WEBVTT

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we have the distinct honor of being

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able to speak with commander Major ,

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Danford J Espino , who is the first

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theater sustainment commands , Command ,

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Sergeant major , um thank you for being

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with us today . I really appreciate it .

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So we're gonna talk about your career

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over the time since you're getting

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ready to retire . Um , and can you

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tell us what were some of the reasons

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that you joined the army ? As I

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remember back in 1979 when I was a

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senior in high school , many of the

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students that were with me and there

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were a couple who enlisted with me uh

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back in those days as I remember we

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were looking for a little bit of

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direction adventure , uh kind of

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structure and discipline and , and not

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to mention the fact that at the time I

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knew I wasn't going to college , but I

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also realized that I needed to do

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something . And so basically what I was

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looking for is something to give me a

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good head start in life and I chose to

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enlist in the army . And I can honestly

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say that is the best decision I made .

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What challenges did you face early on

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that made you a better leader ? You

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know , I thought long and hard about

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answering that question . And one of

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the things that I remember back when I

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was a young soldiers back in those days ,

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we didn't have what we have today is a

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good sponsor or a mentor coach that

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basically takes you from the time you

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get into a unit and show you how to do

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things back in those days . I remember

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that you were given a what we call a

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sponsor but the sponsors just kind of

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uh he told you if you need me , called

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me , I'm here for you . But there was

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not a whole lot of mentoring and I

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guess you you don't know what you're

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missing until if you don't have you

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don't know what you're missing . And

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back in those days I remember I

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basically had to learn kind of on my

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own some things and as I became an NGO

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llorona , realize uh that that's

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something that we were like an army but

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that eventually was introduced in our

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army , I would say in the mid to late

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eighties when the army started to have

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more sponsorship and the squad leaders

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were actually more involved and and and

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and teaching mentoring young soldiers

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and which eventually became N . C . O .

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So for me I think well that was one of

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the biggest challenges that we had back

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in early in my career . You started

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your career here as a private in the

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first Corps Support Command . Um and

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how has your career come full circle

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now that you've come back to be the

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unit Senior enlisted advisor . I came

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here , I remember in january 1981 as a

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private right out of a I . T . And back

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then it was the first Corps Support

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command . I was assigned to the 5 46

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transportation Company . Um And as I

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remember back in those days , the first

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Corps Support Command was a a force

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provider . I mean , it had a lot of

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troops in our formation , which is not

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the case today . So I watched it evolve

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over the years and like most

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organizations in the army , it

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transformed . I was back here again in

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1999 and it was still the first cost

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come , but it was an airborne unit ,

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which it was not back in 1981 when I

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first came to the first . Yes , your

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first cost come . And then of course it

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evolved into the first year sustainment

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command , which it is today . It's an

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organizational logistical headquarters

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and operational headquarters with a

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mission to sustain the warfighter . As

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you look back over your career , what

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are some of the things that you think

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that you'll miss about being in the

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uniform ? It's the camaraderie were in

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the uniform . I think

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the the most common thing that

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unites us together I think is this bond

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that we all have soldiers is that we

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all came voluntarily , nobody forces to

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come in . We also , I think we all

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share that bond . It's a very strong

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bond that we all made that pledge ,

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that commitment to defend our nation to

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be in this great country of ours and

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his greatest army that there is and

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that we prepared . I mean , we stand

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ready to defend our nation against

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anyone . Well , the first TSC supported

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the biggest draw down in history . Um ,

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how should logistics soldiers see their

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mission accomplishments ? Well , I'll

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tell you they should be proud because

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in less time we've accomplished

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something that was thought to be

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impossible . Uh , the color logistics

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miracle , the fact that we were able to

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get , uh , thousands and thousands of

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pieces of equipment and containers out

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of Iraq in such a short period of time

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for my tortilla december . Well , as

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you get ready to turn over the reins to

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SAR major Tobin . Um , is there any

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last minute advice or anything else

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you'd like to add ? You know , you hear

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this often , you know , if you want to

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retire or as I call it , I'd rather

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call it . I like to transition from the

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army . But if you want to retire from

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the service that you want to do while

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you're on top , I'll tell you if to me ,

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uh , if not being a part of this

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organization which has accomplished so

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much and , and , and , and during my

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time to me if being a part of this

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organization who I can probably say has ,

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has written and another great chapter

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in the history of this organization ,

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If not , is not considered being on top .

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I don't know what else is . So I can

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retire proud that I can tell my

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grandkids one day that I was part of

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this history that this organization did

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in 2011 . Well , thank you very , very

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much for coming in and sitting down and

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talking with us . Um , it was a great

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pleasure to be able to serve with you ,

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and we really appreciate it . Well ,

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thank you for having me . And , uh , we

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must see each other again . I hope we

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do .