WEBVTT 00:00.040 --> 00:02.240 Julia Cairo tv . How are you doing ? 00:03.310 --> 00:06.550 I'm doing great . Excellent . Well , 00:06.550 --> 00:08.772 thanks for joining us today . Could you 00:08.772 --> 00:11.930 tell us your full name and 00:12.740 --> 00:14.684 and how long you have been there ? 00:15.900 --> 00:18.230 Corporal Damon farmer , I've been in 00:18.230 --> 00:20.452 Iraq for just over a couple of months . 00:22.540 --> 00:25.930 Excellent . Well , tell us first what a 00:25.940 --> 00:28.107 day is like for you , what the average 00:28.107 --> 00:30.107 day is like if there is one there , 00:31.460 --> 00:33.571 Well , there definitely is no average 00:33.571 --> 00:35.770 day in Iraq , but to sum it up , we 00:35.780 --> 00:38.360 wake up a lot earlier than we expect to . 00:38.370 --> 00:40.940 Uh we do maintenance on vehicles , we 00:40.940 --> 00:43.107 eat what little bit of food we can get 00:43.107 --> 00:45.218 a hold of . We roll out on missions . 00:45.218 --> 00:47.790 We sweat all day long in the beautiful 00:47.790 --> 00:49.734 country that we're in with the sun 00:49.734 --> 00:51.901 shining brightly over us , come back , 00:51.901 --> 00:54.234 shower and do it all again the next day , 00:55.720 --> 00:57.887 wow , how long did it take to get used 00:57.887 --> 01:01.560 to that ? I'll let you know as soon as 01:01.560 --> 01:04.910 I'm used to it . Yeah , no kidding . 01:04.920 --> 01:07.650 Well , well , tell us what some of your 01:07.650 --> 01:09.706 missions are , like what you all are 01:09.706 --> 01:11.761 doing and what sort of things do you 01:11.761 --> 01:14.300 feel like you have accomplished ? Well , 01:14.300 --> 01:17.430 a lot of our missions are different 01:17.440 --> 01:19.800 from time to time . We trained as 01:19.800 --> 01:22.170 artillery coming into . I trained as 01:22.170 --> 01:24.530 artillery coming into the army . Now we 01:24.530 --> 01:26.780 act as infantry soldiers , We go out , 01:26.780 --> 01:29.890 we do patrols to keep the public safe , 01:29.890 --> 01:32.640 wherever we're uh wherever our area of 01:32.640 --> 01:35.350 operation is , other missions are to 01:36.390 --> 01:38.557 people from one location to another to 01:38.557 --> 01:41.610 keep them safe . Uh It all depends 01:41.620 --> 01:43.787 depends on the day to day life of what 01:43.787 --> 01:47.590 we do here . What would you say is 01:47.600 --> 01:50.310 uh what would you say are the most 01:50.320 --> 01:53.370 challenging things that you all face on 01:53.370 --> 01:57.020 a day to day basis . Uh The most 01:57.020 --> 01:59.242 challenging thing that we face on a day 01:59.242 --> 02:01.700 to day basis is the constant grind . Uh 02:01.710 --> 02:04.340 every day 24 7 02:05.510 --> 02:08.050 Being in Iraq is a lot different than 02:08.060 --> 02:10.171 working back at Fort Lewis . When the 02:10.171 --> 02:12.282 day is over , we don't punch out , we 02:12.282 --> 02:14.004 can't just go to the PX , grab 02:14.004 --> 02:16.116 something to eat and head home . It's 02:16.116 --> 02:18.227 we're still at work . It's a constant 02:18.227 --> 02:20.449 job for some people . That's harder for 02:20.449 --> 02:22.616 others . It's it's fine because it's a 02:22.616 --> 02:24.838 structured life . So pretty much we the 02:24.838 --> 02:26.616 hardest thing we deal with this 02:26.616 --> 02:29.360 ourselves . I bet also missing family 02:29.360 --> 02:31.520 and just missing your lives back home 02:31.520 --> 02:35.080 I'd imagine . Yes that that 02:35.080 --> 02:38.170 happens uh every couple of hours 02:38.560 --> 02:41.700 it reappears in my mind my wife and my 02:41.700 --> 02:45.690 three beautiful kids . Where 02:45.690 --> 02:47.912 do they live ? Are they here in Western 02:47.912 --> 02:50.570 Washington ? Yes there on Fort Lewis . 02:50.580 --> 02:54.040 Uh Oh that's great . Well hopefully 02:54.040 --> 02:56.040 they'll get to see your interview . 02:56.040 --> 02:58.373 Would you like to say something to them ? 02:58.373 --> 03:01.940 Of course I miss you guys a lot more 03:01.940 --> 03:04.051 than more than you can know . I can't 03:04.051 --> 03:06.430 wait to see how big my kids have gotten 03:06.440 --> 03:09.300 Josie Isaac and kristen and of course 03:09.300 --> 03:11.630 my beautiful wife , I can't wait to see 03:11.630 --> 03:15.400 her face to face again . That's 03:15.410 --> 03:18.040 great . Do you guys uh get to keep in 03:18.040 --> 03:20.280 touch mostly on emails you get to talk 03:20.280 --> 03:23.560 on the phone much . Yeah we get to do 03:23.560 --> 03:26.020 all of that and on the occasion that we 03:26.030 --> 03:28.150 get to use the internet here at the 03:28.150 --> 03:30.206 local facilities . Sometimes you got 03:30.206 --> 03:32.539 webcams and we can chat online that way . 03:32.539 --> 03:36.380 Also . Well that's better than nothing 03:36.380 --> 03:39.140 definitely . Well tell us how you all 03:39.140 --> 03:41.690 keep the morale up since it is such a 03:41.690 --> 03:45.630 day to day grind uh morale . 03:45.650 --> 03:48.290 Well we're all here for a purpose . We 03:48.290 --> 03:50.234 knew when we joined the army we're 03:50.234 --> 03:53.310 gonna come to Iraq and deal with what's 03:53.310 --> 03:55.700 going on over here knowing that and 03:55.700 --> 03:57.811 training that way before we came here 03:57.811 --> 04:00.340 to help us prepare to know what we were 04:00.340 --> 04:02.284 doing . Uh We're here to help each 04:02.284 --> 04:04.118 other . The members of my team , 04:04.118 --> 04:06.380 members of my squad . If we notice 04:06.380 --> 04:08.602 somebody's down we pick them right back 04:08.602 --> 04:10.658 up . If we need a little bit of time 04:10.658 --> 04:12.713 off we can give people time off here 04:12.713 --> 04:15.160 and there also we have the phones , the 04:15.160 --> 04:17.590 internet got a tv where we live we can 04:17.590 --> 04:20.350 watch movies , play video games . Uh We 04:20.350 --> 04:24.180 do what we can uh that's 04:24.190 --> 04:26.301 great . Well it's anything I left out 04:26.301 --> 04:29.760 that you would like to add uh miss some 04:29.760 --> 04:31.927 of that rain . You can send it our way 04:31.927 --> 04:34.820 if you could yeah you would have liked 04:34.820 --> 04:37.042 last week it was like well you probably 04:37.042 --> 04:39.098 heard we had our hottest day about a 04:39.098 --> 04:41.153 week ago , week and a half ago . And 04:41.153 --> 04:43.320 then uh then we had the good old , you 04:43.320 --> 04:45.230 know , not really summer western 04:45.230 --> 04:47.452 Washington summer but now it looks like 04:47.452 --> 04:49.563 things are going to warm up a bit for 04:49.563 --> 04:51.786 august . So we'll be a little more like 04:51.786 --> 04:53.952 where you are , but nothing really can 04:53.952 --> 04:56.500 compare . That's great . Well thanks so 04:56.500 --> 04:58.611 much for talking to us and thanks for 04:58.611 --> 05:00.778 all you're doing there . We appreciate 05:00.778 --> 05:02.889 it and take care . Thank you for your 05:02.889 --> 05:05.520 time . Okay bye bye bye .