WEBVTT

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my name is Flight Lieutenant Katie

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Maldon , a member of the United Kingdom

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Royal Air Force and I'm here at the

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NATO training mission , doing strategic

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communications . Mhm .

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Yeah , yeah , yeah .

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I wasn't in America on 9 11 , but I

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along with probably everybody else

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knows exactly where they were on 9 11 ,

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it was obviously a very significant

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event and at the time as a university ,

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I was in second year and I didn't think

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it would affect me other than in a

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memory . Um however , uh 10 years on ,

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I'm serving in the Royal Air Force .

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This is my third tour , two tours in

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the Helmand region , which is where the

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United Kingdom has the lead and is

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possibly one of the most dangerous and

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difficult regions at the Air Force and

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the british forces in total have ever

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served . Following World War Two . I

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see we've had severe losses . People ,

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I've known my predecessor and my first

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tour was killed , I've known several

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people who have been injured and I also

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served with the cruise on the

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helicopter force who rescued these

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people . So not only did I see people

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coming back injured , um severely

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injured , um I also saw many afghans

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come back . One thing , we must never

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forget the sacrifices the afghans are

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making here as well . Um nothing has

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ever swayed anybody I've worked with

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against doing their very best for the

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mission that we have out here and I'm

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astonished , amazed , impressed by the

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dedication that I've seen and also the

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best out of the human spirit that I've

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seen through adversities through

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difficulties regardless of what happens

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to me after this third , to hear

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whether I go on to do different things .

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I will always remember the people I've

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served with , the people I've known and

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lost and I will take their courage and

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their spirit from here onwards , it's

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been a very poignant time of my life

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and it's um it's quite

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difficult to talk about . It's quite

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difficult to remember the people , but

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they were the best of the people . So

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it was such a huge effect on me . So

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yeah , 9 11 was the trigger for all of

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this . But United Kingdom was very ,

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very pleased and proud to stand beside

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the United States Following the Tragic

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event . That was 9 11 .