WEBVTT

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- My name is Master Sergeant Alan Myers,

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I have been with the National Guard for 15 years.

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I'm currently serving as a 79 Tango

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National Guard Recruiting Proponent NCO.

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Originally why I joined the Guard

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was for education benefits,

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but like with any career as you progress

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throughout your career you realize

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that there's usually more deeper meaning

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to what keeps you in an organization,

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and to me one of those was when I first joined

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I kinda looked at the National Guard in my community

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so I had a lot more of a closed narrower

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cultural understanding of the world around me.

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But as my career progressed and I moved through the ranks,

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I not only worked at the local level

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but then I went on a peace keeping deployment

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to Kosovo which helped me gain a more cultural understanding

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of Eastern Europe and the world around me.

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And then I went to work for the National Guard Bureau,

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which gave me an understanding of, the,

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the not only the organization but how people

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interact and work with each other on the national scale,

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and then I was also afforded the opportunity

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to represent the Arkansas Army National Guard

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and the Sergeant Major of the Army's Office.

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And working with Sergeant Major of the Army Daly,

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I was able to not only travel across the U.S.

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but I was able to travel the world

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from England to Eastern Europe to Africa

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and other countries and we engaged

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and worked with not only military leaders

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of the different nations but also local community figures.

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And out of that I feel like it helped me

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become more of a global citizen.

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Surprisingly a lot of the other cultures

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in the way of life of the other people

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from different parts of the world

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align a lot the same as somebody from Arkansas.

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And I feel like especially with the world we live in today

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that the National Guard has set me up for success

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on being more culturally aware of my surroundings

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and other people I interact with,

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and I feel like I wouldn't have that opportunity

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and especially at a younger age

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if it wasn't for the Army National Guard.

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I feel like it's helped me become a better global citizen

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and then just a better more well rounded person as a whole.