WEBVTT

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Well today we got a mission to remove

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the barrier material that was blocking

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the road from the A . B . L . All the

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way to the customs checkpoint at Gate

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one and as

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K four's mission is to ensure

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that we have freedom of movement

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throughout all of Kosovo . So our

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intention was to remove all the barrier

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material and all the snow from the A .

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B . L . Up to Gate one were used the

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Swiss pioneer teams , we've used the

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Austrian Snowplow team , american

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soldiers and polish soldiers for

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security . So it's truly a

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multinational effort . Roadblock has

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been in place since I believe september

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the Kosovo . Serbians object

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to the Albanian officers from the

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Customs Department being on Gate one

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and so they decided to place a places

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barrier material on the road so that

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the Kosovo serbians that transition

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between Serbia and Kosovo have to use

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alternate routes . There's been a lot

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of other operations going on . The

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first set of operations was to get the

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road blocks south of here removed or at

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least made passable . So we've been

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working on those since we arrived in

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late november early december to get the

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road blocks south of here removed or at

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least made passable so that our forces

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could move freely in the area . This

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was the last priority for us . Mhm .

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The planning of the operation started

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about a week ago when we were asked to

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plan to remove the roadblock and

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identify where the A . B . L . Was on

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the ground . As soon as we identified

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where the A . B . L . Was , we started

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to do a few reconnaissance trips up

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here to see the exact location , the

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types of barrier materials that were on

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the road . Once we identified that we

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knew what equipment we need and we

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started to develop a plan . The actual

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plan took shape over the last couple of

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days that it would be a multi phased

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approach phase , one would be removing

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all the snow up to the initial

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barricade and then after that barricade

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would use the swiss pioneers to reduce

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those barricades and then eventually

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phase for would be to plow the snow off

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the road all the way up to the A . B .

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L . It's worked , it's worked great .

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The uh each continued has brought an

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english speaker with them and they

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coordinated with me as we got up here

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on the ground , we looked at the

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different obstacles barrier material

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that was here and we decided on a way

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to defeat each barrier . And uh the

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fact that they sent english speakers

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with him helped out a lot because I

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don't speak any other languages , I

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think the best part of it is the

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multinational team working together to

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accomplish the mission . And as you can

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see behind me , we've got the swiss

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working with their pioneer teams ,

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we've got the Austrian snowplows ,

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they're working together real well to

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get this obstacle reduced and out of

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the way so we can open up the roadway .

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Mhm