WEBVTT

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- We're looking for veterans first

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to do our part as a federal agency

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to help transition military into civilian life

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when they're done in that career.

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Secondly, we find that

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a veteran can quite easily transition

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into the work of a Customs and Border Protection Officer.

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I would tell a veteran that's wishing to join CBP

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that they would be coming to an agency

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that is very veteran friendly.

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Like I said, here in Norfolk,

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34% of my work staff is veteran

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and we're very proud of that.

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And we work with them very well.

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The reduction in the amount of time it takes

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to bring a veteran into the service,

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into Customs and Border Protection,

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is huge for us.

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We were finding that by the time we were getting

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back to the veterans with a job offer,

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they had found jobs elsewhere.

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This reduction is huge and it makes us continue our desires

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to bring on the veterans.

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Similarities between the military duties and CBP duties

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mostly occur in the individual jobs

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you've been trained for in the military.

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For example, if you've worked checkpoints in foreign lands

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making sure that people coming through those checkpoints

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don't have fake documents,

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that's what Customs and Border Protection does.

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If you've worked at land borders

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and you've examined trucks and you've examined containers

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and cargo coming in to those bases or to those countries

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in part of your military life, that's what we do

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as Customs and Border Protection Officers.

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The most important quality that I need

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out of my CBP officers is persistence.

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We look through a lot of cargo

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and a lot of people coming into this country.

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So you have to stick to it everyday

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with the same attitude as if the next one you look at

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is gonna be that bad person or

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that bad item coming into the country

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that we need to protect ourselves from.

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In the military, you know the chains of command.

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You know the way the government works.

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You know the different departments

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and how they interact with the government.

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It's very similar when you move into the CBP realm.

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There's the same government, the same chains of command.

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And that makes a transition from military

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into Customs and Border Protection fairly easy.