WEBVTT

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why don't you first tell me a little

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bit about your background and what

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you're you've been there since june ,

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is that correct ? We got here the first

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week of july Yes , ma'am . First week

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of july . Okay . What is it exactly

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that you're doing ? What's your job ?

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Your task there And what have you been

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doing since you've been in Mosul ? Well ,

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uh , me and my squad and platoon , we

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go out every day on patrols . I'm uh ,

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on the saw gunner automatic recommend

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we go out , we searched the streets for

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a T S for terrorists , anything

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suspicious going on and on the side ,

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we usually pull small missions that

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come down . Anything that we need to do .

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We do . You are part of the Striker

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Brigade . Yes , yes , ma'am . Okay .

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What uh , what have you

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seen any changes since you've been

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there ? I mean , have the rhythm of

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your days been pretty consistent or has

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that changed at all ? Uh , well ,

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since we got here , it was pretty

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upbeat . Getting all the changes from

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the other unit up to speed with us and

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uh , but from

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what I've seen and what we've been

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doing , I can tell that the Iraqi

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people have taken us taking us in

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pretty good and we've dealt a lot

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with dealing with terrorists and

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getting them off the streets . We've

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seen a big number of them come off

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since we've been here . What about your

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deployment ? Since you've been there ?

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What do you suppose has surprised you

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the most , uh , coming

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here ? Um , I didn't think the

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civilians in Iraq would uh be

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so friendly as just doing dismounted

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patrols and everything . But uh it's a

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warming site and know that not all of

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them are out to get us even though we

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don't know it all the time . But it

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does seem like there are some that do

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care that we are there helping them .

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You know , the news came out just ,

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gosh , I guess it's in the last couple

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of days , I'm assuming that you've

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heard it as well . But they're now

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talking uh plan for , you know , uh

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strategic plans for the future . And

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they're talking about keeping the same

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level of troop strength narrow there

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until 2010 . Um Our guys they're

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talking about it . Are you guys talking

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about that sort of thing ? Uh right now

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we take the data time . Um We do what

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we can because we're here for a year

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right now . So we're looking at just

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trying to get through that , do our job

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here and then it comes back around to

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us . Comes back around . Is it what you

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expected

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uh

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from the veterans that were with us

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when I first got to the unit , they

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talked about the stuff that they did

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and when I got here is that I would

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think it's completely different change

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because the first appointment they were

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here to fight and now we're here to

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protect . So I think it's a big

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difference from the first time they

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were here . That's interesting . You

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you feel a significant change in that

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respect then ? Is that true ? Uh ,

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I don't have any low respect for what

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they did ? They did a great job when

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they were here the first time . I got a

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lot of recognition . The first strike

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you need to be here and I'm probably be

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with the striking unit . Um , they got

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a lot of great , great soldiers that

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lead us all the way to the battle and

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get the job done . You know , I'm sorry ,

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I wasn't I wasn't trying to criticize

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them . I was saying just in terms of

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the what sort of been happening on the

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ground , The sense of what you're doing

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has changed is what is the sense that I

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got from you the job that we ,

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since we've come for this deployment ?

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Yes . You said that before . The guys

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before we're coming to , I think to

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fight is what you said and now you feel

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like your job now is to protect . Yes ,

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that is my feeling on the way it goes

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because the terrorists have taken a

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different approach to things and we

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have on this department , we have to

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adapt because you guys used to

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something else . So we're all fresh and

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new to what we have to do here . We're

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all kind of on the same playing level

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when you say we're all the same playing

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level . Are you talking about you and

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the Iraqi civilians or you and your

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comrades with the brigade ? Me and my

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comrades on the brigade . What's the

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hardest thing for you ? You've been

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there now , the 34 months , Right .

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What's the hardest thing for you ?

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Having to miss ? My son's first year

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would be the biggest

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day in day out routine that we have to

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go through . I think one of the only

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things that changes the missions we

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have to go through , that's probably

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the kick in the pants that gets us

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going . You go out on patrols just

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about every day . Yes , ma'am . That's

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I that's got to get exhausting . I

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would think after a while , our

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leaders try and keep our heads in the

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game . They do a good job at it . So we

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don't get complacent . That's a big

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worry for a lot of soldiers around here ,

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A lot of leaders and we do our best to

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keep our heads in , get that mindset

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right . It's got to be an adrenaline

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rush . So every day you go out . Yes ,

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Yes , ma'am . It is . It's a good job

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is probably one of the best jobs in the

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army . Are you ? Uh , how

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do you keep , you talked about your

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leaders , do everything they can to

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keep your head in the game . And so how

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do you guys , how do you ,

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what do you do every day to

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get through everyday ? We'll

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try and you have phone access here ,

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internet access . We were on that . A

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good portion of our downtime , not

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sleeping , not eating . We're usually

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trying to keep in touch with the family

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back home . Uh , we do a good job of

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just hanging around and

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we were uh just joking around with the

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guys keeps us good

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and keep in touch with the family . The

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big one for me . And we tried to get

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your wife is not here today . We wanted

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to have her see you on the screen and

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hear what you have to say , um ,

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messages for her or for folks back here .

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I just want to tell my family my mom

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and dad that I miss you guys , sorry

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for me to keep in touch . But I do try

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to tell my wife that I love you baby

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and I and I miss you and dad is coming

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home soon . Safe . What do you want

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them to know ? You know that they are

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certainly worry about you . Um ,

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what do you tell them about that or how

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to , how to handle that ?

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Try and keep her out of the loop as

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much as possible . Not to worry .

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Worrier too much . But I tell her that

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we do our job every day and we got a

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great soldiers trying to watch our

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backs every day and I know what you do

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is dangerous . We've seen , we've had

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cameras in the past that have gone

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along with the previous brigades that

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have been over there specifically in

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Mosul when you do your street to street ,

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which is I understand what you're doing

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and it's the , you know , every corner

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you turn around every door you open ,

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You never know what's there . That is a

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fact , man . Yeah .

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It's on us

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to be aware of what's going on around

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us . And we always got guys looking in

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every direction . That's what we've

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been trained to do . That's what we're

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here to do . Tell me , you talked early

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on about how people , the Iraqi

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civilians there , how they're

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responding to you . Can you give me a

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specific incidents where you've been

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surprised by how uh , welcoming or

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otherwise people have been ?

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Uh , we've

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had separate instances where they offer

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us gifts . Um , we

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go around , Children are always around

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us asking for things . Uh ,

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then usually we have had um , candy ,

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they tell us information when we need

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it . If that's the case , If that's

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what we're looking forward , they might

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tell us . Um , uh , they aren't so

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resistant as to run inside their house .

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Um , they aren't so shy as they once

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where I believe they are willing to

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stand outside and keep doing with their

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continuous routine of work and play and

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all kinds of stuff . You take that as a

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good sign . Yeah . What I was under the

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influence of is seeing everybody dart

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around and not wanting to be seen by us

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because they think we might be a bad

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Alibaba is that they like to put it as

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a bad guy and they were out to get them

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or something . But most of the people

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around here willing to continue on with

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their daily lives and not worry about

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what we're doing because they pretty

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much know that we're not after them .

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We're after uh the terrorists that

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threaten us and also their civilian

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civilian lives . To how much

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interaction do you have with the Iraqi

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civilians ?

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Every time we dismount , there's always

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kids around , we're always passing by

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little shops that are little shops ,

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stores and everything , but uh involve

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the people around us . I

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mean , my leaders have more interaction

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with them because they're talking with

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them . They're trying to get

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information and all that . But I still

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have my little fair share every day .

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Is that good ? Does that help believe ?

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Yeah , I believe any any good thing we

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get out of them is a good thing for us .

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I mean , as long as they know we're

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that we're here to protect them and

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we're here to free them of any kind of

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terrorists are there , get them out of

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the country , uh arrest them . Do

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whatever we have to do . As long as you

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know , we're not after them . Well ,

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listen , thank you so much for your for

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your time today . It's specialist .

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Right , jimmy . And you go by jimmy .

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Yes , ma'am . I really appreciate your

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time . I wish you the best you stay

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safe . Okay ? Thank

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you take care