WEBVTT

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the tiny city of

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Rabia has the big job of being the main

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point of entry from Syria to Iraq . All

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that divides the two countries is from

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barbed wire and the checkpoint every

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day . Thousands of people pass through

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its gates with Iraqi and U . S .

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Soldiers man around the clock together .

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If they maintain the security of the

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checkpoint and ensure that the cargo

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being transported across the border is

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legal . But there is more going on here

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than just customs and security . These

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soldiers are part of a point of entry

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transition team whose goal is to train

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the Iraqi soldiers to run checkpoints

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like these throughout the country .

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Without their assistance , we train the

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Iraqis on security operations . You

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know , they learn how to stop service

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will come across the Syrian border ,

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will stop something corruption going on

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quickly . We can turn this over to the

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Iraqis and uh the checkpoint never

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closes . So there's plenty of on the

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job training but the U . S . Team make

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sure that the Iraqis gain other helpful

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skills as well from collecting intel

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and rifle marksmanship , The first aid

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and vehicle maintenance . There is much

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to be learned but it's all steps toward

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the people of Iraq establishing their

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independence . They're very willing to

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learn and to change . A lot of people

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think that the Iraqis uh what they were

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doing before we were here but we found

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out pretty quickly that they really

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want things to change pretty quickly so

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they can take responsibility for

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themselves with the Iraqi and U . S .

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Army together on one side and the

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Syrian army on the other , it has

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become a challenge for any smuggling to

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get by this checkpoint , helping to

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keep Iraq's economic stability in and

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insurgents out from the fifth mobile

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Public Affairs attachment on specialist

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Samantha Sasaoka Arabia

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Iraq .