WEBVTT

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Colonel Andy Hall and the commander of

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the Six 48th maneuver enhancement

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brigade , located in headquarters in

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columbus Georgia .

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It is a maneuver enhancement brigade is

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a multifunctional brigade uh that is

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designed to be tailored and force

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package for particular missions . A

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maneuver enhancement brigade has

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habitual relationships and doctrinally

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tries to line up with three disciplines

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and those disciplines are engineers ,

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chemical and military police . However ,

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we do have the ability to assume other

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units and other missions . We have a

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robust brigade headquarters with a

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tremendous amount of uh talent and

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skills and a wide range of mission sets

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at our headquarters level .

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Well , the 6:48 is uh as as most know

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here in the state of Georgia is

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preparing for deployment in support of

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operation enduring freedom in

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Afghanistan . Uh in addition to that ,

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we have other units that were

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responsible for getting ready to deploy .

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We have some that are currently

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deployed and some who are currently re

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in integrating , coming back from

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deployment and uh specifically what's

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going on here today and and most of our

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focus right now is on the headquarters

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elements leaving the state of Georgia

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and deployed for a year to Afghanistan .

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Well , our mission in Afghanistan is

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going to be areas , support operations

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for uh the Kabul-based cluster , uh

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that's the capital , uh and there's 11

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base camps and fobs and garrison uh

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commands over there that we will be

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responsible for . What we have to do

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for those is we have to resource them ,

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we have to provide uh force protection

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for them . We provide the basic

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services for our soldiers and

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contractors that are living on those

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basis . Um And we uh we do military

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construction projects and we'll do some

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projects for the afghan people

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themselves .

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Well , you know , it is a multi

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functional uh brigade and and there's

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really no one in the army that has uh

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the breath of knowledge to be an expert

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in all the disciplines that we have in

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this brigade . Uh So while my

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background is an infantry officer and

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commanding an infantry battalion

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doesn't uh completely transfer over .

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What we what we have to do is make sure

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we got the right people in the right

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positions in the right experts . And

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that's really what we bring uh bring to

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the battlefield is a breath of

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knowledge and experience um all

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packaged under one command . And and

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while that's not unique , it's

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certainly it certainly is an advantage

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that that we have is an M . E . B . Is

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the ability to go in and deal with

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diverse mission sets . And we do that

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with with our headquarters that has all

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these disciplines in it . So I wouldn't

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say that I bring uh you know , I've had

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a background that has perfectly suited

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me for uh this brigade , but neither

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has any of our staff . What we do is uh

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is we manage and we run a decision

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cycle that gets us to the right

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decision through diversity of thought

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and bringing people together and ideas

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and produce timely and hopefully on

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target decisions for the brigade . Sure ,

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that's our brigade headquarters . The

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brigade headquarters element will move

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forward into theater and we will assume

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units once we get over there will also

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assume a lot of contract workers will

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actually even pick up uh some Air force

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units and we'll use that team over

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there to conduct the mission that we

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need to in the Kabul based cluster

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mission . And then we will stand up a

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rear debt staff uh for back here ,

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stateside to manage our units that we

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left behind . Now , many of those units

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will also be deploying themselves as

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smaller elements and that'll be a big

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part of what our deputy commander in

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the rear here and his team will do is

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support them in their efforts and

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getting them ready to deploy on

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separate missions throughout the world .

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Okay , well obviously we can't do it

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alone . We have to have uh support from

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our family members . We have to have

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support from our extended family . We

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have to have support from our employers ,

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a tremendous asset that we happen to

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have here in Georgia are our employers

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are very supportive , relatively

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speaking . I mean around the nation .

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I've traveled around the nation and

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I've never seen quite the support that

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I see here in Georgia are

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our employers will have stood up and

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will continue to stand up to help us

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take care of family and then we

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organized through family readiness

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groups and our rear debt commands uh to

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make sure that they're getting all the

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benefits and all the systems in place

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and all the information that they need

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at the right time . And then we will

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have weekly video teleconferences with

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our rear unit to keep us up on how

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things are going with our families .

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And of course families talk through

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social media , uh facebook and other

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mediums . We do know what's going on in

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the rear obviously . And so but you

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know , our families are our families

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are the are the ones that are really

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sacrificing here . I mean our soldiers

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at least we get the adventure . But our

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family members are the ones who really

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sacrificed and and sometimes that that

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goes a little unnoticed as we go out

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when the flags are being waved in our

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honor ? Uh we we get a lot of the

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attention . Um , but uh but we

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certainly know the importance of our

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our families and and and their

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sacrifice and for that . You know ,

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there truly are heroes and as well as

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our employers in our community that

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support Well , you know , there's

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always a little anxiety with the

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unknown and we certainly are living in

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interesting times right now with the

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political environment to what we're

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seeing on on on CNN and Fox news in the

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evening , the recent announcement from

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the president about the drawdown and

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how that will impact our mission for

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that for us . Will we be asked to do

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more with less ? Uh will we get mission

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creep ? Will we will we increase in uh ,

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mission and personnel assigned over

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there ? Well , some of this transfer to

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contract support and the uncertainty of

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paying people from other countries that

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were not from .