WEBVTT

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Can you go ahead and state your name

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and write major Melanie roderick . Can

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you tell me about your service ? I have

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been in the United States Army reserves

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for 16 years . Can you tell me what

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your job is and your assignment back in

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the states of your civilian ? Yes . Uh

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when I was mobilized I was the

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executive officer of a chemical company .

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Uh I will actually have to find a new

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military job and I go back because I

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got promoted out of that position while

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I'm uh here in Baghdad Iraq . Uh I do

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have a full time civilian job . I

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worked for IBM's America's client

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satisfaction team . I'm a business

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analyst which means I look at our

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survey results , compile them

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into understandable data for the vice

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president and then I work with them to

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implement plans to help improve our

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business and what's your current

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assignment here in Iraq ? I am the

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broadcast officer for armed forces

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network in Iraq . I think I swing a

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little bit about what that yes we have

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three areas of responsibility here in

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theater . Uh We're a force asset . Uh

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We have a T . V . Show that we put

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together a 10 minute tv show that plays

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on the pentagon channel five days a

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week . So I have uh military reporters

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that go out all over Iraq in bed with

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units and tell their stories of the

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coalition troops and the Iraqi troops .

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We run the radio station for theater .

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So received the disc jockeys and uh

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their day to day activities on the air

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and then we have a technical team that

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is responsible for a keep of all the

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technical equipment and they support

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all of the press conferences that are

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done from Baghdad . Can you tell us

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about the great family Virginia ? Yes ,

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I have a husband , Michael of 10 years

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back and fort worth Texas and I have

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three wonderful Children absence is

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nine joseph is three and Emma is

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too , so you have kind of a wide

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range of ages . Can you tell us how you

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prepare your Children for your

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deployment ? Yes . Uh , This is my

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first appointment in 16 years and I

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always knew I would have won , it was

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just a matter of when uh , I actually

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only had five days notice to prepare .

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So that was very difficult with the

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small Children to leave so quickly .

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But fortunately as a reservist , we

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have several weeks of training that we

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go through before we uh leave for

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overseas . So I was able to talk to

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them over the phone , helped them

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understand , send the email , some

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pictures of me and my training and that

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helped transition because there ,

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there were several conversations during

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that week , I took my oldest out of

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school and he basically ran around with

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me and did all the things I need to get

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done before I could come over here .

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So you know , everybody was in shock

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for a while , but uh , we got through

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it . Um , my husband's done a great job

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being at home with them and stepping

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into that role of having to do both .

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Mommy and daddy um learning

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more to uh do what moms do a lot of

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time , which is the shoulder to cry on

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the hugs and kisses on the booze . Uh

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but he's picked that up and and found

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out that he had to that that he had to

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be that missing piece . So how do you

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stay in touch with your Children from

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here in Iraq ? Well , fortunately in

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Baghdad , we've got readily there , the

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phone service . I've talked to them

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almost every day . Uh so have an

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internet connection , a webcam . And

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that really helps with the two and the

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three year old joe and Emma for them

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too . See Mommy , you know , they know

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Mommy's okay if you can be with your

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kids right now . What with the things

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that you can do it with ? Well , that's

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easy for me to answer . Is that just

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returned from R . And R . And what we

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do it all the time was just simple

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things . We baked cookies , planting

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flowers , watch movies , went to the

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park , just do a lot of things together .

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What do you miss most about being away

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from the Children ? I missed their

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laughter and missed their smiles . I

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miss holding their little hands , um

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carrying them cuddling up with them and

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since it is Mother's Day , what would

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you like to tell us about your mom ? Uh

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My mom is a great lady , she is a

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teacher in Atlanta Georgia . She has

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always been said fast . The rock of the

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family have , you know , whether it's

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all the storms have a positive attitude

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and um , Probably what has

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been most influential of my mom is she

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supported all of us . I'm the oldest of

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four and whatever we want to pursue

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whatever interest we had . Um , she

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supported it and , and all four of us

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do very different things . You know , I

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work dragging him and I'm in the

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military . My sister's a nurse . Have a

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brother that's a welder , a brother

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that's a designer and just that

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willingness to encourage us and what we

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wanted to do and what we wanted to

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pursue . Is there a history of military

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service in the family ? Yes , there is .

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Uh , my father's father was a tanker

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in the army for several years and then

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my father was a communications

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technician in the navy during Vietnam .

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Uh , I am the first officer and

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I'm proud of that and proud to continue

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on that tradition . Also the first

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female military in my family . So is

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there anything you'd like to save your

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family rights . Yes . I love them . I

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will see them soon . I'm proud of

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them . Uh , and I can't wait to

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get home , give them hugs , make them

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breakfast in the morning and put him to

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bed at night