WEBVTT

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Mhm . Good

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morning , Captain . Good morning . You

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tell me your name and where uh there's

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a delay here . So I'm going to ask

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several questions . Give me your full

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name and uh what you do and how long

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you've been over there and how long

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you've been a part of 101st . Uh My

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name is Captain Cedric verden . Um I'm

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the company commander of charlie

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Company First Battalion 3 to 7 Infantry

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Regiment first D . C . T . And I've

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been here since september oh five .

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Okay , where do you live ? Where are

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you from ? I'm from gary indiana . But

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your station is 101st . Yes , ma'am .

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Okay , what is your job exactly entail ?

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What do you do day to day ? Um I

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conduct combat operations um in and

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around Kirkuk Iraq , which can then

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tell anything from village visits doing

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joint patrols with Iraqi police , Iraqi

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army , um kinetic operations . We

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have to do searches from insurgent safe

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havens and things like that . Okay . Uh

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I'm gonna get to a couple of the more

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topical things . Just your reaction to

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the three murders from the other day at

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the gentleman from uh 101st .

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My reaction on it is , it's a travesty .

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And it's sad that any time a soldier is

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killed in action , you can't really put

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a level of how frustrated you are when

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you lose a soldier , a brother in arms ,

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we just need to continue our focus and

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we were well and we'll catch the

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insurgents um time . You know , we just

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give us some time and we'll start ,

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we'll wear them down and get you get

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the desired end state . Did you know

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those three gentlemen personally ? No

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ma'am , I didn't . Okay , What's been

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the toughest thing for you over there

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so far ? You said you've been there

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since September of 05 ? Yes ,

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ma'am , I would say the toughest thing

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is uh you first come here , you have to

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basically get adapted to the culture .

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A lot of soldiers America , you know ,

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we have a culture shock coming here .

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Do you think one thing about Iraqi

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people , but you have to treat them

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like anybody else ? That way you could

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explore the human dimension in the

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hearts and minds of most Iraqi people

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because they do want help . But just

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because you have some bad people can't

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characterize all Iraqi people is bad .

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So basically just learning the culture

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was one tough thing then of course ,

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just um , you know , having soldiers

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missing home trying to explain to them

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different things who work wise of why

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we do what we do . But that's that's

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the challenge of any leadership level .

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We just have to instill in our soldiers

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the importance of what we're doing and

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that and also let them know that we are

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making a difference . Uh how many men

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are and and women do you oversee and um

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how does that change if at all ?

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Um I usually oversee 131

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male infantry soldiers . Currently I'm

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task organized with one heavy weapons

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platoon , which is approximately 18

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soldiers and then I have to rifle

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platoons , which is roughly 31 soldiers

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a piece . And currently I'm operational

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controls to aircraft squadron , which

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is always 58 Delta Uh

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surveillance helicopters and I'm a

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ground surveillance and reconnaissance

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troop for them . How long have you been

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in the military ? And how old are you ?

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And are you married ? You have Children .

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I've been in the military since

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February 1998 , which is a little of

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eight years . Yes , I am married uh and

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we are expecting a child in november .

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Well , what's it like being away from

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her as she's uh been pregnant ? What

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that meant ? Like that's tough .

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But she sends me the , get the weekly

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uh updates from like baby dot com so I

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can read up and then she sends me like

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pictures on her progress , things like

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that . So I mean it's tough but you

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still find a way to communicate And you

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know , I still feel like I'm a part of

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the whole process . So when I do get

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home and it's 12 weeks left , I could

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kind of be smart enough to know what's

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going on . Oh , you feel for the guys

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50 years ago who didn't have the

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Internet and the phones and stuff when

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they , can you imagine those guys

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having to go through what you're going

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through now . Yes , yes , ma'am I do ,

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I was stationed at um Mchenry first .

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We had a lot of technical challenges .

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Their limited phones , limited internet

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and it would , it would be sometimes I

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can email someone like maybe once ,

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twice a week and I didn't even by phone

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card because the line was too

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ridiculous to call . But now if bob

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warrior , they have little have more

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phones have access to in and out on a

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regular basis and I can only imagine

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even 10 years ago with the limited

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resources of Internet and telephones be

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pretty tough and you probably get

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writer's cramp from writing a lot of

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letters . I'm sure they would . How old

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are you ? I'm 31 years old .

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All right . Um , uh , some marines were

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killed overnight and in a in a roadside

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bomb . Your , your thoughts on that ,

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that seems to be what we're hearing are

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the most deaths come from , are those

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roadside bombs ? Yes , ma'am ,

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roadside bombs ? Um , it's just

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evolving , um , tactics from

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insurgents , what they do whatever they

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can to inflict most casualties . And uh ,

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it's like I said earlier , it's always

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a travesty anytime you lose a brother

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in arms . The military has done a great

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job of outfitted us with top of the

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line equipment , extra armor on the

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vehicles to try to mitigate any risk

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and save as many lives as well as

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jammers and any type of things that we

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can use or did you happen

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to be any part of the search for the

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two missing shoulders who were

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ultimately found dead ? No , ma'am .

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Mhm . Right , Yeah . What's been

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the most rewarding thing for you so far

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sir .

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Okay . Um I get

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a good a good feeling . Any time we do

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village visits with every um the Iraqi

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army and we visit schools , give out

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simple things like pencils , notebooks

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every now and then we have

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organizations from the U . S . That

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donate shoes clothes which are like

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goodwill material , but the Children to

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look on their face when they get a pair

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of shoes , it's just you can't beat it

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because like I said that one pair of

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shoes that somebody probably wore two

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or three times that Iraqi child

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probably gonna wear them until he

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busted the souls out of them . And it's

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always a rewarding feeling just to see

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him , like try to hug your leg or tell

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you , you know , thank you in Arabic .

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Speaking of the other language , how

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much have you had to learn of their

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language ? Have you been able to

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communicate ? I'm sure it's a little

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bit tough . It is . And that's one

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thing that I would share with people

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who were deploying Iraq's , you know ,

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take some time to learn some of the key

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phrases like thank you , you're welcome .

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I understand . Do you understand Hello ,

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the greeting of the day ? Different

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things . Like I said , culture . Just

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learning the culture of a country .

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Even if you were going on vacation to

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brazil , you wouldn't go to brazil and

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I know a phrase . So it's the same

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thing . I know some Arabic because I

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have meetings with sphere of influences

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in the area and it's all he goes a long

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way when you can say some phrases to

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the key leaders of Iraq . Mhm .

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As far as the Children go , that's

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pretty easy to see their faces . What

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about the adults that you've seen that ?

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How are they expressing their thanks

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to um

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the common culture where you visit a

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village , they invite you in for chai

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which is like their t most most people

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the adults have fairly friendly . Of

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course we have minimal contact with

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Iraqi females because that's their

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culture and it's a taboo . You don't

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even in the mingo or speak to my last

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man in the house is not there , but

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most of the Iraqi people as a whole ,

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even if we have to come in and do

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security checks in the middle of the

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night , they're fairly acceptable . And

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they know if we're there , we're there

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for the overall security um of the

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people of Iraq ? Uh What are your

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plans as how much longer are you in

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the In 100% . Do you plan to

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reenlist ? Is this a career for you ?

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What are your plans ? Well , I've been

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I'm almost at my 10 year mark and I

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think I'm gonna go ahead and stay in um

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I won't be in 100 and first once we

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redeploy probably hear a 90 day

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stabilization have a couple assignments

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on the horizon trying to do a exchange

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program , the Netherlands and there's a

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couple other options , but it depends

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on what the army give me . Uh , I'm

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looking forward to any challenge . Has

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the war in Iraq ? Was that already your

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plan before you went to Iraq or has

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anything over there made you change

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your mind and made you want to stay ?

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Why have you come to that decision ? Um

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Since I was a child , I always wanted

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to serve my country and I felt that

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defending your country is a noble man .

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You know , it's an honor to serve your

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country and then to defend your country

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is even more high spoken . The

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war in Iraq has been difficult . But

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when you see the greater good of what

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you do , you can understand that . You

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know , you can put things in the grasp

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of why you do what you do and you can

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feel good at the end of the day and

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even being in Iraq , I mean , I still

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don't change my mind of my my goals and

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army . Um , I know if if I'm putting

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the leader as a leader in a higher

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position , I can make a difference in

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any level . Uh yeah .

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What would you like to say to the folks

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here back in Tennessee who you know ,

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we're doing stories up in Clarksville

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all of the time . What would be the

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message that you would like to share

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with him about what you guys and gals

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are doing for , I like to , uh ,

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first start off with Ashland city there .

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Um , the charlie company's americans

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supporting America's adopted city and

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they're so awesome . Um , Fate Mcdonald

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and uh , mary Jenkins , she's the old

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mayor of Ashland city there . Those two

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ladies have worked , send us boxes ,

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neck coolers . Anything that can make a

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soldier feel comfortable . Um , the

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whole city city of national city has

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been awesome to us . And then the

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soldiers really appreciate the hard

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work , um , that anybody in the US and

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supporting our troops over here and

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what we're doing as from Clarksville .

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You know , I miss home people in the

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subdivision . I know they're there

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waiting on arrival , arrival back home .

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We just wanted to know that , you know ,

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continue praying for our soldiers and

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we're going to continue to make them

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proud and just keep us in their prayers .

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Yeah . Again , let's go back to the

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people indicted and then the murders .

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Just your thoughts for those families

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there . Yeah . Um , it's a ,

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it's a , that's a tough situation at

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any time . Uh , soldiers values are

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questions or they have a problem making

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decisions when they know that they can

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leave a black guy on our military armed

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forces marines or army . Um , of

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course , like things happen , but as I

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said before as leaders , we will

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mitigate , we will teach mentor and

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instruct to make sure that we don't

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have incidents like that happen again

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and for the families . Um , I feel I

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feel bad . But they understand that we

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have rules . We have regulations that

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we that govern us as soldiers . And if

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you do , if you violate them , um

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you'll be punished accordingly .

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Of course they were just invited . We

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will just have to see . Right . Mhm .

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Roger . All right . Um Anything that I

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didn't ask you captain that you would

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like to share with us and our viewers .

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Mhm . No , nothing I can think of right

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now . Well , sir , I appreciate you and

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all that you guys do y'all be careful

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over there and we hope to see you when

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we come when you come back . Okay . I

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can't wait to get back to one white .

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One more . One more thing . Is your

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wife living in parcel or she's still up

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in indiana or somewhere else . She

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lives in . She's in Clarksville . She's

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a soldier as well . She's on rear D .

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And she lives in Clarksville . Yes .

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What's her name , sir ? Lieutenant

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Marie burden . How long has she been

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in ? Okay . Right . At three years .

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Okay . Is she on any type of leak ?

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Right now being pregnant or is she

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still We're still working . She still

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works OK . That was a silly question ,

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wasn't it ? Rising . All

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righty . Well , we thank you so much

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for your time , sir . And we look

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forward to seeing you back home . All

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right . Thank you . Thank you