WEBVTT

00:00.340 --> 00:03.160
Mhm . 321 .

00:05.940 --> 00:08.051
This christmas , Michael Jenkins will

00:08.051 --> 00:10.162
be spending the holidays thousands of

00:10.162 --> 00:12.218
miles away from home . The North Sea

00:12.218 --> 00:14.329
City . South Dakota native is a lance

00:14.329 --> 00:16.384
corporal in the United States Marine

00:16.384 --> 00:18.607
Corps . He stationed in Afghanistan and

00:18.607 --> 00:20.718
joins us via satellite this morning .

00:20.718 --> 00:20.470
Good morning , Michael , Welcome home ,

00:20.480 --> 00:24.270
so to speak . Good morning , ma'am . So

00:24.270 --> 00:26.048
how long have you been deployed

00:26.048 --> 00:28.410
overseas right now ? Currently have

00:28.410 --> 00:30.354
been here about a month and a half

00:30.354 --> 00:32.466
months , a month and a half . He just

00:32.466 --> 00:34.243
left . What is december like in

00:34.243 --> 00:36.021
Afghanistan ? Does it feel like

00:36.021 --> 00:38.132
christmas is just around the corner ?

00:38.340 --> 00:41.720
Um It's we we give it our best man . We

00:41.730 --> 00:44.630
uh there's decorations everywhere . Um

00:44.640 --> 00:46.529
It's definitely cold enough to be

00:46.529 --> 00:49.170
christmas . Have you ever spent the

00:49.170 --> 00:51.281
holidays away from home ? Will this ,

00:51.281 --> 00:53.392
will this be the first time for you ?

00:53.440 --> 00:55.570
Um No , ma'am . It won't . Uh when I

00:55.570 --> 00:57.681
first joined the marines in boot camp

00:57.681 --> 00:59.630
by joining in october so I missed

00:59.630 --> 01:01.960
Halloween thanksgiving christmas , New

01:01.960 --> 01:04.520
Year's . Um the following year I was at

01:04.520 --> 01:07.170
school . Yeah , I was at school . So ,

01:07.180 --> 01:09.700
um , I miss those holidays as well .

01:09.710 --> 01:11.821
And I briefly came home for christmas

01:11.821 --> 01:14.043
and most people were not there and then

01:14.043 --> 01:16.099
this year I'll be missing those same

01:16.099 --> 01:18.266
holidays . Well , we did hear that you

01:18.266 --> 01:20.377
have some future family with you . Is

01:20.377 --> 01:22.599
that right ? Is your fiance is deployed

01:22.599 --> 01:24.510
with you ? Yes , she is , ma'am .

01:24.850 --> 01:26.906
What's it like having her there with

01:26.906 --> 01:29.460
you ? Uh It's interesting . It's

01:29.460 --> 01:31.460
reassuring because I know she's all

01:31.460 --> 01:33.627
right . She knows I'm all right . So ,

01:33.627 --> 01:35.682
it doesn't have that long distance ,

01:35.682 --> 01:38.320
you know . Um there's , you know , no

01:38.320 --> 01:40.350
fear of anything happening to one

01:40.350 --> 01:43.650
another . It's uh

01:46.540 --> 01:48.373
I'm saying it's interesting just

01:48.373 --> 01:51.020
because we have offset offset shifts

01:51.030 --> 01:52.970
and we also have to keep it

01:52.970 --> 01:55.248
professional when we do see each other .

01:55.248 --> 01:57.359
So the five minutes that we do get to

01:57.359 --> 02:00.930
say hi to each other um is not as maybe

02:00.930 --> 02:03.152
intimate as we'd like , but at the same

02:03.152 --> 02:06.030
time it is good to see her . How did

02:06.030 --> 02:08.252
the two of you meet ? Did you meet back

02:08.252 --> 02:10.490
here in north the city ? No ma'am .

02:10.490 --> 02:13.550
She's from florida and she

02:14.040 --> 02:17.350
came to my unit um when they were last

02:17.350 --> 02:19.890
november and a friend that was in

02:19.900 --> 02:22.570
another unit uh was an ordinance marine .

02:22.570 --> 02:25.520
They went to boot camp together and we

02:25.520 --> 02:27.820
were friends . So they she introduced

02:27.820 --> 02:30.530
us and dropped her off at my room

02:30.540 --> 02:32.707
during field day , which is the weekly

02:32.707 --> 02:36.670
inspection . And she she

02:36.670 --> 02:38.837
and I hit it off . She then stalked me

02:38.837 --> 02:41.660
on facebook , found my number and we

02:41.660 --> 02:43.771
hung out that weekend and just things

02:43.771 --> 02:46.060
rolled on from there . Typical 21st

02:46.060 --> 02:49.460
Century Love Story . Right , definitely .

02:49.590 --> 02:51.900
How much longer will you be overseas in

02:51.900 --> 02:55.320
Afghanistan ? We should be returning

02:55.330 --> 02:57.730
sometime next spring deployments range

02:57.730 --> 03:00.060
from 6-7 months depending on logistics

03:00.540 --> 03:02.707
farm . Well hopefully your family will

03:02.707 --> 03:04.818
be watching this . What message would

03:04.818 --> 03:06.651
you like to pass on to them this

03:06.651 --> 03:08.818
holiday season . I just like to let my

03:08.818 --> 03:10.984
friends and family know I'm doing fine

03:10.984 --> 03:13.207
over here . I hope everyone's doing the

03:13.207 --> 03:14.984
same and just have a very merry

03:14.984 --> 03:17.040
christmas . Well , thank you so much

03:17.040 --> 03:19.040
for joining us this morning , merry

03:19.040 --> 03:20.984
christmas to you . Get home safe .

03:20.984 --> 03:23.390
Thank you , ma'am . And if you miss

03:23.400 --> 03:25.567
this segment or you just like to watch

03:25.567 --> 03:27.733
it again , you can always log onto our

03:27.733 --> 03:28.860
website can make 14.com slash sunrise .