WEBVTT

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when the official look at the camera .

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All right , let's see if we got this

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connection here . Let's see . Is that

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Master Sergeant Dominguez ? Yes . Hey ,

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this is gulf Coast Guard from Cairo

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seven eyewitness news in Seattle

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Washington . How are you doing today ,

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sir ? I'm doing just fine . I've seen

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you there before . Oh cool man . Hey ,

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thanks for watching . And thanks for

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talking with us today and and I want to

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talk to you about your about your

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daughter's birthday coming up in just a

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minute . But first kind of let us know

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kind of break it down for us in

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civilian terms about what you're doing

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over there . Well , um

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I am working with the the third E . S .

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C . From fort Knox Kentucky .

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Um I am actually in the counter I . E .

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D . Defeat section and uh

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we we help train and uh field equipment

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for soldiers here in country . Whoa .

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So if I hear you right , you guys train

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soldiers on how to uh

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defeat uh does improvised explosive

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devices . So how does that work ?

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Well , there's various different types

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of training that the soldiers go

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through and it's my part . And uh our

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command oversees about 20,000 soldiers .

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And um at certain times they have to go

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through different types of training and

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I oversee all that type of training .

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So you know when the insurgency started ,

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you know a few years ago , I mean it

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was like every other day you were

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hearing about another I . E . D . Going

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off and killing you the civilians and

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our soldiers . And although that still

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happens a lot , it has started to tail

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off a little bit and just give me your

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thoughts on that . Uh it definitely has

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started to taper off and then we see it

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in the numbers every day . You know

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every day . It's a little bit lower

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than the than the previous time the

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month before . And I think everyone is

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trying to work really hard at trying to

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defeat this uh you know we get help

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from uh the Iraqi people themselves and

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uh soldiers in general . So yes it is

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working . So when you say defeat I . E .

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D . S . I mean define that for me . Is

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that did you guys figure out ways to

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blow them up ? So no one gets hurt or

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you figure out a way to disarm them or ?

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So what does that mean ? Exactly . Well

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it's a combination of a couple of

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different things . Uh yes it's trying

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to find them before they explode . And

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once you do find them you call out uh

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the explosive team and they come out

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and destroy them . But it's basically

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trying to uh trying to catch them

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before they can do any damage to us .

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So when you , let's see are you the

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reserve or National Guard ? I am with

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thee in the reserve unit . Were with

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the 70th r . c . out of Seattle . So

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when you're not being a master sergeant ,

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you're in the private world , what are

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you doing ? I am actually a merchandise

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manager for Costco you may have heard

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of us , I think I know what you're

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talking about . Be nice to get some of

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that Costco crab , I bet . Right . Oh ,

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definitely , definitely . Well , okay ,

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let's get down to the nitty gritty . I

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mean , you you want to talk a little

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bit about your daughter . I'm sure you

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miss her dearly tell me about her . Uh

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well , I do miss my daughter . Uh last

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weekend , last Saturday was her

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birthday . She just turned 15 years old .

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We've been planning a quinceanera for

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her . It's a big Mexican traditional

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party for her . And uh I got called up

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in the middle of it . So I was I had to

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be here , but the rest of my family was

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able to make it to uh I live in Mount

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vernon and my family lives in the

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Yakima Valley . They were able to

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travel over there and be with her . So

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it was really nice man . I bet they're

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going to save a little bit of that fun

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for you when you get back . So listen ,

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uh juan , thank you so much for talking

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with us , be safe and we look forward

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to seeing you back to your Stateside

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suit . Okay ? Thanks a lot . And you

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have a good day . Hi , thank you