WEBVTT

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Well it's morning . Here was afternoon

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there . What time is it today ? It is

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about seven or about 5 30 in the

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afternoon in Baghdad .

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Yes . In Baghdad . Well , first of all ,

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just you know , good afternoon to you .

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How are you doing today ? What's going

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on ? What's the big news doing ? Well ,

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thank you . Just kind of braving the

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heat . It's kind of a and the Oklahoma

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Oklahoma heat , if you get your cards ,

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haven't been in it all day and then you

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crank it over and you turn on the air

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conditioning , all the hot air blows at

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you . That's pretty much how it feels

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right here right now . It's probably

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the mid 90s .

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You are frank culture . Does your

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family still live here ? They do . Most

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of my family's from , from the west

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side of Tulsa or jinx . I grew up

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actually grew up in jinx and graduated

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from junior high school . What year did

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you graduate , 1991 .

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You've been in the military for 18

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years . Yes sir . I have 4.5 of that

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was when I was in the Tulsa or the

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Oklahoma Army National Guard in Tulsa .

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Tell me about that experience . What is

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that like for you ? Why have you , why

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did you decide to stay in the military ?

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I love the uniform . Believe it or not .

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Help me get some of my college out of

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the way . Plus I'm married , I have two

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sons . Health cares . Just crazy out

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there . Plus , you know , I have the

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job security to see what the economy is

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like right now . Job security and the

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medical , the two biggest benefits plus

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with me being over here where my wife

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is staying on fort Bragg north Carolina .

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I have really nothing to worry about

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being here is just doing my job and

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that's pretty much it .

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How old is your son ? I have a nine

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month old and a three year old England .

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Well , congratulations . Thanks . I

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appreciate I won't work on the floor

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when I give you what you Uh huh . Uh

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huh . You put that on tv .

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Well , my wife , we want to , I want to

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have a bigger family . Is what ,

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what's your role ? What do you do for

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the village in the army ? Um My

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official job title is fire support

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specialists um which is doing fires and

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observations for either the air force

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or for the army . I've transitioned to

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a new , a new title position . I worked

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with a civil affairs doing non lethal

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targeting and I'll go out and work with

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humanitarian teams on civilians from

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the State Department trying to help the

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Iraqis get back on their feet , helping

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them distributed books , helping with

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schools . You have to , I have the

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opportunity to work with is a Probably

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401st Civil Affairs Battalion out of

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Phoenix Arizona Reserve Unit . And just

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pretty much going out and helping the

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Iraqi public help themselves , give

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them clean water , get electricity ,

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food , the necessities and then be able

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to ultimately come back home .

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That's impossible for us back here in

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the United States to know exactly how

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the military , people said to yourself

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are received by the Iraqi people , but

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how do you believe the Iraqi people

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receive and beat you and the other

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members of you don't believe or not

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directly public towards the coalition

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forces is more accepted and acceptance

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of us versus when I was here in 2003 ,

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2004 , you know , the violence has come

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down dramatically . The infrastructure

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starting to build . What the american

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public they don't understand is that

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we're helping rebuild the government .

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That's not an easy task at take . It

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doesn't take a whole lot of time . And

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you gotta have a lot of patients map of

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the whole , keep a lot of patients to

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be able to do such and then , you know ,

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for us , you know , we're no longer the

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front runners of actually going out and

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performing these tasks . We've showed

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them the Iraqis how to do it as far as

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security infrastructure , how do you

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know , you know , maintain their own

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power supply , the water supply , and

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we just sit back and pretty much

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advised were , uh , I guess you wanna

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stay behind the scenes . Think once the

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military leave Iraq that the Iraqi

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people can take over on their own .

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Yeah , well , they're doing it now ,

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they're taking over on their on their

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own now . And when we do finally pull

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out of the country . I mean , I'm

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pretty confident they'll be able to

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take care of themselves . It's just a

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matter of time . Like I said , just

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take a lot of time for that to actually

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grow . We'd show them what to do and

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give them the tools and the proverbial

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tool bag to take care of themselves .

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And then we ultimately just go home .

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Tell me about your situation . How long

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will you be there ? What's your ,

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what's your plans over the next couple

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of years , as far as you know ? Um ,

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we'll be here up until about december

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time for him . Then we'll rotate back .

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And then for me personally , being the

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army , I'm not going anywhere . I'm

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just gonna retire from the army , it's

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taken care of me and let's take care of

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my wife and my two sons . So honestly I

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have a care in the world . So I

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actually love the army . So I don't see

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myself going anywhere . Do you know

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when you might retire ? Is that , do

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you think that will happen in december

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or will that happens here ? Oh no , it

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happened believe it or not . Um In

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September of 2018 there's one

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officially will , we'll retire or

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wouldn't my ID card has a express

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expiration date on . So when you're ,

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when you're done there in september ,

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when you go back to fort Bragg , is

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that where you will be stationed ? And

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then we could be , yes , dr morrell No ,

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I'm , I'm probably gonna stay brag for

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a good long while uh , with third

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brigade 82nd when we go back . Probably

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more than likely be with them for for a

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little bit longer . But I'll say it

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right . I like for Bragg it's not bad .

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One aspect I like about it about being

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there is the airborne operations . I'd

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like to jump from a I guess what you

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would call a perfectly good moving

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aircraft . All right . That's that's

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the biggest part did see on your did

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see on your bio that you will be

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joining jump master school . That actor .

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Yes , that is pretty much instead of

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being in line to jump actually can

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teach soldiers how to properly , you

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know , exit a high performance aircraft

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down . Do the safety measures as far as

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getting somebody in their in their

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parachute , get him out of the plane .

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When will you attend that school after

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you come back in ? Hopefully it says I

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get back um you have to acquire so many

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jumps . I need one more jump to be able

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to qualify to go to jump back to school .

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Talk about your when you live here in I

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think when you're in high school , did

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you participate ? Anything like

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football or any any experts of regular

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activities or anything like that ? I

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did play a little football and I played

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baseball . Ah

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what are your recollections uh living

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here in Tulsa and James . What do you

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remember about ? Oh

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remember mostly being able to go visit

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my grandmother anytime I wanted . I had

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quite a few friends . Um

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believe it or not , it's I like jinx

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jinx high school was a good high school

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and for the most part it's just having

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the luxury of doing whatever it is if I

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wanted to do . Oh versus now I

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have a family and it's got to focus on

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my wife and two sons . So don't do

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miss Tulsa . We're now , I like it .

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I'm a pretty much Oklahoma . And then

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my wife , I met her in texas while I

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was stationed at Fort Hood . So we kind

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of clash when ou has to play texas in

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which this year ? Yeah , we gotta get

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quarterback . So texas is gonna have to

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watch out little confidence . There

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are big spenders , fan parents , you

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know Sam Bradford , the quarterback is

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going to be a double Heisman Trophy

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winner . So I think we got we got a

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good squad this year . I believe .

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We'll we'll take it . I think you just

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got a lot of friends here at least in

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our studio . I love , I've always been

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your , your family . They still live

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here and I would like to contact and

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let know the story is going to air . Do

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they still live here ? My mom still ,

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she still is that my dad has deceased

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My grandmother lives in Tulsa and my

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mom actually lives in wagoner Oklahoma

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and forget some late . This won't you

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know what I'm about to ask you the

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answer will not go out on the air .

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It's just so I can do , Okay , what's

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her name ? Do you know how I can get in

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touch with her long stories ? Her name

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is Caroline decent . D A S O N A

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Fella . Mhm . Okay . The

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A R O L D A S O N .

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And Caroline ? Yes , sir .

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And she lives in Wagner wagoner

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Oklahoma . Okay . You

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know , she's lifted . I'm sorry .

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So , you know , if she's listed in the

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white pages , she is , it should be

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either Bruce or Caroline decent is what

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they're listening to . Very good .

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Well , we'll give her a call and tell

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her to watch . Tell me when you were in .

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Uh Did you always want to be in the

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military ? Was this something that you

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always wanted to do the right ? I knew

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I want to join my 10th grade year .

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Why then ? Why did you know , what is

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it about that ? Most of my , my father ,

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my grandfather and two uncles , both

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served in the military . My dad was in

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the army . I've just always been a big

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fan of put on a uniform . I've always

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liked camouflage and stuff like that .

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I was in the boy scouts there in Tulsa

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and I just I slept every aspect of it

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and that's pretty much what they'll do

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it today . Well , I think we're

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finished with the interview , but I

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just want to give you the opportunity

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to say whatever you want to say to the

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folks back home here , whether it's

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your family or folks and jinx or just ,

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you know , you have the floor ,

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anything you wanted . Um , well I would

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like to say to my family , I love you .

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I miss you . Especially my wife is

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probably , she's more than likely to

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see this . Um , I love you and my , my

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three year old , I'm his best friend .

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So Caleb your , your best friend loves

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you . Daddy loves you . And for my

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youngest son . Matthew , I love you as

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well . I will hopefully see you guys in

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eight months and hey , I'll give you a

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call here a little bit and for your

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family here , your mom perhaps . Um ,

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yeah , it's for my mom . I love you .

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Hopefully when you see this this

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evening , you know , I'm fine . I know

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I have a call in a while , but I just

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want to let you know , I love you . Let

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my sister know . I love your lover as

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well . Well , thank you very

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much sir . We do appreciate you talking

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to us today and best of lucky there in

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Baghdad . Right . No , I appreciate it .

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Thank you