WEBVTT

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joining us this morning . It starts at

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first class sean thomas , you're in

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Iraq right now , you're with the

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pennsylvania National Guard , tell us

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how long have you been in Iraq ? Uh ,

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we've been here since uh , the end of

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uh july man . So it's going on about

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four months now . And is this your

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first tour in Iraq ? Or have you been

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there before ? Um this is my first

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tour in Iraq last year was actually uh

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deployed to Afghanistan . So yes , this

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would be my first though in Iraq . Mm .

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Talk us a little bit about the folks

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back home . As you know , you know , we

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get the national news , we see the

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report , you're there , you're living

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it every day . Tell us what you see ,

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what's going on . What's the message ?

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You want , your folks and friends and

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family here in pennsylvania to know .

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Well , I truly , we were making a

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difference here . Um , I believe we're

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making a difference in the sense that

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we are fighting the violence here and

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we're giving the Iraqi people something

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to hope for . Um , morale is good here

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for the troops . And uh , by being

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here in the long term we are going to

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make a difference . And that's what I

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truly got to believe . Tell us about .

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It's got to be rough being away from

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everybody on thanksgiving and how do

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you and your fellow soldiers there ,

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How do you deal with that being away

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from the holiday ? Well , you just

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stick together . I mean , you count on

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one another to pick you up when you're

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down . Um , you know , your team . So

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it's difficult , I mean , having family

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back there . Um I just had a little

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baby girl Alexa in september

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and my beautiful wife carrie and just

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everybody back home is uh very

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supportive of me over here , but it's

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still very difficult . Uh you know ,

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being away from my family and loved

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ones , but at the same time I'm here

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and I have a family that I can spend

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thanksgiving with here . Mhm . Now I do

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have to ask your hometown . You say , a

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huge bill , You're a penn State grad

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are excited about the bull bid for the

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Penn State Nittany Lion . Yes , I am ,

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I'm not , I didn't hear what bull

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they'd be going to yet . Um I heard it ,

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maybe the Outback Bowl . That's right ,

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they're headed to the Outback also . I

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figured as a penn State fan , you'd be

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excited about that , Tell us a little

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bit now , how does , how does

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thanksgiving work ? I mean , I'm

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guessing that you guys are gonna have a

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turkey meal at some point in time and

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as you said , you have your own family

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there in Iraq to uh celebrate with . Do

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you have any idea of how the day is

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going to shape up yet ? Well , um I

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know the dining facility is , they're

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really going to put a huge effort to ,

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to making it feel about his home as it

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can possibly be and uh I have no doubt

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that they'll succeed . Um they'll be

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turkey , they'll be mashed potatoes ,

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the works , and and we're grateful for

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that because uh , there's times where

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uh where you don't have that , but in

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general , um , we'll get by just part

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in here . All right . And you said your

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wife carry your baby girl elect your

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life originally from howard

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pennsylvania . Well , lets you just

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kind of give them a message as we wrap

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up here this morning . Well , I just

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wanted to say carrie little Alexa ,

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I love you both very much . I miss you .

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Um please tell your family carry and

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uh tell my mother and father and just

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tell everybody our entire family that

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uh I'm doing just fine , I'm safe . And

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uh , I'm thinking about you guys always

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and I'll be home soon . I mean , it

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will come fast . Take care , sergeant ,

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first class . Sean thomas , thank you

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very , very much for your service and

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happy thanksgiving . Thank you .