WEBVTT

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the CBS affiliate here in Seattle .

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What's your name , sir ? My name is

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Benjamin Hickman .

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I don't know if . All right , and just

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were rolling ? So give me your rank and

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everything . Okay ? Staff Sergeant

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Hickman , and tell

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me about where you are and what you're

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responsible for Right now . I am in

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Camp Liberty Iraq and I'm with the 32

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striker brigade at Fort Lewis

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Washington . I am the

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liaison to the brigade support

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battalion uh and also

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the logistic planner .

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Wow , okay , you're busy . You're real

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busy . Tell me a little bit about like

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what's a typical day for you , sergeant ?

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Uh Typical day , I usually

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wake up around somewhere between 55 30 .

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Uh do a little physical training to go

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to go for a run or go to the gym

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around seven or so , seven or 7

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30 . Go into the talk , the talk or

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Tactical Operations Center . And uh

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that's where we conduct all the uh

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operations for the day for whatever we

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may be , uh going on and pushing out

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supplies to the troops . Tell me a

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little bit about how , you know , with

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this recent surge , the so called troop

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surge that the president has ordered up .

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And have you seen any effects of that

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over the past few weeks ?

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Uh We have seen some

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effects . Uh living conditions are

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getting a little bit more crowded . Uh

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We're making do uh , Morales staying

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high . Uh We're continuing as normal ,

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but uh yes , we have seen effects uh

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inside the uh dining facilities and

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gems . Uh How about the

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effect as far as you know with where

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the striker brigades involved , you

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know , just moving the insurgents out

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of Baghdad , do you do you get to see

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any immediate results of of that ? Uh

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Oh , yes , definitely . Uh distract

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brigade is uh we've took lead in in

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uh many of the operation that's ongoing

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right now , and have been ongoing since

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uh since around december time frame .

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So uh I think we've we've been involved

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in almost everyone , so definitely

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seeing a lot that the uh we've done

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as a brigade , we'll tell you about

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this , and I'm sure this uh you know ,

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drives planners crazy , because when

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you do plan some kind of offensive and

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you're able to sweep an area of

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insurgents , and I mean , everyone

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knows these people go into hiding ,

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they go into another country , and then

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you got to wonder about where these

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guys gonna show up the next time . Of

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course , I'm talking about the guys who

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don't get killed . Right ?

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So how do you how do you

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figure out where okay if we got him out

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of this area where they're gonna pop up

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next time , or are you guys able to

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think that far ahead at this point ? Um

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You know , everything is uh intel

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driven , it just depends on uh you know ,

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a number of attacks within certain

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areas . And uh and that will

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that will drive uh you know , we're

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going into the hotspots ? So that'll

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drive to where we go next and tell me a

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little bit about when your men have to

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go into those hot spots today .

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Like can you give us just

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a description , an overview

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of what an operation might be like

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quick ? Uh

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Well , us as a striker battalions will

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usually uh clear the clear the

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area for the uh landowning ,

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uh what you would call uh brigade

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combat team that will take over the

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battle space , we'll we'll clear clear

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the area for them to come in and begin

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controlling . And how do you

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find fighting these insurgents ? Do you

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find that they are um while they

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may be well funded and they may have

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some types of munitions . Do they do

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they do they retreat easily or do they

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do they try and stay inside ? Or how

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would you characterize these guys ?

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Uh you know , in the

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in the beginning this is actually my

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second deployment . Uh They did retreat

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easy , but now uh I believe

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that they're beginning to get smarter

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on their tactics . They're uh they're

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starting to learn some of our tactics

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and uh they'd be retreat but but it's

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not like uh not like they used to in

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the in the beginning . Yeah ,

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interesting . Well here's one other

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question is something that's going on

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in Washington , D . C . This week , and

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I'm sure you guys have heard something

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about it with Congress uh passing an

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Iraq war funding bill ? But they wanted

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some time limits on how long the

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president could keep you guys over

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there . The president has said all

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along , he'd veto that bill , which he

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did and now they're trying to come to

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some kind of compromise so they can

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clear up and get that funding to you

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guys where you need it the most uh you

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all follow that from day to day or or

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did you just kind of focus on what

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you're doing or how do you how do you

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square all that ? Yes , we uh we follow

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it day to day , but uh you know , we

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stay focused on what we have

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going on . But yeah , we we stay up to

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date on current events and uh you know ,

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uh whatever whatever Congress and the

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president decided , I'm sure that

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they'll come to an agreement between

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somewhere down the line and uh

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we're here , we're here until uh so the

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commander in chief says it's time to go

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home . So you know , sergeant , since I

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have such limited information about

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your your personal background , do you

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have family back here ? Fort Lewis or

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or you , are you a Washington guy or

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what's your story ? I do have family

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back into coma . Uh my wife lisa , uh

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two sons , Clinton and Edmund and my

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daughter . So lisa and I guess you're

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emailing them every chance you get . Oh

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yes , well I just will come on sometime

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today if we're able to Aaron at all and

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I sure hope we can . You would you

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would you like to say anything to them ?

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Yes . I just like to say hello and uh

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hello to my my parents back in uh my

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home state of Tennessee . Uh

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And when do you expect to be brought

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back here or have you received any word

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on that yet ? Uh We have not we have

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not received any word yet . Alright ,

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well sergeant , listen , thanks for

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talking with us and uh just make sure I

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have your last name correct . Would you

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mind stalling it for me , sir ? It's

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Hickman . H I C K E M A N . Got it .

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Listen again . Thanks for talking with

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us here at Channel seven and uh best of

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luck to you in ST safe and we hope to

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see you back here soon . Uh All right ,

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thank you , my man . Take care