WEBVTT

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- I was born in '75 during the whole Khmer Rouge era.

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Um Pol Pot, and my dad was in the Cambodian army.

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He made it up to the rank of Captain,

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and he was part of the whole genocidal, execution,

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him and amongst other family and colleagues.

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All the general officers and high ranking officers

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in the army were loaded onto several buses,

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when my mom was pregnant with me,

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and since then, none of them came back.

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I landed on Rhode Island when I was five years old,

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with my mom, with my older brother and sister.

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We came as immigrants.

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The Rhode Island community center actually

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was our sponsor, and they sponsored us

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as a military member.

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My mom was the spouse of a military member of Cambodia.

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We owned a restaurant in Rhode Island called Lapsari,

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an Asian restaurant,

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where I started working since the age of nine there.

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As a waitress, and after 20 years I got bored,

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and said I needed a new career.

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So I decided to join the military.

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I've been with the 467 for a little over a year now.

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I joined them in June of 2015.

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As far as the HSC Company,

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we're supporting the entire operations.

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Our Battalion is spear-heading the Riversaw operation.

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We have our operations section who's actually over-seeing

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the entire operation, and kind of Command Control.

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Our Command Team is Command Control of the entire operation,

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making sure that everything is coordinated through all,

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between the Marines, and all our sister units.

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As far as Riversaw, being a Headquarters company,

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we have a different, a very unique set up.

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When we hit ground, all the troops that I have

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are dispersed, so flexibility and being vigilant

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and flexible is the key to being success in

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Headquarters Service company.

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I've had great mentors, along the way,

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as a junior enlisted,

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and that's the one thing I can say is,

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they've shown me the way as far as

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what leadership is really about.

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It's allowing your junior subordinates to take charge,

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giving them the chance to lead

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and then seeing how they'll exceed your expectations.

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In the military when you serve,

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all of your family serve.

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And that's what I try to get to my soldiers,

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is that when you serve,

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your wife, your kids, also serve.

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So that when you make sacrifice,

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they're also sacrificing their time away from you.

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And also, knowing that hey, one day,

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we could be gone,

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for two months, three months, a year,

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so making sure the home front is very ready

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for our deployment, but also as brothers and sisters,

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that we're ready to take care of each other.