WEBVTT 00:09.940 --> 00:13.710 my name is um Staff Sergeant 00:13.720 --> 00:16.910 Rivera Daniel from president California . 00:16.920 --> 00:20.770 I'm here with the 3/15 engineer company 00:20.770 --> 00:24.160 out of Oxnard and we are in Kabul 00:24.160 --> 00:27.650 Afghanistan here . I work in a baby doc 00:27.660 --> 00:31.600 and burdock is a base defense operation 00:31.600 --> 00:34.080 center . Uh We get all the information 00:34.080 --> 00:35.969 of all everything that's going on 00:35.969 --> 00:39.020 around Kabul area and we just assist 00:39.020 --> 00:41.187 everybody that needs some help in case 00:41.187 --> 00:43.470 something happens . Um My job is to sit 00:43.470 --> 00:45.581 here and wait until something happens 00:45.581 --> 00:48.520 and we pray that nothing does . Then I 00:48.520 --> 00:52.200 inform um one of my soldiers here 00:52.210 --> 00:54.650 to write down all the information , log 00:54.650 --> 00:58.620 it in and from there we get as 00:58.620 --> 01:01.210 much information as we can . We can get 01:01.210 --> 01:03.670 over to the other side of our building 01:03.680 --> 01:06.720 and we presented to our battle captain , 01:06.730 --> 01:09.340 our battle captain at that time figures 01:09.340 --> 01:11.910 out what's the best um procedures to 01:11.910 --> 01:14.730 follow to help out the individuals that 01:14.730 --> 01:17.810 that need any help or just to settle 01:17.810 --> 01:20.980 down the information that we 01:20.980 --> 01:24.670 get if um as something does come in . 01:24.670 --> 01:26.892 One of the things that we have to do is 01:26.892 --> 01:29.059 we have to find out where the location 01:29.059 --> 01:32.480 um with the event is happening . Um So 01:32.480 --> 01:34.536 we pretty much have two or three big 01:34.536 --> 01:38.220 maps here we go plug in the great 01:38.220 --> 01:40.340 numbers and that lets us know what's 01:40.340 --> 01:42.520 going on if we need to send somebody 01:42.520 --> 01:44.640 out there , it makes a lot easier for 01:44.640 --> 01:47.470 them um and we need to send metal back . 01:47.480 --> 01:49.591 You know , it's it's a lot easier for 01:49.591 --> 01:52.040 them if we find out what's that and and 01:52.040 --> 01:54.170 with that we have a couple of people 01:54.170 --> 01:57.830 that are designated to go to the map um 01:57.840 --> 02:00.007 and find the location and provide that 02:00.007 --> 02:02.007 for us . We have a couple of places 02:02.007 --> 02:04.118 that , that we would go to . If , you 02:04.118 --> 02:06.340 know , if we had a big explosion in the 02:06.340 --> 02:10.100 base and we needed to leave that , that 02:10.100 --> 02:12.156 would be one of the reasons we would 02:12.156 --> 02:14.489 leave . Um You know , of course we have , 02:14.489 --> 02:16.770 you know , top secret information here 02:16.770 --> 02:19.010 talk , you know our maps and we have 02:19.020 --> 02:21.580 everything whatever we can take out of 02:21.580 --> 02:24.700 here we'll have to destroy . Um But 02:24.700 --> 02:26.922 that's , we have , we already have that 02:26.922 --> 02:28.867 set up what we're gonna take , who 02:28.867 --> 02:30.922 we're going to take with us , some , 02:30.922 --> 02:33.033 some of the guys who live here . Um , 02:33.033 --> 02:35.256 No , but we will have to get our battle 02:35.256 --> 02:37.367 captain out of here and get them to a 02:37.367 --> 02:39.478 safe place so we can continue on with 02:39.478 --> 02:41.680 our mission . Our mission here is to 02:41.680 --> 02:44.730 provide security for the base . Um We 02:44.730 --> 02:46.897 don't get to see a lot of what's going 02:46.897 --> 02:48.952 on in the outside . We get to hear a 02:48.952 --> 02:51.063 lot of what's going on in the outside 02:51.063 --> 02:53.174 back home on a high school teacher at 02:53.174 --> 02:56.580 President High School . I teach spanish . 02:56.590 --> 02:58.930 Uh I've been teaching for about five 02:58.930 --> 03:02.590 years and uh it's a pretty nice place 03:02.600 --> 03:04.489 to teach and President , it's the 03:04.489 --> 03:06.740 oldest school that we have a lot of 03:06.740 --> 03:09.180 tradition over there . Um I chose 03:09.180 --> 03:12.150 spanish just because I was really 03:12.150 --> 03:15.110 interested in and I'm Puerto Rican and 03:15.110 --> 03:18.040 coming to California . Um I got to be a 03:18.040 --> 03:20.090 lot of different nationalities that 03:20.100 --> 03:21.989 that's both spanish that I really 03:21.989 --> 03:24.700 intrigued me and finding out about that 03:24.710 --> 03:27.100 my girlfriend works at the same school , 03:27.100 --> 03:29.160 so she's informed of what's going on 03:29.160 --> 03:32.210 here and she lets the rest of the 03:32.210 --> 03:34.470 teachers know what's going on . I did 03:34.470 --> 03:36.470 go home and leave , I let them know 03:36.470 --> 03:38.700 that everything was okay here . But 03:38.700 --> 03:40.533 that's pretty much it . I'm just 03:40.533 --> 03:43.010 gathering information and um and thanks 03:43.010 --> 03:45.066 for me to be able to show the kids , 03:45.066 --> 03:47.120 you know Afghanistan and and it's 03:47.120 --> 03:49.770 mostly pictures that we can get around 03:49.770 --> 03:52.720 here . Why do I serve ? 03:52.730 --> 03:55.690 Um Well the military has been very good 03:55.690 --> 03:57.820 to me . I'm from Puerto rico . I came 03:57.820 --> 03:59.820 to the United States , I joined the 03:59.820 --> 04:03.320 military at 18 , They gave me 04:03.320 --> 04:06.050 schooling , I became a high school 04:06.050 --> 04:09.000 teacher because of all the benefits 04:09.000 --> 04:11.300 that they have provided for me . They 04:11.310 --> 04:14.040 gave me an opportunity to travel and 04:14.040 --> 04:16.930 just um pretty much because of all the 04:16.930 --> 04:19.460 rights that we have . Um somebody had 04:19.470 --> 04:22.880 to stand up for that . Um We have 04:22.890 --> 04:25.980 plenty of of um courageous soldiers 04:25.980 --> 04:28.450 here that do that on an everyday basis 04:28.460 --> 04:30.571 and I just , I just want to be a part 04:30.571 --> 04:33.190 of that . I just hope that our presence 04:33.190 --> 04:35.730 here does allow , especially the future 04:35.730 --> 04:39.320 of Afghanistan to to be able to build . 04:39.330 --> 04:43.220 Um they've been I guess I'm 04:43.220 --> 04:45.498 gonna say they've been down for a long , 04:45.498 --> 04:47.830 long time and hopefully our presence 04:47.830 --> 04:51.370 here will let them grow and will help 04:51.370 --> 04:52.660 them become a better country .