Inside the Army's $16 million war games built to battle China — FULL DOCUMENTARY

As tension builds in the Indo-Pacific region, the United States Army trains warfighters to be ready for combat in the event of a military conflict with China.

After producing a documentary about the US Army's Jungle Operations Training Course on Oahu, Business Insider's chief video correspondent Graham Flanagan returned to Hawaii to embed with the Army's 25th Infantry Division in November 2023 for a two-week training exercise with over 5,000 participants, including members of foreign militaries like the Royal Thai Army and the New Zealand Defence Force.

The event, known as JPMRC, or Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center, pits the Army's 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, known as the Bronco Brigade or Bluefor, against an opposing force, Opfor, played by another brigade of Army soldiers in a sprawling war-games exercise held across the Hawaiian islands.

Flanagan follows Bluefor's Charlie Company as it braces for battle with Opfor on the desolate, lava-rock-laden Pohakuloa Training Area on the island of Hawaii. Charlie Company's ranking noncommissioned officer is 1st Sgt. Stewart Fletcher, an eccentric and seasoned combat veteran who now leads a new generation of soldiers who have yet to experience the reality of war.