WEBVTT

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Yeah , we've been bugging me for an

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interview . Yes .

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Ban oxen .

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Oh really ? I I grew up in south in

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michigan . So my own connections to

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Nashville's dr Fort Campbell ? And once

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I got out of the army in 2000 and one

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and moved down to Nashville , That's

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what me and my wife now . Oh alright .

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You uh so how long were you stationed

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in Fort Campbell's station after Fort

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Campbell for six years with the 1

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60 of Special Operations Aviation

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Regiment at that time . And I got out

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of that and uh joining Tennessee

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National Guard down Nashville . Okay .

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So when did you leave the army and go

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into the garden ? Uh 2000 and two .

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Okay . So from 2000 to what were

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you doing ? What your regular job in

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2002 ? I worked I worked at the

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residence inn Marriott up here by the

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airport and Donaldson and I go up to

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Austin keep for grad school . Okay .

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What do you do for residency on the

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night auditor ? Ok . Was that something

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you did in the military ? Oh all right ,

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now it's something I did in the

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military , but again , a nighttime job ,

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something I could work on school during

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the day and do homework at night ? Uh

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Okay , so again , just to make sure

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that that I got this when you when you

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left your six years at Fort Campbell

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you married and moved to Nashville

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began a night job and then enter school

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at Austin Peay State University to try

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to get a graduate degree . Okay . So

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when did the National Guard call you ?

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Where were you when they called ? Were

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you expecting the call ? And how long

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have you been over there ? Yeah , we'll

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actually just head of expecting a call

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and we were kind of slipped through the

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cracks that we were going to be being

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mobilized . My entire unit have been

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forward deployed to NBC training center ,

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but I stayed back to go to school . I

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was just at home and I got a call .

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Okay , walter . I have to interrupt .

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We we're not recording anything that

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we've just said for the last three

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minutes . We're going to have to uh do ,

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I'll do all of that again . I'm sorry .

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We are up now . I want you to tell me

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what your connection is to Nashville

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when you enter the military where you

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grew up and how you came to live in

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Nashville . All right , well , I grew

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up in michigan a town called Bay City a

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couple hours north of Detroit joined

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the army in 1996 did a tour

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of Korea and I went up support Campbell

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Kentucky in 98 . I was in the Special

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Operations Aviation element 1/60 . Find

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getting out of that in june 2000 and

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two , uh joining Tennessee National

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Guard . Me and my wife moved down to

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Nashville and I've been there since

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2000 and two . Currently work at the

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residents in so out by the airport and

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Donaldson pipe currently uh

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worked there as a night auditor . Uh ,

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well , I perceive a degree , Graduate

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degree in business , business

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communications of Philosophy University .

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What ? Okay then we're kind of , we're

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kind of back up here . How long have

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you been over there as a National Guard ?

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Well , you know , is activated . We got

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activated in august , spent about three

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months stateside , getting ready ,

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schooled up , come over here and rising

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country in october so you

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were activated august of 2005 . Uh

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that's correct . And in october of 2005

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you actually went to Iraq ? We actually

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arrived here in Iraq . That's correct .

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What you do after all that time you

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were going to be back . Of course

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there's always that chance when you are

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in the National Guard , but when you

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knew you were actually going over there .

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What were some of the thoughts that

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were going through your mind ? It's

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just mostly kind of focusing on the

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unit and getting everybody prepared to

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come over here . I really didn't have

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any apprehensions , destinations as far

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as that goes . Just kind of focused on

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the task . The mission at hand and then

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hearing my wife , I guess my is this is

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well duty . I've been to Afghanistan .

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Two different two different deployments

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over there . So your wife is kind of

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used to being an army army wife and

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being having that separation .

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What are you doing over there now as a

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National Guardsmen . What are your

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duties right now ? What now ? I'm with

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the one 33rd mobile public affairs

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attachment space right there in

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Nashville . I'm a photojournalist ,

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print and video stories basically the N .

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C . I . C . Of activities that were

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covered down here on Spiker . And I'm

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also in charge of comparing to uh do

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any other little things that command

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staff might need a senior ranking Anzio

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to do it . Being the fourth

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of july . Is this the first time on a

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holiday you being in the military for a

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while ? And of course american . Just

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your thoughts on being away on this

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force . Being away is

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going away for a lot of different

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holidays . Especially like when I was

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in Afghanistan christmas and

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thanksgiving the same thing over here

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is gonna get used to it . Like the

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people here try to make it as best they

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can to be like it is in the States .

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You know they have a cookout , softball

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tournaments and stuff like that . They

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don't have any fireworks . That's what ,

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that's what I was going to say . In

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what way do they make it over there as

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if you're at home , you certainly don't

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have your immediate family , You have

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your your guys and gals family from

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there . So what I'll do do you all do

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to try to make it as much like quote

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home . Well actually

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we're just kind of bond with the people

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around you . Um friendships along those

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lines as far as the holiday goes like I

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said they had all these different

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activities BMW R Center but modern

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technology and the internet ,

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telephones , different morale and

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welfare functions like that . You can

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stay pretty well connected with my wife .

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I mean I'll email at least once a day

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or I'll call her occasionally .

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Exactly . You don't have enough

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fireworks without the fireworks . Right .

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That's correct . So

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the fireworks . I'm sorry .

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Go ahead . Uh , what does your wife do

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here ? My wife works at the

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day care center in downtown Nashville .

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Uh , somebody I can't think of the name

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of it right now . That's okay . Do you

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have Children now ? We don't have any

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Children yet . All right . How long are

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you where you are going to be , do you

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know ? Yes . And will you continue on

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with the same job till you get to leave ?

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You have a pretty much carry out the

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same job that I'm doing right now .

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It's still a couple of months out

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before we go get to return back . We

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don't have an exact date or anything

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along those lines . But I'll continue

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on commission . I got here what I'm

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doing now and do the best I can to

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cover down on the soldiers . Now .

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You're talking about you being a public

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information and journalists over there .

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What are some of the most interesting

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pictures and stories that you can share ?

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Well ,

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basically all the stories got an

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interesting twist . Um , I don't have

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any really cool exciting stories along

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those lines . It's just the everyday

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experience and soldier and that kind of

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stuff that we cover down on . Um , a

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lot of that's a lot . Sure

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you do all this every day , but I'm

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sure your pictures and your stories

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would allow folks like us are in our

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viewers to know what in everyday life

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there is life . Uh , could you

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repeat that ? I said it may be every

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day to you all but two to us . It's

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certainly not every day . So I think a

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lot of people would be interested in

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reading your stories and seeing your

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pictures to know what it's like there .

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Wouldn't you agree ? Oh

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yeah , I agree with that . That's

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really the purpose of it . The

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experiences , soldiers here back to the ,

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uh , people in the space to let them

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understand and appreciate guys and

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girls are doing over here . What's the

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questions you've been ? I know you're

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in danger every day there , but if

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you've been near any of these uh

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searches or the roadside bombs or

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anything like that kind of put some

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idea of the scope of danger that you ,

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as the National Guardsmen has been

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in .

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Well , I've gone

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out outside the wire quite a bit . A

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lot of different operations . A lot of

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different type of rage . Pretty much

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seeing the full spectrum of everything .

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The nighttime raids of suspected IED

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manufacturing houses , a uh ,

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just regular roadside checkpoints to

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see a lot of people come through during

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those searches , you occasionally come

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across weapons or something like that ,

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you have to secure that scene , you

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have to secure those people and being

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able to cover down on . That is pretty

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much what I do for sure .

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You said you'd probably be there about

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two or three more months . It's looking

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like a few more months out about that

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time time . Okay . Uh again , I'll jump

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back to the fourth of july . If you

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were here with your wife today ? On the

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fourth of july , what would be some of

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the things that you would be doing both

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of those back there right now for the

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fourth of july . Uh Probably having a

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little cookout or something . You

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definitely want to go down and see a

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game . Um Pretty much just

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relaxing time to shoot back and have

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some fun with family and friends . Well

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you know , we have the big fireworks

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and stuff downtown . When over the

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years that you've lived here , have you

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and your wife watched that on our

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station or gone down to the river front

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to see the fireworks . That's what

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everybody's kind of thinking about here

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today . Right ? Yeah , I've seen it on

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television numerous times , simply work

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nice . So I didn't , I didn't get an

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opportunity to ever be down there .

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We're watching on television . It's

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certainly a good show . Especially like

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the sound and stuff like that . Yes ,

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definitely . Anything that I didn't ask

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you that you would care to talk about

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with what I'd like to ask most of the

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guys and gals over there . Just a

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general statement that you would like

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to share with our viewers about your

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experience and if they were all sitting

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next to you right now , what would you

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say about what we're doing over there

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and and your mission and what you

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guardsmen are doing

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Well ? Yeah , I guess

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that's a tough question .

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I think I'd like to say that you know

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as Tennessee guardsmen ball from the

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volunteer state Volunteer to come over

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here . Really good experience .

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You really get to get out and see the

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communities get to see the environment

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that people live in the environment and

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conditions that Iraqis have to deal

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with on a daily basis . Just seeing the

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stark contrast between what we have in

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America with the Iraqis have here now

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and what ? Hopefully they'll be able to

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have a few years down the road and

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watching that growth and development is

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really rewarding experience in itself .

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I'm sure you've heard about the

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discharge 101st Airborne man uh

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steve Green and the allegations against

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him . Would you care to share a comment

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on that ? And I know they're just

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allegations at this point . Yeah , I

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don't know anything about that . You're

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not really my so that Yeah .

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Okay , no problem . Alright , anything

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else ? Uh huh ?

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That's pretty much it already . I thank

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you so much and well you hope to see

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you home to . Okay , thanks a lot