WEBVTT

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Hello

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and welcome to around the Air Force US

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advisers and Iraqi forces work together

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preparing for the day . The Iraqi

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government can take complete control

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over defense of their country . Text

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Sergeant Rene Crisostomo visited with

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one of those advisers , the first Air

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Force female senior advisor to an Iraqi

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base commander . Overcoming cultural

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and language barriers is a feat . But

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being the first air force female senior

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adviser in Iraq could be a little more

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challenging . Lieutenant Colonel Sharon

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McWhorter advises the Iraqi base

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commander at Camp Albania on creating a

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base infrastructure . Initially the

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Iraqis guarded their welcome to the

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colonel . They were very cautious at

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first , very guarded and and I knew

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coming into a society that doesn't

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place a lot of emphasis on the role of

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the female and strategic thinking that

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it was going to be about relationship

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building . And I knew that I had to

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develop that relationship with the base

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commander . Developing that

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relationship was an accomplishment so

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great that some of the Iraqi soldiers

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consider her to be like family . They

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have called me their sister , which

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means it means a whole lot in the urban

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culture to be called a sister or

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brother . And I refer to them as my

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brother . And with the lines of

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communication open the Iraqis asked the

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colonel why she cared so much about

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soldiers that didn't belong to her and

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she replied , I care because I would

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want an officer to care about my

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soldiers and so we're a team and when

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the colonel and her team leave Habaniya ,

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she knows that breaking the gender

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barrier is just the beginning for a

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country learning to sustain itself .

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Pick Chrysostomos , charcoal Bosnia

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Iraq for more on today's top stories .

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Why those two Air force

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like ?