WEBVTT

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I got this award when we're doing a

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mission and we're uh convoy security

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team were four truck element clearing

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the roads for the convoys behind us and

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we're looking for IEDs . So we're going

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slower than the average convoy goes and

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uh on the right side of the road ,

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obviously we didn't see it until I went

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boom , and I'd went off on the right

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side . And so

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we are we were slow down immediately

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because our engine was kind of messed

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up . So I dropped in the vehicle to see

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if everyone was ok and everyone said

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they were good . So , uh I jumped back

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up to try to look to see uh there's a

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trigger man out there and apparently

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somebody already saw him out there . So

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I was trying to look through my thermal ,

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but it wasn't working and for like a

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few seconds I was playing with the

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buttons on top , trying to figure out

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why it wasn't working and I looked back

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and half of was gone , so that's why it

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wasn't working . And so then

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I dropped back into the vehicle because

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my elbows looking hurting . So PSC

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Gates handed me his flashlights to look

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at my arm and I was bleeding . So I was

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I was hit and that's what I told

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everyone I'm hit . So Gates started

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doing Buddy eight on me to make sure to

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stop the bleeding until our medic got

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there to treat me . The colonel told me

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that he thought he never give up one of

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his awards , but he was and how proud

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he was of me for receiving this . And

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as a bonus , he told me if I was ever

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at a bar with him , he would never have

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to pay for a drink . Um This being the

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second time I received the purple heart ,

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I uh it makes me kind of just step back

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and think uh like if you look back and

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sister time people received two purple

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hearts , you kind of look at them with

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a lot of respect and honor and what

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they've done , and then I look at

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myself and I have to and I don't really

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put myself category of those people and

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you know , it's just kind of an honor

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and To have received one .