WEBVTT

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So if you can just start by telling us

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how you got here . Okay .

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Start with . Okay , well , my agency

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has been here since 2000 and two USDA

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were um domestic agency but were loaned

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out to the foreign eggs service . And

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what we provide is technical assistance

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to the military and the Afghan gyro

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officials on agricultural based on soul

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erosion , water quality . Anything we

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back home , we influence farm bill . So

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we do , we walk farms , we do

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engineering practices , we um improve

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production , um reduce soul erosion and

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improve water quality . So we're kind

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of ideal for technical assistance here

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in Afghanistan . It's like going back

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before the Dust bowl in America . So we

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we don't have money . We just have

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technical assistance we provide to

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everybody . So um so my agency has done

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this and the all the guys and women who

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have come back from Afghanistan and

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Iraq said it was the most rewarding

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thing they've ever done in their career .

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So I wanted to do it then . My son

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joins the Marine Corps and I've never

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been so proud on that deck to watch all

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these guys graduate and commit to the

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service . So that also pushed me to

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want to come over and be part of the

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military mission . Then he came over in

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May . So I've seen him once in august ,

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I got to go down to Geronimo and we're

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only supposed to have an afternoon

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together , but we ended up having 2.5

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days together . So that was cool . So ,

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okay , so you came to Afghanistan .

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Uh the end of May . Okay . So the enema

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you graduated and you got orders to

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Afghanistan ? Yeah . Well I've been in

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since January 2009 and then

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they they they gave me the phone call .

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We got activated . We're going .

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And how did you feel ? Pretty good ? I

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had to do something since she was

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already here for a year and she was

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like showing me up couldn't just today .

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All right . And how was it the first

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time that you saw your mom ?

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She was well , they flew me into the

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Geronimo on the field or drive me back

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and I just dropped my stuff down and

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then all of a sudden solar out the

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window . So I was pretty crazy just to

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see your mom outside when you're

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sitting still all of this and then all

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this in your mom's here pretty crazy

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And your experiences here overall just

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working with the military and the

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afghans have , there's oh , it has been

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the best thing in my career . Um Just

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to see for one thing I like , I've

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never been with the military . My

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father was a chemical engineer with as

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a civilian agent Orange and all the bad

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things . Chemical engineering . But to

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actually be working and living with

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them , it's been um enlightening . Um ,

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I just , I have huge respect for the

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military and the dedication that

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everyone does . I hope to , even though

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I go back to the Department of

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Agriculture , I hope to also be able to

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lobby for you guys because I've seen a

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lot . You know you do give up a lot .

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Um and I don't think the american

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public realize the sacrifices you all

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make . Are you both leaving together ?

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Sorry ? No , I'm leaving in a couple

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days and she leaves now . What did

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you both do on thanksgiving ?

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Yeah . Turkey .

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Yeah defect five . Yeah .

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Actually we beat the crowd because when

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we came out it was because Lewis had he

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had to have those weapons . So he has

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Saul and he had his M . Four and we're

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coming out of the defect and everybody

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was staring at him and be coming out

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and I'm sure they didn't know who we

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were but it was you know he's

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definitely battled came from the field

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battle guy . So uh it just was cool .

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Um it was an accident . It happened you

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know we I thought he'd be here the 18th

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but ended up being he came in because I

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went out to aid act to find him . But

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it was cool to be able to stand out

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there now that the flight line and be

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able to talk to your son half a world

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away on thanksgiving day who'd have

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thought but but I missed you know we

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missed last year . So um christmas and

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thanksgiving so to be in Afghanistan

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celebrate with and I tell everybody is

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the best thanksgiving I could have .

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What do you think about your mom being

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in Afghanistan . Um I didn't like it at

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first but then I guess her being here

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wasn't bad . Yeah . I didn't like it as

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much when she was going out before like

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outside the wire . But now that she's

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here is she seems pretty safe . Were

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you surprised when she

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with Yeah . The stuff she was telling

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me . I was surprised that she was

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seeing and doing that kind of stuff .

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Yeah . I come and help her out . And

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how do you feel about your mom's

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mission with the fruits and the

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vegetables being grown up on a farm And

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pretty good thing . She's doing a lot

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more than a lot of people said I'm very

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proud of her . So it's nice to had the

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reverse rule there , be proud of her

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and whatnot . We're gonna have such

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stories around the kitchen table .

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Usually it's the father or the uncle

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but I always tell everybody Lewis and

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I'll have a drink over some pretty good

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store and who have

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thought knowing that she's

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been out and done things like how does

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that kind of make you make you feel um

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It makes me feel like all the

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stuff I did and seeing um she can

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relate and at least somewhere not

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exactly all of it but you know she

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knows exactly what I'm talking about .

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Usually when you get home even like

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just telling a joke or a story . Nobody

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can really relate because they have no

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idea what you're talking about . You

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know , they don't know what it was like

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what you did or kind of people you see

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just anything like , you know what

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Tesco or just something like that and

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then you're , you know , you can tell

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everything to your mother and be like ,

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she knows with like snap the cps are .

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Yeah , anything you can think of , she

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can relate and you just talk about it .

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Whereas most people in the game that

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kind of close it all off . You know ,

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really anybody talked to about it , but

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it's like I'm pretty sick .