --> 51:44.945
can get of the sea floor . And so this

51:44.945 --> 51:47.229
allows us to operate efficiently in

51:47.229 --> 51:49.396
depths where divers may not be able to

51:49.396 --> 51:51.899
go and it allows us to effectively

51:52.429 --> 51:54.620
image large swaths of the sea floor

51:54.870 --> 51:57.092
with different programs and stuff . Now

51:57.092 --> 51:59.669
we can easily go out and I could take a

51:59.669 --> 52:01.780
football field size area . Of the sea

52:01.780 --> 52:05.024
floor and in one sortie I could take

52:05.024 --> 52:07.344
40,000 images of that , use software ,

52:07.385 --> 52:09.552
stitch them all together in a mosaic ,

52:09.552 --> 52:11.607
and show you what would look like an

52:11.607 --> 52:13.663
aerial photo that you're used to for

52:13.663 --> 52:15.885
terrestrial type operations but for for

52:15.885 --> 52:17.784
underwater . There you can see an

52:17.784 --> 52:20.304
engine from an aircraft , right , the

52:20.304 --> 52:22.582
difference between the side scan sonar ,

52:22.582 --> 52:24.693
which is sort of the orange one , and

52:24.693 --> 52:26.693
then the resolution that I get from

52:26.693 --> 52:28.804
taking a picture of it . Uh , so last

52:28.804 --> 52:30.915
would be the , the finished portion .

52:30.915 --> 52:32.971
So the finished portion , so we went

52:32.971 --> 52:34.971
from wide area survey , we got some

52:34.971 --> 52:34.370
targets that we didn't know what they

52:34.370 --> 52:36.489
were . We did the fixed portion . We

52:36.489 --> 52:38.378
started diving on those targets ,

52:38.378 --> 52:40.267
putting an ROV , putting an AUV ,

52:40.267 --> 52:43.010
trying to discern what those targets

52:43.010 --> 52:46.290
are . Once we find a target that is the

52:46.290 --> 52:48.123
aircraft that we're happen to be

52:48.123 --> 52:50.234
looking for . Or then we need to move

52:50.234 --> 52:52.401
into the documentation phase , right ?

52:52.401 --> 52:52.379
And the documentation phase is where we

52:52.379 --> 52:54.601
collect all the information that we can

52:54.601 --> 52:56.712
about the site that we can pass on to

52:56.712 --> 52:58.712
DPAA so that when they want to do a

52:58.712 --> 53:00.500
recovery or deem the site to be

53:00.500 --> 53:02.929
recoverable , that the recovery leader

53:03.100 --> 53:05.300
and team going out there has as much

53:05.300 --> 53:07.356
information on the front end as they

53:07.356 --> 53:10.530
could possibly get , right ? Um , so

53:10.530 --> 53:12.586
different things again , it's almost

53:12.586 --> 53:14.641
all the same technology . We're just

53:14.641 --> 53:16.752
applying it in different ways here so

53:16.752 --> 53:18.974
we can use the side scan sonar to to do

53:18.974 --> 53:21.086
mapping , uh , so we can , we can put

53:21.086 --> 53:23.141
it in a high resolution , we can get

53:23.141 --> 53:25.308
very good imagery , and because of the

53:25.308 --> 53:27.810
precise navigation of those AUVs , uh ,

53:27.929 --> 53:29.485
I can actually start taking

53:29.485 --> 53:31.651
measurements off of my site scan sonar

53:31.651 --> 53:33.707
data so I can , you know , pass on a

53:33.707 --> 53:35.762
map to the team that shows distances

53:35.762 --> 53:37.929
between . Different parts of the wreck

53:37.929 --> 53:40.040
that they want to go to . Now some of

53:40.040 --> 53:40.004
this might be like , oh well , you know

53:40.004 --> 53:42.205
how hard could it be ? But think about

53:42.205 --> 53:44.094
it a lot of these sites may be in

53:44.094 --> 53:46.038
almost zero visibility so even our

53:46.038 --> 53:47.872
camera systems don't work . If a

53:47.872 --> 53:49.872
diver's having to work down there ,

53:49.872 --> 53:51.927
they can't see something that's 10 m

53:51.927 --> 53:53.983
away , uh , and so having a map that

53:53.983 --> 53:56.094
tells them there is an object at this

53:56.094 --> 53:58.372
degree , this bearing at this distance ,

53:58.372 --> 54:00.594
they can navigate around that site much

54:00.594 --> 54:02.927
easier , right ? And they can also plan .

54:02.927 --> 54:05.149
They can come in and . They can kind of

54:05.149 --> 54:05.040
think about , OK , if I'm gonna put my

54:05.040 --> 54:06.984
units in , where do I wanna put my

54:06.984 --> 54:09.040
units in , how do I wanna progress ,

54:09.040 --> 54:11.639
all that can be done upfront . Uh ,

54:11.719 --> 54:13.941
this is an example just of a of a large

54:13.941 --> 54:16.052
area , right ? This is sort of one of

54:16.052 --> 54:18.163
those areas where I think the longest

54:18.163 --> 54:20.275
sort of line is showing sort of the ,

54:20.275 --> 54:22.497
the dispersion of this wreck site , you

54:22.497 --> 54:22.354
know , it's 100 m that that . We could

54:22.354 --> 54:24.465
this was actually done pre having the

54:24.465 --> 54:26.687
camera systems . uh , you might be able

54:26.687 --> 54:28.687
to do that camera system if you had

54:28.687 --> 54:30.743
visibility , but if you didn't , you

54:30.743 --> 54:30.514
could use the site scan sonar again to

54:30.514 --> 54:32.570
show these great dispersions and how

54:32.570 --> 54:34.736
the rec site is and then you can start

54:34.736 --> 54:37.195
doing interpretation , um , again , we

54:37.195 --> 54:39.995
can use an ROV , uh , to go down and

54:39.995 --> 54:42.629
investigate . Um , you know , again ,

54:42.669 --> 54:44.780
one of the nice things is it can stay

54:44.780 --> 54:47.229
on station . So , uh , the AUV provides

54:47.229 --> 54:49.429
amazing sort of resolution in terms of

54:49.429 --> 54:51.596
imagery and stuff like that , but it's

54:51.596 --> 54:53.580
a sort of a static two dimensional

54:53.580 --> 54:55.802
image that I'm that I'm getting and I'm

54:55.802 --> 54:58.110
having to analyze where if I put an ROV

54:58.110 --> 55:01.429
down , I , I could sit and look at that

55:01.429 --> 55:03.651
portion of that wreckage for an hour if

55:03.651 --> 55:05.818
I need to , and I could , I could pull

55:05.818 --> 55:07.762
out a manual . I could try to find

55:07.762 --> 55:09.985
parts if I'm trying to match that up to

55:09.985 --> 55:12.096
a specific aircraft type or something

55:12.096 --> 55:14.262
like that . That , uh , and so there's

55:14.262 --> 55:16.262
a lot of utility there and , and of

55:16.262 --> 55:18.485
course I could take images , uh , and I

55:18.485 --> 55:20.651
can , I can come from different angles

55:20.651 --> 55:22.762
and so there's an example from a B-24

55:22.762 --> 55:24.873
where you know , so the red and green

55:24.873 --> 55:26.985
arrows are pointing out key positions

55:26.985 --> 55:29.151
that we were able to identify uh based

55:29.151 --> 55:31.318
on that chair and that wheel , right ,

55:31.318 --> 55:33.485
that we were right there at the uh the

55:33.485 --> 55:33.334
radio operator that that chair was

55:33.334 --> 55:35.501
unique to the radio operator and so we

55:35.501 --> 55:37.390
could pass that information on if

55:37.390 --> 55:39.556
that's the individual that's missing ,

55:39.556 --> 55:41.723
well , that's where you want to target

55:41.723 --> 55:43.945
your excavation , right ? Um , we could

55:43.945 --> 55:43.739
do diver-based photogrammery just like

55:43.739 --> 55:46.219
our , our camera systems on our AUV .

55:46.649 --> 55:48.969
Um , and I mean this is the type of

55:48.969 --> 55:51.191
stuff when I was doing recoveries , you

55:51.191 --> 55:53.413
know , I never had access to to be able

55:53.413 --> 55:56.010
to sit down with my team of divers , uh ,

55:56.090 --> 55:58.239
and , and , and , and look at exactly

55:58.239 --> 56:00.350
what the wreckage is gonna be like on

56:00.350 --> 56:02.239
the sea floor and map that all up

56:02.489 --> 56:04.800
before we ever head out the door , uh ,

56:04.850 --> 56:06.850
you know , is is is just absolutely

56:06.850 --> 56:08.961
game changing . It just saves so much

56:08.961 --> 56:11.128
time , uh , when you're in the field .

56:12.370 --> 56:14.537
Uh , AUV again , now we're back to the

56:14.537 --> 56:17.250
AUV imagery . Uh , again , super

56:17.250 --> 56:19.417
exciting . This just sort of shows you

56:19.417 --> 56:21.528
the resolution . This was a boat that

56:21.528 --> 56:23.639
we captured in , you know , in one of

56:23.639 --> 56:25.861
our surveys has nothing to do with with

56:25.861 --> 56:27.972
an MIA , uh , but , but you could see

56:27.972 --> 56:30.083
the type of resolution , right ? Like

56:30.083 --> 56:30.040
you , you not only could see this

56:30.040 --> 56:32.096
toilet that's in , in the boat , but

56:32.096 --> 56:34.318
you , you can see the bolt patterns and

56:34.318 --> 56:36.429
the hinges . I mean that that kind of

56:36.429 --> 56:38.651
resolution is just amazing . The bottom

56:38.651 --> 56:40.762
one , it's kind of hard to see if you

56:40.762 --> 56:42.762
can zoom in . Uh , I have to shrink

56:42.762 --> 56:45.040
these , the resolution now . These are ,

56:45.040 --> 56:44.340
these are like almost 1 terabyte . Some

56:44.340 --> 56:46.340
of these images , they're , they're

56:46.340 --> 56:48.562
massive . Uh , but if you zoom in , you

56:48.562 --> 56:50.673
can actually see the the three strand

56:50.673 --> 56:52.562
braid of , of the rope . That's ,

56:52.562 --> 56:54.729
that's the amazing resolution . And to

56:54.729 --> 56:56.784
sort of point out like it's not just

56:56.784 --> 56:58.784
that oh this is this is really cool

56:58.784 --> 57:00.951
technology but but the utility of that

57:00.951 --> 57:03.129
resolution . So this is from uh uh uh

57:03.129 --> 57:05.073
the Vietnam site that I'll discuss

57:05.073 --> 57:07.889
shortly um , you could see on the image

57:07.889 --> 57:10.111
right the sea floor we're just seeing a

57:10.111 --> 57:12.278
couple of little knobs and buttons and

57:12.278 --> 57:14.445
stuff like that . But having that kind

57:14.445 --> 57:14.429
of resolution by just seeing that

57:14.429 --> 57:16.870
pattern , we were able to sort of take

57:16.870 --> 57:19.280
that pattern and and know that it's an

57:19.280 --> 57:21.502
oxygen regulator that's only found on a

57:21.502 --> 57:23.389
B-52 . So right there , that's

57:23.389 --> 57:25.556
correlation , right , that this is the

57:25.600 --> 57:27.767
the actual aircraft that we're looking

57:27.767 --> 57:29.600
for , that's the type that we're

57:29.600 --> 57:31.659
looking for . Um , we can also do

57:31.659 --> 57:34.379
what's called , um , digital elevation

57:34.379 --> 57:36.435
models . So we could take those same

57:36.435 --> 57:38.490
imageries , uh , and we can have the

57:38.490 --> 57:40.657
computer look at them rather than like

57:40.657 --> 57:42.712
from a visual , uh , the , the , the

57:42.712 --> 57:44.935
because the vehicle knows exactly where

57:44.935 --> 57:47.157
it is in the water column , we can , we

57:47.157 --> 57:49.323
can put in the . The the the elevation

57:49.323 --> 57:51.268
of the vehicle , and it calculates

57:51.268 --> 57:50.989
based on the angle of the of the image

57:50.989 --> 57:53.211
and stuff and , and it can give us sort

57:53.211 --> 57:55.211
of this three dimensional , right ,

57:55.211 --> 57:57.156
like uh different colors represent

57:57.156 --> 57:59.211
different distances up and sometimes

57:59.211 --> 57:59.070
this gives us a better resolution . You

57:59.070 --> 58:01.014
can see , you know , pieces of the

58:01.014 --> 58:03.070
aircraft really , really starting to

58:03.070 --> 58:05.330
stick out . Uh , one place that came in

58:05.340 --> 58:08.300
in really handy was the , the one that

58:08.300 --> 58:10.899
sort of like got it basically algae

58:10.899 --> 58:13.149
like growing all over it . Uh , we

58:13.149 --> 58:16.379
imaged this . This is a B-17 , uh , but

58:16.379 --> 58:18.546
you can see on the left , right , it's

58:18.546 --> 58:20.768
almost impossible to discern any of the

58:20.768 --> 58:22.712
aircraft parts there through . The

58:22.712 --> 58:24.879
actual imagery , but when we switch it

58:24.879 --> 58:27.101
over to a digital elevation model , all

58:27.101 --> 58:28.879
the pieces and the parts of the

58:28.879 --> 58:30.935
aircraft start popping out . You can

58:30.935 --> 58:32.990
almost think of it it's not the same

58:32.990 --> 58:32.669
technology , but it's kind of like what

58:32.669 --> 58:35.739
LIDAR does with a with a canopy , um ,

58:35.750 --> 58:37.861
we can , we can do that on underwater

58:37.861 --> 58:40.939
sites with with our imagery , um , so

58:40.939 --> 58:43.050
I'm moving in , uh , quickly and just

58:43.050 --> 58:45.050
sort of cover the some of the cases

58:45.050 --> 58:47.217
that we've we've applied , uh , this ,

58:47.217 --> 58:49.659
this method methodology and and this

58:49.659 --> 58:51.826
technology too . Uh , so the first one

58:51.826 --> 58:55.439
is ReFNO 0757758 . Uh ,

58:55.590 --> 58:58.350
this two aircraft , Kilo 2 and Kilo1

58:58.350 --> 59:01.110
involved in the 7 July 1967 loss of 2

59:01.110 --> 59:04.219
B-52D strata forces , uh , aircraft en

59:04.219 --> 59:07.469
route from Guam to conduct an arc light

59:07.469 --> 59:09.830
bombing mission in South Vietnam .

59:09.909 --> 59:12.189
There was a midair collision at 32,000

59:12.189 --> 59:14.310
ft . Uh , the aircraft blew up and

59:14.310 --> 59:17.580
we're seen to crash , uh , into the ,

59:17.590 --> 59:19.423
into the ocean . Uh , search and

59:19.423 --> 59:21.646
recovery , uh , at the time was able to

59:21.646 --> 59:24.429
recover 7 survivors , uh , but then

59:24.429 --> 59:27.030
there was also , uh , 7 individuals

59:27.030 --> 59:29.350
from , from the two aircraft combined

59:29.350 --> 59:31.659
still missing in action . Uh , so in

59:31.659 --> 59:34.090
1990 , Vietnamese fishermen and divers

59:34.090 --> 59:36.899
actually discovered a site associated

59:36.899 --> 59:39.949
with this . Uh , in 1993 they recovered

59:39.949 --> 59:42.389
human human remains and material

59:42.389 --> 59:44.459
evidence , uh , which allowed , you

59:44.459 --> 59:46.681
know , that , that stuff was identified

59:46.681 --> 59:49.820
and allowed , uh , you know , DPA's

59:49.820 --> 59:52.250
predecessor at the time to correlate it

59:52.250 --> 59:54.306
to one of the two aircraft , right ?

59:54.306 --> 59:56.780
Tequilo one , based on the

59:56.780 --> 59:59.058
identification of the individuals . Um ,

59:59.699 --> 01:00:02.139
in 1995 , US Navy divers conducted site

01:00:02.139 --> 01:00:04.820
scan sonar survey of the area and

01:00:04.820 --> 01:00:07.060
located , uh , three sites with large

01:00:07.060 --> 01:00:09.171
concentrations of aircraft wreckage .

01:00:09.171 --> 01:00:11.393
They , they had a wing section that was

01:00:11.393 --> 01:00:13.504
about 21 ft in length , a large piece

01:00:13.504 --> 01:00:15.671
of unidentified wreckage , and a large

01:00:15.671 --> 01:00:17.838
concentration of wreckage described as

01:00:17.838 --> 01:00:20.120
a possible cockpit . Um , and they

01:00:20.120 --> 01:00:22.479
found a , uh , attack hand component ,

01:00:22.639 --> 01:00:24.806
um , that was recovered and ID'd again

01:00:24.806 --> 01:00:26.806
correlating it to a B-52 , but they

01:00:26.806 --> 01:00:28.917
didn't have any kind of evidence that

01:00:28.917 --> 01:00:31.028
said which of the 2 B-52s , so it was

01:00:31.028 --> 01:00:34.399
unclear whether they were back on the

01:00:34.399 --> 01:00:36.566
site that the Vietnamese fishermen had

01:00:36.566 --> 01:00:38.870
found and recovered or had they found

01:00:38.870 --> 01:00:41.800
the other a portion of the other B-52

01:00:41.800 --> 01:00:43.911
or some sort of combination of of the

01:00:43.911 --> 01:00:47.300
of the both . Um , the site was , uh ,

01:00:47.370 --> 01:00:51.040
looked at again in , in 2018 . DPA , uh ,

01:00:51.050 --> 01:00:52.939
had a survey done by a Vietnamese

01:00:52.939 --> 01:00:55.106
company out there , uh , and they were

01:00:55.106 --> 01:00:57.161
not able to , to relocate , uh , the

01:00:57.161 --> 01:00:59.290
aircraft . So in 2020 , uh , this was

01:00:59.290 --> 01:01:01.889
our first partnership and first foray

01:01:01.889 --> 01:01:05.729
into Vietnam , uh , with DPA we came in .

01:01:05.840 --> 01:01:08.139
To kind of look at the the same area ,

01:01:08.429 --> 01:01:10.762
uh , try to figure out , you know , why ,

01:01:11.120 --> 01:01:13.342
why did the Vietnamese survey vessel in

01:01:13.342 --> 01:01:15.398
2018 , not able to find it and stuff

01:01:15.398 --> 01:01:18.020
like that . So we ran a 10 day survey .

01:01:18.389 --> 01:01:20.739
We brought three of our AUVs out there .

01:01:21.070 --> 01:01:23.181
We were able to cover about 20 square

01:01:23.181 --> 01:01:25.237
kilometers at 600 kilohertz . That's

01:01:25.237 --> 01:01:27.830
our wide area survey . Uh , we did

01:01:27.830 --> 01:01:30.479
about 7 kilometers and 1200 . Uh ,

01:01:30.560 --> 01:01:32.679
kilohertz , and we , we ran our our

01:01:32.679 --> 01:01:34.901
magnetometer over there and you can see

01:01:34.901 --> 01:01:37.068
the different variations at the top is

01:01:37.068 --> 01:01:39.179
our wide area survey . Uh , the , the

01:01:39.179 --> 01:01:41.179
middle there is at 1200 at a higher

01:01:41.179 --> 01:01:43.179
resolution . Now one of the reasons

01:01:43.179 --> 01:01:45.280
that we went at such a large area at

01:01:45.280 --> 01:01:47.500
high resolution again that shrinks the

01:01:47.500 --> 01:01:49.722
amount of area we can look at . So it ,

01:01:49.722 --> 01:01:51.833
it's sort of it consumes a lot of our

01:01:51.833 --> 01:01:55.540
resources is we went out to the exact

01:01:55.540 --> 01:01:57.596
same area that the Vietnamese survey

01:01:57.596 --> 01:01:59.649
had gone where the coordinates from

01:01:59.649 --> 01:02:03.389
1995 . I've put the wreckage and we

01:02:03.389 --> 01:02:05.439
could not find the wreckage at 600

01:02:05.439 --> 01:02:07.661
kilohertz , which is our standard , and

01:02:07.661 --> 01:02:09.606
we often find even small broken up

01:02:09.606 --> 01:02:12.149
wreckage at that resolution . And so

01:02:12.149 --> 01:02:14.316
what we had to do is we we were like ,

01:02:14.316 --> 01:02:16.260
well , let's let's see if if we're

01:02:16.260 --> 01:02:18.482
missing something , and we , we went in

01:02:18.482 --> 01:02:22.270
at a higher resolution and uh we ended

01:02:22.270 --> 01:02:25.629
up finding . Uh , the site . What's

01:02:25.629 --> 01:02:27.851
really interesting about this site , so

01:02:28.070 --> 01:02:30.181
the picture with the diver , that's a

01:02:30.181 --> 01:02:32.514
navy diver from 1995 , it's hard to see ,

01:02:32.514 --> 01:02:34.459
but you can kind of see that black

01:02:34.459 --> 01:02:36.459
shadow behind him . That's wreckage

01:02:36.459 --> 01:02:38.348
sticking up . They described that

01:02:38.348 --> 01:02:40.459
cockpit as sticking up 15 ft proud of

01:02:40.459 --> 01:02:42.570
the sea floor , so a very large piece

01:02:42.570 --> 01:02:44.403
of wreckage that they , they had

01:02:44.403 --> 01:02:46.626
discovered . At the exact same location

01:02:46.626 --> 01:02:48.348
where we couldn't find our 600

01:02:48.348 --> 01:02:50.570
kilohertz , we did get a very small hit

01:02:50.570 --> 01:02:52.830
at 1200 kilohertz . We found basically

01:02:52.830 --> 01:02:56.399
a parachute and some dials and stuff

01:02:56.399 --> 01:02:58.800
like that from the cockpit . Uh , so we

01:02:58.800 --> 01:03:00.800
were on the same site , but it went

01:03:00.800 --> 01:03:02.856
from something that was 15 ft pro in

01:03:02.856 --> 01:03:06.600
1995 , uh , to , you know , not , not

01:03:06.600 --> 01:03:09.989
much left in , in that area . Uh , one

01:03:09.989 --> 01:03:12.070
of the great parts of the story is

01:03:12.070 --> 01:03:14.310
though , it was a parachute , it was

01:03:14.310 --> 01:03:16.254
life support , and we were able to

01:03:16.254 --> 01:03:18.477
actually recover one of the individuals

01:03:18.477 --> 01:03:20.532
from , from the aircraft with , with

01:03:20.532 --> 01:03:22.532
that Major , uh , Paul Avalli who's

01:03:22.532 --> 01:03:26.209
been identified now . Um , the next

01:03:26.209 --> 01:03:28.153
project that we did over there was

01:03:28.153 --> 01:03:30.320
ReFNO 242 . This involves the 29 April

01:03:30.320 --> 01:03:33.260
1975 loss of two individuals , uh , in

01:03:33.260 --> 01:03:36.620
a US Marine Corps CH46D helicopter that

01:03:36.620 --> 01:03:38.731
crashed in the South China Sea . This

01:03:38.731 --> 01:03:40.953
was actually during . The evacuation of

01:03:40.953 --> 01:03:43.774
Saigon . The pilot and co-pilot are

01:03:43.774 --> 01:03:45.996
missing . The two guys in the rear were

01:03:45.996 --> 01:03:48.163
able to get out when , when the , when

01:03:48.163 --> 01:03:50.655
the helicopter crashed , and I believe

01:03:50.655 --> 01:03:53.334
these are the last two Marines to have

01:03:53.334 --> 01:03:55.669
perished in the Vietnam conflict . Um ,

01:03:56.449 --> 01:03:58.560
they were doing search and recovery ,

01:03:58.560 --> 01:04:00.727
sitting off the carrier . This is when

01:04:00.727 --> 01:04:02.893
you've seen all the pictures . They're

01:04:02.893 --> 01:04:02.770
dumping all the aircraft off the

01:04:02.770 --> 01:04:05.330
carriers to make , make room . They

01:04:05.330 --> 01:04:07.497
were flying around . They were running

01:04:07.497 --> 01:04:09.497
out of fuel . There was no room for

01:04:09.497 --> 01:04:11.719
them to come back on . They did a water

01:04:11.719 --> 01:04:13.941
landing and unfortunately the pilot and

01:04:13.941 --> 01:04:13.840
co-pilot couldn't get out . We were

01:04:13.840 --> 01:04:15.896
very excited about this case because

01:04:15.896 --> 01:04:18.118
it's a giant aircraft that didn't crash

01:04:18.118 --> 01:04:20.080
at a high speed . It basically put

01:04:20.080 --> 01:04:22.136
itself down in a water landing . Two

01:04:22.136 --> 01:04:24.358
individuals were able to get out of the

01:04:24.358 --> 01:04:24.239
aircraft just fine , so we were

01:04:24.239 --> 01:04:26.128
basically hoping that we would be

01:04:26.128 --> 01:04:28.600
looking for an intact large helicopter ,

01:04:28.610 --> 01:04:31.360
which should be very easy to find . Uh ,

01:04:31.429 --> 01:04:33.949
unfortunately we did a massive area 73

01:04:33.949 --> 01:04:37.310
square kilometers , um , and found

01:04:37.310 --> 01:04:39.669
almost no targets , you know , like we ,

01:04:39.750 --> 01:04:41.972
we usually get a lot of false positives

01:04:41.972 --> 01:04:44.250
that we have to kind of look at and we ,

01:04:44.250 --> 01:04:46.361
we found almost nothing out there and

01:04:46.361 --> 01:04:48.583
we're not able to locate the aircraft .

01:04:48.583 --> 01:04:51.020
Uh , the next project that we did was ,

01:04:51.149 --> 01:04:54.979
uh , RFO 0148 and 0237 .

01:04:55.929 --> 01:04:58.840
Uh , 0148 involves 18 September 1965

01:04:58.840 --> 01:05:01.600
loss of an A6 intruder . Uh , that was

01:05:01.600 --> 01:05:03.933
launched from the USS Independence , uh ,

01:05:03.933 --> 01:05:05.878
for a night bombing attack against

01:05:05.878 --> 01:05:07.767
enemy patrol boats in the Gulf of

01:05:07.767 --> 01:05:09.489
Tonkin , uh , and the aircraft

01:05:09.489 --> 01:05:11.489
encountered anti-aircraft fire from

01:05:11.489 --> 01:05:13.909
this island , Bok Long V , um , and ,

01:05:14.010 --> 01:05:16.320
uh , was observed to crash into the

01:05:16.320 --> 01:05:19.070
water and explode . Uh , following day ,

01:05:19.149 --> 01:05:21.260
search and rescue went out , tried to

01:05:21.260 --> 01:05:23.482
find it . They found a little bit of an

01:05:23.482 --> 01:05:23.399
oil slick and that was the only , the

01:05:23.399 --> 01:05:26.760
only evidence . ReFNO 0237 involves the

01:05:26.760 --> 01:05:29.280
22 January 1966 over water loss of an

01:05:29.280 --> 01:05:31.550
S2D aircraft while on a surveillance

01:05:31.550 --> 01:05:33.679
mission resulting in four unaccounted

01:05:33.679 --> 01:05:35.623
for individuals . So both of these

01:05:35.623 --> 01:05:37.846
aircraft were lost off of Buck Long B .

01:05:37.846 --> 01:05:39.957
So when we were out there surveying ,

01:05:39.957 --> 01:05:41.957
we were , you know , hoping to find

01:05:41.957 --> 01:05:44.290
both of them if , if , if we could . Uh ,

01:05:44.290 --> 01:05:46.512
so the first , uh , mission that we did

01:05:46.512 --> 01:05:48.679
out there , you know , we went in with

01:05:48.679 --> 01:05:50.679
our , our , our sort of , uh , uh ,

01:05:50.679 --> 01:05:52.790
technique of using wide area survey ,

01:05:52.790 --> 01:05:52.790
uh , trying to find as many targets as

01:05:52.800 --> 01:05:55.000
as we could to , to evaluate . We did

01:05:55.000 --> 01:05:58.489
12 days again we had 3 , Remus 100s .

01:05:58.560 --> 01:06:00.782
We took out an ROV because we knew that

01:06:00.782 --> 01:06:02.838
some of the depths off of the island

01:06:02.838 --> 01:06:04.727
were gonna be a little bit beyond

01:06:04.727 --> 01:06:06.893
diving capabilities , so the ROV would

01:06:06.893 --> 01:06:06.870
allow us to to reach deeper targets ,

01:06:07.600 --> 01:06:10.780
um , and we ended up finding a

01:06:10.780 --> 01:06:13.820
portion . Of , uh , what was later

01:06:13.820 --> 01:06:16.340
identified as a um

01:06:16.340 --> 01:06:19.929
uh an engine from , from , from an A6

01:06:20.340 --> 01:06:22.451
aircraft . So we , we believe that we

01:06:22.451 --> 01:06:24.451
had found , uh , a portion of ReFNO

01:06:24.451 --> 01:06:27.409
0148 the only A6 , uh , in , in that

01:06:27.409 --> 01:06:31.340
area . Um , so

01:06:31.340 --> 01:06:33.451
we were talking , you know , I talked

01:06:33.451 --> 01:06:35.618
about the magnetometer and the utility

01:06:35.618 --> 01:06:35.379
of the magnetometer . This is a good

01:06:35.379 --> 01:06:38.219
example of where it's , it's sort of

01:06:38.219 --> 01:06:40.580
more useful to use it in in refining

01:06:40.580 --> 01:06:42.469
what you found . So we found this

01:06:42.469 --> 01:06:44.302
engine , right ? We , we sort of

01:06:44.302 --> 01:06:46.136
quickly identified it was barely

01:06:46.136 --> 01:06:48.136
sticking up from , from the mud and

01:06:48.136 --> 01:06:50.247
maybe we had that much sticking out .

01:06:50.247 --> 01:06:49.899
How we even saw it on the on the side

01:06:49.899 --> 01:06:53.560
scan was pretty remarkable . Um , so we ,

01:06:53.590 --> 01:06:55.812
we documented it . So what we did is we

01:06:55.812 --> 01:06:57.979
ran the magnetometer because we said ,

01:06:57.979 --> 01:07:00.146
oh , OK , the engine's almost buried ,

01:07:00.146 --> 01:07:02.257
maybe the rest of the aircraft is all

01:07:02.257 --> 01:07:04.368
just buried under the sediment here .

01:07:04.368 --> 01:07:06.423
Uh , and we ran the magnetometer and

01:07:06.423 --> 01:07:06.389
what it proved to us is that there was

01:07:06.389 --> 01:07:08.556
no other magnetic signatures . I had a

01:07:08.556 --> 01:07:10.500
very large . Signature you can see

01:07:10.500 --> 01:07:12.667
there that blue squiggly line uh right

01:07:12.667 --> 01:07:14.833
on where the engine was but everything

01:07:14.833 --> 01:07:17.056
else was sterile so it let us know that

01:07:17.056 --> 01:07:19.056
this was an isolated portion of the

01:07:19.056 --> 01:07:21.222
aircraft of course the engine probably

01:07:21.222 --> 01:07:20.810
not associated with with the

01:07:20.810 --> 01:07:22.643
individuals , so we need to keep

01:07:22.643 --> 01:07:24.866
looking further for for the rest of the

01:07:24.866 --> 01:07:27.088
aircraft . Uh , this is just sort of an

01:07:27.088 --> 01:07:29.254
example of some of the pictures of the

01:07:29.254 --> 01:07:31.366
aircraft and portions of the aircraft

01:07:31.366 --> 01:07:33.477
that we were able to take exemplar of

01:07:33.477 --> 01:07:35.699
photos and sort of match up portions to

01:07:35.699 --> 01:07:37.866
prove that this indeed was not only an

01:07:37.866 --> 01:07:39.921
aircraft engine , but the exact type

01:07:39.921 --> 01:07:42.060
from an A6 correlating it to to the

01:07:42.060 --> 01:07:45.889
site . Uh , so in 2024 , we went

01:07:45.889 --> 01:07:48.419
back . Uh , the idea was , OK , we

01:07:48.419 --> 01:07:52.070
found a portion . Of this a 6 , let's

01:07:52.070 --> 01:07:54.500
try to extend and see where where maybe

01:07:54.500 --> 01:07:56.444
we can find the rest of it . So we

01:07:56.444 --> 01:07:58.889
extended our survey . Uh , to , to the

01:07:58.889 --> 01:08:01.056
south and west , and we basically , we

01:08:01.056 --> 01:08:03.169
took a , uh , you know , did a radial

01:08:03.169 --> 01:08:05.225
sort of circle around the engine and

01:08:05.225 --> 01:08:07.280
said , OK , probability known from ,

01:08:07.330 --> 01:08:09.330
you know , what we know about wreck

01:08:09.330 --> 01:08:11.386
dispersion and stuff and high impact

01:08:11.386 --> 01:08:13.497
high speed impacts , you know , if we

01:08:13.497 --> 01:08:15.909
do a 33 kilometer radius from that

01:08:15.909 --> 01:08:18.040
engine , that should be enough to say

01:08:18.290 --> 01:08:20.568
whether there is a larger debris field .

01:08:20.568 --> 01:08:22.512
We ran all through there . We , we

01:08:22.512 --> 01:08:24.512
found one . One additional piece of

01:08:24.512 --> 01:08:27.089
wreckage . It was sort of aluminum skin ,

01:08:27.259 --> 01:08:29.537
you know , definitely aircraft related .

01:08:29.537 --> 01:08:31.899
I couldn't tell you for sure if it , if

01:08:31.899 --> 01:08:35.140
it is from the same aircraft , uh , but ,

01:08:35.180 --> 01:08:37.259
but it appears to be the problem is

01:08:37.259 --> 01:08:39.481
again it's isolated . There was nothing

01:08:39.481 --> 01:08:41.537
else around it . It had fishing nets

01:08:41.537 --> 01:08:45.419
all over it , and it was like 1.75

01:08:45.419 --> 01:08:48.779
kilometers away . Now , another

01:08:48.779 --> 01:08:50.959
interesting thing about this case is

01:08:52.089 --> 01:08:55.089
that there were multiple witnesses that

01:08:55.089 --> 01:08:58.120
were documented by by DPAA over the

01:08:58.120 --> 01:09:00.290
years that that were stationed on Blov

01:09:00.290 --> 01:09:02.930
and they told where they saw planes

01:09:02.930 --> 01:09:05.450
that they shot down crash . And so with

01:09:05.450 --> 01:09:08.359
the A6 , uh , all of the witness

01:09:08.359 --> 01:09:10.526
statements said that it crashed within

01:09:10.526 --> 01:09:13.048
1 kilometer of , of the island . Uh ,

01:09:13.128 --> 01:09:15.909
the engine was found 7 kilometers from

01:09:15.909 --> 01:09:17.798
the island and the other pieces ,

01:09:17.798 --> 01:09:20.699
another 1.75 , so , uh , like 8 ,

01:09:20.729 --> 01:09:22.729
almost , almost 9 kilometers from ,

01:09:22.729 --> 01:09:26.469
from the island . Um , so in ,

01:09:26.568 --> 01:09:28.401
in conclusion , just a couple of

01:09:28.401 --> 01:09:30.720
remarks , um . One ,

01:09:33.020 --> 01:09:35.930
even with state of the art technology ,

01:09:36.379 --> 01:09:39.660
uh , it is very difficult to find

01:09:39.660 --> 01:09:42.859
things underwater . The ocean is

01:09:42.859 --> 01:09:45.890
extremely large , it's very unforgiving ,

01:09:46.220 --> 01:09:48.331
uh , particularly the climate over in

01:09:48.331 --> 01:09:51.548
Vietnam . Um , so it's it's , it's a

01:09:51.548 --> 01:09:55.028
very tough go , uh , to , to , to find

01:09:55.028 --> 01:09:57.028
anything . I , I , I have countless

01:09:57.028 --> 01:09:59.084
examples . I showed you the one from

01:09:59.084 --> 01:10:00.861
Papua New Guinea , where I have

01:10:01.309 --> 01:10:05.028
photographs of the plane crashing with

01:10:05.028 --> 01:10:07.185
background . of , of , of the , uh ,

01:10:07.194 --> 01:10:09.361
the land that I can match up or I have

01:10:09.361 --> 01:10:11.527
one that I'm , I have a ship . I found

01:10:11.527 --> 01:10:13.472
the ship , the airplane . I have a

01:10:13.472 --> 01:10:15.805
picture of it crashing next to the ship .

01:10:15.805 --> 01:10:17.805
I can't find the airplane . So even

01:10:17.805 --> 01:10:19.972
with , with this amazing evidence , it

01:10:19.972 --> 01:10:22.194
could be very difficult , unfortunately

01:10:22.194 --> 01:10:24.138
to find some of these sites . Um ,

01:10:24.138 --> 01:10:26.305
witness statements , as I said in that

01:10:26.305 --> 01:10:28.250
last one , you know , we , we love

01:10:28.250 --> 01:10:30.305
witness statements , whether they're

01:10:30.305 --> 01:10:32.361
from , uh , the Vietnamese or from ,

01:10:32.361 --> 01:10:34.638
you know , wingmen and stuff like that .

01:10:34.638 --> 01:10:36.694
Uh , but they're not always the most

01:10:36.694 --> 01:10:38.861
accurate , right ? In the fog of war ,

01:10:38.861 --> 01:10:40.861
you know , it's , it's hard to know

01:10:40.861 --> 01:10:42.805
exactly like where you are , where

01:10:42.805 --> 01:10:42.770
you're you're pinpointing , and so you

01:10:42.770 --> 01:10:44.659
always have to take those witness

01:10:44.659 --> 01:10:46.937
statements with , with a grain of salt .

01:10:46.937 --> 01:10:48.937
That being said , I mean they are ,

01:10:48.937 --> 01:10:50.770
they are useful . They give us a

01:10:50.770 --> 01:10:50.689
starting point , but oftentimes we

01:10:50.689 --> 01:10:52.856
might have to explain . And our survey

01:10:52.856 --> 01:10:55.500
beyond what that witness statement says

01:10:55.500 --> 01:10:58.899
and anecdotally it seems that people

01:10:58.899 --> 01:11:01.121
always underestimate . I , I can't tell

01:11:01.121 --> 01:11:03.232
you how many wrecks we have that were

01:11:03.232 --> 01:11:05.343
crashed , you know , 1 kilometer from

01:11:05.343 --> 01:11:07.010
shore and we find them 4 or 5

01:11:07.010 --> 01:11:08.732
kilometers from shore . That's

01:11:08.732 --> 01:11:10.843
typically how it , how it goes , um ,

01:11:10.843 --> 01:11:12.955
in Vietnam , and we , and we see this

01:11:12.955 --> 01:11:15.010
in other parts of the world too . We

01:11:15.010 --> 01:11:17.121
see this a lot in the Mediterranean .

01:11:17.121 --> 01:11:19.232
Uh , you know , unfortunately there's

01:11:19.232 --> 01:11:21.399
been a lot of heavy salvage done in in

01:11:21.399 --> 01:11:23.621
Vietnam over the years . Fishermen snag

01:11:23.621 --> 01:11:23.399
these things . They're doing a lot of

01:11:23.399 --> 01:11:25.732
drag netting and stuff . They snag them .

01:11:25.732 --> 01:11:27.955
So either by accident they're , they're

01:11:27.955 --> 01:11:30.121
pulling them , uh , or you know , they

01:11:30.121 --> 01:11:31.955
pulled them up for , for scrap .

01:11:31.959 --> 01:11:35.120
Despite all that though , it is still

01:11:35.120 --> 01:11:36.842
extremely valuable to go after

01:11:36.842 --> 01:11:38.799
underwater cases . We have the

01:11:38.799 --> 01:11:40.910
technology to find them . We have the

01:11:40.910 --> 01:11:43.077
technology to excavate them . Uh , and

01:11:43.077 --> 01:11:45.700
what we see in Vietnam is , uh , not

01:11:45.700 --> 01:11:47.978
only in Vietnam but all over the world ,

01:11:47.978 --> 01:11:50.620
underwater sites tend to have better

01:11:50.620 --> 01:11:52.620
preservation than land sites ,

01:11:52.850 --> 01:11:55.060
particularly for human remains in

01:11:55.060 --> 01:11:58.870
Vietnam , acidic soil does . Really

01:11:58.870 --> 01:12:02.029
bad damage to bones where underwater

01:12:02.029 --> 01:12:04.140
you get great preservation . And then

01:12:04.140 --> 01:12:06.140
the final thing is just so everyone

01:12:06.140 --> 01:12:08.362
should know , the Vietnamese people are

01:12:08.362 --> 01:12:10.362
extremely , extremely respectful of

01:12:10.362 --> 01:12:12.585
this mission , and every encounter that

01:12:12.585 --> 01:12:12.549
I've had they've been extremely

01:12:12.549 --> 01:12:15.790
supportive of it . Um , and

01:12:16.830 --> 01:12:19.052
you know , one thing that sticks out is

01:12:19.052 --> 01:12:21.470
when we first found Major Abili , they

01:12:21.470 --> 01:12:23.692
came to us and they asked if they could

01:12:23.692 --> 01:12:26.390
do a ceremony for his , his sort of

01:12:26.390 --> 01:12:28.446
spirit and his , his remains , and I

01:12:28.446 --> 01:12:30.557
found that extremely touching and and

01:12:30.557 --> 01:12:32.723
moving . So I'll leave you with that .

01:12:32.723 --> 01:12:34.834
Uh , I , I really appreciate you guys

01:12:34.834 --> 01:12:37.112
giving me a chance to talk to you , uh ,

01:12:37.112 --> 01:12:36.310
and I'll be around for questions

01:12:36.310 --> 01:12:39.770
afterwards . And

01:12:45.470 --> 01:12:48.200
So as you saw in your bio , we benefit

01:12:48.200 --> 01:12:50.200
from the fact that Drew is a 4 year

01:12:50.200 --> 01:12:53.120
alumnus of this mission . So while we

01:12:53.120 --> 01:12:55.680
lost him , academia , we brought him

01:12:55.680 --> 01:12:58.080
back as a partner . Two observations to

01:12:58.080 --> 01:13:01.259
share with you . Number 1 ,

01:13:02.609 --> 01:13:05.439
it took us 3 years , 3 years to

01:13:05.439 --> 01:13:07.759
convince the Vietnamese that putting a

01:13:07.759 --> 01:13:10.655
private partner into Vietnam . Was not

01:13:10.655 --> 01:13:12.877
going to be cataclysmic , was not going

01:13:12.877 --> 01:13:16.655
to be the end of the world for 3 years

01:13:16.655 --> 01:13:19.645
it was excuse after excuse after excuse

01:13:20.215 --> 01:13:22.286
until finally they said yes .

01:13:24.096 --> 01:13:27.815
Underwater mission and the yes was

01:13:27.815 --> 01:13:30.496
cripps . One of the things we kept

01:13:30.496 --> 01:13:33.496
telling them was they are us .

01:13:35.231 --> 01:13:37.398
So while this may be new , this may be

01:13:37.398 --> 01:13:39.481
different to you , they are us .

01:13:41.271 --> 01:13:43.832
Not only did that result in scripts

01:13:43.832 --> 01:13:46.021
going back multiple times as you saw ,

01:13:46.472 --> 01:13:49.901
but also we have added a second partner

01:13:50.312 --> 01:13:53.662
into Vietnam . So again , we're very

01:13:53.662 --> 01:13:55.773
grateful to the Vietnamese government

01:13:55.773 --> 01:13:57.995
for recognizing the value of partners .

01:13:57.995 --> 01:14:00.218
I'll leave you the second observation .

01:14:00.259 --> 01:14:02.370
You saw the cool technology . You see

01:14:02.370 --> 01:14:04.419
the talent in front of you . What

01:14:04.419 --> 01:14:06.586
partners bring every single one of the

01:14:06.586 --> 01:14:09.529
106 private partners that we have .

01:14:10.540 --> 01:14:12.762
The other thing , and this is the , the

01:14:12.762 --> 01:14:14.873
magic , the other thing they bring is

01:14:14.873 --> 01:14:17.069
passion . You will go to a partner

01:14:17.069 --> 01:14:19.259
excavation , a partner investigation ,

01:14:19.470 --> 01:14:22.259
and you will think that these , these

01:14:22.259 --> 01:14:25.419
are DPA military and civilian

01:14:25.419 --> 01:14:28.270
employees . Absolutely incredible . you

01:14:28.270 --> 01:14:30.850
on behalf of DPA and the families ,

01:14:31.549 --> 01:14:32.379
thanks very much .