WEBVTT

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I'm tom fudge . And you're listening to

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these days as hostilities in Iraq where

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on Camp Pendleton marines continue to

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be dispatched to the war zone . Local

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marine families continue to follow news

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of the war anxious about the safety of

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their loved ones as always Fallujah ,

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deep in the Sunni Triangle is one of

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the most dangerous parts of the country .

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Joining me to talk about what the war

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in Iraq looks like from his point of

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view is private first class Sean P .

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McGinty . PFC McGinty is a public

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information officer based at Camp

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Fallujah and he joins me by satellite

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phone and Sean , thank you very much

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for joining us .

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Sean . What does a public information

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officer do ? Um , as

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a public information officer is what

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you call , I call it a combat

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correspondent . I'm a basic journalists .

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I uh go out with teams or stay on base

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and do stories on events that are

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relative to my unit . Now . Camp

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Fallujah is outside the city of

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Fallujah , correct ? Absolutely . There

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was a time when the marines actually

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enter the city of Fallujah to do

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insurgent factions . How would you

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describe the purpose of marine

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activities there right now ? Right now ,

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what we're doing is we are training the

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Iraqi Army so that they can take

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control of the city of Fallujah and so

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that we can eventually pull back . And

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has that been a challenging or

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rewarding activity ? The

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soldiers of the Iraqi Army are very

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good people . They're very willing to

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learn and they're learning well ,

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sometimes , sometimes when they pull

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missions on their own , it's almost not

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as if they're emulating us as just by

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copying us , but they've learned our

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technique so well lately that they're

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emulating us just by instinct . Now you

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are training members of the Iraqi Army ,

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not the police force .

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I'm not training members of the Iraqi

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Army , but the Marine Corps Marines

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from campaigns in our Yes , as far as

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the police force goes , I couldn't tell

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you . I'm sorry . It sounds like you

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have quite a bit of downtime in a

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typical day there at Camp Fallujah .

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Can you , can you tell us what a

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typical day is like as a combat

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correspondent ? My downtime I'm

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sleeping . I really don't have very

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much a typical day . Here is I wake

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up usually about three or four days a

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week . We we exercise in the morning ,

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I get to work , I give the briefing for

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my gunnery sergeant or one of my

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officers and I follow through on the

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orders whether that be to cover story ,

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whether I found the story to cover or

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whether it be upload the website at its

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stories , edit the newsletter ,

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download stories off the web or just go

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out and find information that is

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newsworthy . If you're a correspondent

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who are your readers , my

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readers are the marines , soldiers ,

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sailors , and airmen of multinational

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forces West veterans people back in the

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rear and anybody who's interested .

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Does your stuff appear on the internet ?

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Yes , it does . My stuff appears on the

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multinational forces website as well as

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my stories are also published on us and

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we don't know are there certain stories

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that you have to be a little careful

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about ? Are there certain subjects that

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are off limits ? Absolutely .

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Operations Operational security is is

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a very , very top priority here because

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we don't want the members of the

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insurgency to learn of our operations .

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That's just a bad thing . You

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wrote an article recently , I think

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about one or two of your comrades who

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received purple hearts when marines get

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injured or killed in and around

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Fallujah . How does it usually happen ?

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It's it

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differs mostly improvised

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explosive devices , roadside bombs ,

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vehicle born IEDs and stuff like

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that is the main cause also mainly

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sniper fire . But in the city of

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Fallujah lately , there have been

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almost no small arms

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attack . There have been no cases that

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insurgents will gang up and attack us

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in groups because because Fallujah is

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is looking up , the city of Fallujah

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has made a turn for the better . And

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while there are insurgents there ,

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it's , there's no doubt about it . It

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is getting very much better . The

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marines , as I understand , it , are

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not occupying the city of Fallujah ,

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but it sounds like they're still

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patrols . Absolutely , there there

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are patrols , but mainly they are

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patrols with the Iraqi army or Iraqi

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police forces . Is there any concern

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among your comrades there that the

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marines may have to go in and and

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occupy the city again ? No ,

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Fallujah is what is making a turn

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for the better . That's that's a

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definite what we're doing right now is

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I've been working with the Civil

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affairs group and we're working to make

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the city of Fallujah a better place for

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the civilians . I lived there through ,

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through agriculture and

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rebuilding the city . We're , what

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we're doing right now is rebuilding the

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city of Fallujah . I'm speaking with

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private first class Sean P McGinty .

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He's a campaign Hamilton based marine

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currently stationed at Camp Fallujah

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and he is a correspondent for the

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marines Sean . Recently , the chairman

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of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , Marine

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General Peter Pace was at Camp Fallujah

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who handle some of the questions from

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the marines . And it sounds like some

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of the marine and it sounds like some

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of the marines asked him some fairly

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tough questions like how much longer

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will american troops stay in Iraq . Can

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you describe the exchange between the

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troops and face ? What was it like ? Um

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the marines , soldiers and sailors who

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questioned General Pace did have some

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very tough questions for him . But as a

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marine general and as a marine general

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who was appointed chairman of the Joint

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Chiefs of Staff , he was very quick on

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his feet answering those and even threw

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in his own opinion on the answers . He

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was very honest and most of his answers

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and very informative . Is there

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anything he said that kinda jumped out

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at you ? He

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made a couple of jokes and uh I didn't

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honestly expect that from that kind of

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jumped out of me but about military

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tactics , strategies and what's going

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to go on in the future . It was , it

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was all very straightforward and coming

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from him , it was good to hear because

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he's the most senior military person in

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the armed forces right now . With

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regard to that question I mentioned ,

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how much longer will the marines have

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to be in Iraq to guarantee democratic

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government in Iraq . How did he handle

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that one ? He told us that

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we'd be here as long as it takes .

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Don't forget that where the Iraqis have

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come from , they made a constitution

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and established government in less than

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two years . Well , it took us the

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United States , the greatest country on

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earth right now , over 20 years to do

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something that lets go from a

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constitution to an established

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government . Well , sean , let's

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talk about you just a little bit . Is

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this your first deployment ? Absolutely .

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Have only been in the Marine Corps for

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a year and a month . And you grew up in

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SAn Diego ? Yes , I did . Where about

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Mira Mesa and where did you go to high

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school ? You had to ask that

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one , didn't you ? Mira Mesa High

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school scripts Ranch . And I eventually

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graduated from Madison High School's

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High school diploma program . How much

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contact have you had with your family

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since you've been in Iraq ? I find it

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very easy to contact them . Since

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I'm a media , I'm able to get on the

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phone and I'm able to talk to my family

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once or twice a week and as long as I

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want , whether I'm busy or not . Well ,

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we've got them right here . If you want

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to talk to him , that would be nice .

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Thank you very much . Okay , well , I'm

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here in studio with Valerie . McGinty

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McGinty and Kirk . McGinty Kirk is the

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brother of Sean and Valerie and birth

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or our mom and dad of course . And

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Valerie , would you like to say hello

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to Shawn ? Hi honey , how you doing ?

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I'm doing just fine . Good to your

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voice . Thank you . You too . Okay .

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Bert , what about you ? Well , I hope

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everything is going well out there .

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Hey dad , everything is going just fine .

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Good . I was talking with Sean about

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how much contact he has with you guys

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and he has , he said he has quite a bit .

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Is . What did you agree with that

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Valerie ? I'm actually very surprised

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at how much contact we have . We hear

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from about once a week and if we don't

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hear from him by the phone , we do get

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emails from him because he had access

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to a computer . I'm very fortunate

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because a lot of the people that I know

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whose sons are also deployed are not

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quite as lucky as we have been . You

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know , Kirk , I didn't give you a

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chance to say hello if you want to tell

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your brother what you're up to . I just

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want to say like always

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we talk to him and pretty

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much just say hi Erica .

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Is that is showing your older brother ?

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Okay ? Are you thinking of military

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service or not ? Al I've got to I've

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got to say both mom and dad here were

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shaking their heads and that wouldn't

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be their first choice . But what do you

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think ? Well actually it came to the

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big surprise when my brother came and

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joined the military . So I'm I

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give them a surprise and I'm just

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getting well birds . Why don't you tell

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us is your family have a military ?

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Does your family have a military

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background ? Did you serve in the

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military ? Did your my folks , my

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wife's father was in the Air Force

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during World War two and my dad was a

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naval aviator And that is our military

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background . No , I was never in the

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military so it didn't surprise you when

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when your son Sean decided to join the

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marine , it was a pleasant surprise .

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We're very pleased with his progress

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and what he's done . And I think it's

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been a great opportunity for Valerie .

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What's it like having a son in

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Fallujah or a camp Fallujah ? You

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a big concern for you . Definitely huge

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concern is very worrisome . I'm

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very also glad that he went into public

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affairs and not into infantry where I

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don't think I'd be able to sleep night ,

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but you are concerned and I'm wondering

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how do you , how do you deal with that ?

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You follow the news every day and kind

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of scan the articles about Iraq looking

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for the word Fallujah or little map on

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in the newspaper every day and when

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Fallujah there I read every word for

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word , but I try to

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keep up as best as I can . I have

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pretty much put Shawn's life into God ,

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can't I ? I can't . I mean the more I

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worry about it , there's nothing I can

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really do here . What about you ? Do

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you follow the news about the war in

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Iraq and try to imagine where your son

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is and all that . I try to keep very

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much abreast of it and I completely

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support our efforts over there and I'm

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proud that my son is in the marines and

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doing his job quite capably over there .

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Getting back to you sean . How long is

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your deployment ? How long do you

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expect to be ? There has to be here

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about another six months , 6.5

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maybe . And then you'll be coming

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back to San , Diego County , Camp

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Pendleton . Yes , that's correct . What

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do you think of the chances you'll have

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a second deployment ? Uh

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100% . Okay .

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100% . I guess that is , get that

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answers my question . What do you miss

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about about home Sean ?

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My family , my friends , I haven't been

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able to see them very much decided on

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the marines , but I've made new friends

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out here will never substitute for my

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family or my old friends . But

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but another thing I miss the beach .

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So that's where you would hang out .

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Huh ? I'd be there right now .

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Absolutely . I know you don't have a

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family of your own in the center . You

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don't have a wife and Children , but

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you've got a girlfriend here , right .

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Yes , I do . Okay . Okay . I guess

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we're about ready to wrap up . So I

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don't know any last words . Your son .

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I was thinking you stayed with my home

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cooking , honey loving brother and

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brother . Sorry . Sean against you blew

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it . I always got a child hall .

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Okay . And Sean thanks very much .

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Thank you . It's a pleasure