WEBVTT

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I'm Alison , Siemian WSMV incident of

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Georgia . So I'm just going to go right

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into the questions since we're quite on

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time . Okay . Um number one , how much

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progress is being made there

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Alice , It's an amazing progress . You

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know , we've been here almost a year

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now and when we got here a year ago we

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were being attacked 25 times a day .

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Now we're being attacked less than

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three times a day . Civilian casualties

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reduced by 75% . The whole conversation

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changed today . When I went out , I

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landed a patrol base and I get out and

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I walked the streets and I talked to

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the people of Iraq and the conversation

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is no longer about security , it's

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about services and it's about jobs .

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The people of Iraq , what we want ,

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they want freedom from fear . They want

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to send their kids to school , They

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want to be able to go to work and to be

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able to take care of their families and

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that's where we are now . So the

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progress is an amazing thing to me .

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Lots of progress in the year that we've

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been here . What do you think is the

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reason for that progress , sir ? Well ,

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you know , we had the opportunity with

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the surge to get the combat power . We

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needed to take the fight to the enemy .

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And as you know , the third division ,

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your division was part of the surge and

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we came in in March and we immediately

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looked at the battlefield to see where

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the enemy was and we planned major

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combat operations to take the fight to

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the enemy and we did that . We've had

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nine division named operations . Major

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operations to take the fight the enemy .

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And then once we controlled the ground ,

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we build a patrol base . We now live

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with the Iraqi population , 75% of my

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soldiers live out of the Iraqi

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population . And then the third thing

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happened , the local citizens who are

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tired of the intimidation , tired of

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the violence , they came forward and

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that's an asset to the patrol basis .

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Are you going to stay ? And since the

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answer was yes , they said , how can I

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help ? So now we've got the people of

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Iraq , we have risen up against the

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violence there fighting the insurgency .

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And we've always said , you know ,

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we're gonna win this counterinsurgency

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fight is by the people of Iraq and

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that's what we're seeing right now .

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It's very exciting . The third idea

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only has a couple more months left

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there . What goals have you set for the

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division ? Well , it's all about now

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transition . We're going to transition

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to the 10th Mountain Division in about

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100 days and we wanna make sure there's

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no loss of momentum that everything

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we're doing , they'll pick up and

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continue to do and I'm sure that will

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go remarkably well because we've got

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practice now in these transitions and

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then there are certain things we just

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want to accomplish before we leave here .

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We have things that I call Starfish ,

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just like the kid on the beach that was

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walking on the beach . He saw starfish

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on the beach . You picked it up and

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threw it in the water . A lady came up

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and said , what do you do ? And he said ,

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I'm saving starfish . She said , well

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look at all those starfish on the beach .

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You can't save them all . He said no

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man . But picked up another , threw in

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the water said , I can save that one .

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So we got about six starfish over here

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that I intend to take care of before we

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leave their major pieces of the

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infrastructure of Iraq . And that will

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lead to improve security and stability

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over here . So we'll continue to make

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progress . We'll run to the finish line

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and then we'll hand the baton off the

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10th mountain division and they'll

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continue the mission . Mhm . Can you

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tell me what any of those starfish

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arthur that you'll be throwing back

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into the water ? Sure . There's a place

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called the Salman Park , which is on

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the Tigris River . It used to be a

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resort community here in Iraq . And now

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it's devastated by four years of

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violence and intimidation ? Okay , okay .

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We're going to try to pick up here .

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Sure , what we were talking about the

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goals . What are the challenges that

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still remain ? What do you say in in

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Iraq ? Well , there's still a difficult

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time over here . I mean , we've got

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security about where we want it at

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least in our area . And I can say only

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a couple attached today . it's never

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gonna be perfect . So now we've got to

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focus on transition to stability ,

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which means we got to meet the needs of

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the people of Iraq . We gotta get jobs ,

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we gotta get employment , we gotta

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establish governance at all levels ,

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the local level , all the way up to the

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national level . And you don't do that

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overnight . It takes a while , you

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don't go from purity to democracy

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overnight . It takes a while . You

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don't take a infrastructure of an

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economy that's non existent and then

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build it . So everybody's got a job

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overnight . So that's a big challenge .

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So it's gonna take some time . And

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we've always said , counterinsurgency

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operations take some time . But we've

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got that first layer right now we've

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got the security situation where we

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want it and now it's time to build this

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place up . But I'm convinced that over

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time this place will be exactly what I

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tell . My soldiers all time . One day ,

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they'll be sitting with the grandkids

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on their lap and the grand can be

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looking at the picture book , picture

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map of the world will be this place

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called Iraq . That's free from fear ,

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that's a beacon of prosperity , entire

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world result that the world is free and

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my soldiers can look your grandkids and

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I and say I did that I made that

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difference . My soldiers are making

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history over here every day and I'm

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proud of them . Do you think there's

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still many more years of work to be

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done by US troops ? Oh , it's gonna

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take a while . It takes a while to work

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away through the security situation .

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You know , we talk about a sustained

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security presence and we want that to

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be an Iraqi security force , not a

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coalition force . And every day the

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Iraqi security forces here gets better .

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And every day I'm proud of it today , I

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was out with one of the battalion

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commanders of the city . Iraqi army

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division . He's doing a magazine well ,

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but there's not enough for the Iraqi

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security forces yet . So it takes a lot

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to build an army . It takes a while to

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build a police force and then they can

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be a sustained security president , the

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coalition forces can leave . But that's

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gonna take a while . But what we can't

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do is walk away from the Games . We may

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just think what we've done over the

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course last year , we made significant

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progress in the security situation in

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Iraq . Now we have this window of

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opportunity that we're all taking

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advantage of because it's not about

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security more now , it's about

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stability . So we can't walk back from

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that . So the U . S . Forces need to be

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here for a while longer to continue to

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improve the situation in Iraq . So the

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Iraqi security forces to step up and

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take over themselves about the soldiers .

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Sir . Is this deployment things kind of

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wearing on some of them as this is in

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some cases their third time away from

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their families for more than a year and

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this is hard . It breaks are hard to be

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away from families . I'll tell you it

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breaks my heart to be away from Sarah .

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But we're doing what our nation needs

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us to do . We are protecting our

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freedoms and our way of life . We are

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ensuring that our kids and their kids

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enjoy the same freedoms we enjoy today .

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So we would never pretend this is easy .

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And a 15 month deployment is not 12

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plus three . That means you missed a

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couple of things . We're gonna miss a

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couple of easters . In our case , we're

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gonna miss a couple of anniversaries ,

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a couple of birthdays and that's hard .

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That's why I always reach back to the

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families and tell them that I love them

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and that I appreciate their sacrifice

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and here we are on the eve of

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valentine's day and it's especially for

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me to tell them that I love them and I

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appreciate what they do and we'll get

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these soldiers back safe and sound and

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they know what they're doing here is

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important and they know that we're

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going to focus on the families and I'm

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not going to pass up the opportunity to

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tell my own wife that I love Sarah , I

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love you dearly . Here we are , another

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valentine's day apart , but we'll get

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one here soon . Look at you through all

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of this sir . It's a passion for our

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profession and its acknowledgment that

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there are bad people in the world who

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want to deny us our freedoms . I mean 9

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11 happened and a lot of the american

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society forgot about that 3000

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americans were killed on our soil . So

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what keeps us going is knowing that

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we've got to fight terrorism over here

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so we don't have to fight it back home .

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That's what keeps us going . We know

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what we're doing is important . I tell

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my soldier every day the most important

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piece of furniture in our house is our

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mirror and our mirror gives us a

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reflection back in that reflection is

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hey , you're making a difference . And

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what you do is very important . That's

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what keeps us going also . What keeps

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us going is the support of the american

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public . I mean the support we've had

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over here from the citizens of coastal

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Georgia over last year's the best I've

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ever seen . We know that were respected

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and we know were supported by the

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american people and we appreciate that

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question Breaker is a kind of a

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controversial one . But the suicide

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rate in the army had jumped up a lot .

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What do you notice with the troops ? Do

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you notice that a lot of them are

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having difficulty or is this a small

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percentage and what's being done to try

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to combat that while they're over in

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Iraq . I mean Alice this is a stressful

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situation and we watched very closely

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indicators of potential suicides to

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rate this year is no worse than being

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in the past , at least in the third

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Division . But we're looking at it all

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the time . Everybody is affected by

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this environment , it's a stressful

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environment . So what we do is we watch

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our soldiers all the time and we make

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sure they know it's okay to seek help

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if you're feeling depressed , if you're

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feeling you're feeling difficult

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circumstances , go ahead and get some

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help pass somebody to help you . And

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that's how we combat it . We call about ,

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we talk about battle buddies , you're

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always with your battle buddy , you're

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watching them closely . You're seeing

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if he's having any personal problems

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either because the stress over here or

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problems back home . If it looks like

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you need some help , we're making sure

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you get some help . That's all I needed

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sir . Okay , thanks very

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much about the technical

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difficulties . No problem . Happy

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valentine's Day