WEBVTT

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Okay thank you and good morning in

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Illinois um let me

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introduce myself . I am Major General

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Richard from my cabin , the commanding

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general of the combined security

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transition command to Afghanistan or C

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sticker as you might hear us pronounce

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the abbreviation of the acronym . I am

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particularly appreciative to mr dirk

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beverage and we do care and all the

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rest of those of you who were involved

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in setting this up . We appreciate the

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opportunity to talk to you And we

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thank you very much for your patients

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here in the last 45 minutes while we've

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tried to connect through to get to get

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through to you . We are particularly

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proud of the many great soldiers

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of the Illinois National Guard And we n .

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c . sticker are privileged to serve

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with the 33rd Infantry Brigade combat

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team . General steve huber and

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Colonel scott taylor E with command ser

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Major Mark Bowman form an outstanding

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command team and they need a

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very well trained and high performing

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brigade combat team that's serving here

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in Afghanistan doing the mission that

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our nation has asked them to do in a

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manner that you would be very proud of .

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As I think I told you when we did the

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first webcast a few months ago I had

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a chance to visit the 33rd in Marcel's

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Illinois and at fort Bragg north

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Carolina before they deployed , I noted

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then that they were well trained and

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that they were ready for their

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deployment . I am particularly

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appreciative and thankful to the state

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of Illinois for the manner

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in which they prepared this brigade

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combat team and its soldiers for their

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deployment and to the state of Illinois

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for the manner in which they provide

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support to their families and friends

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at home . I do want to thank all of

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you back at home ST various members

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of the supporting organizations ,

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fellow employees and employers and

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particularly the family members and

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friends of those 33rd Brigade combat

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team soldiers serving here , I want you

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to know that we are mindful of your

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sacrifice and we recognize that you

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bear the burden of the family at home

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while the soldiers here , it's through

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your support that the soldiers were

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able to focus and the very important

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mission we have here to build

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sustainable capacity and capability for

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the Afghan National Security Forces .

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12 Illinois soldiers Have

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given their lives since the 33rd

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Brigade combat team and its units

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assume their missions here in

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Afghanistan . We are

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grateful for their many contributions

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to the mission . We will forever be

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indebted to them for their sacrifice

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and we extend our most sincere and

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genuine sympathies to the

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family members , friends ,

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fellow employees , employers ,

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fellow soldiers and all those who mourn

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the loss of those great 12 great

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soldiers and we keep you and all of

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all of them in our thoughts and in our

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prayers . Again , thanks for your

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patience in setting this a webcast up

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today . We again appreciate all that

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you've done to make this happen And we

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look forward to your questions here

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over the next several minutes . So

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thanks . Thanks . Thanks . Thank you .

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As you know , Brigadier General steve

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huber , commander of combined joint

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task force phoenix and an Illinois

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guardsmen for over 30 years and I'm

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absolutely proud to lead the Illinois

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guard and the efforts here in

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Afghanistan . I'd like to just make a

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couple opening comments after General

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Formica and thank him for his kind

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words , appreciate the opportunity to

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speak to all of you to actually finally

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speak to all of you after our technical

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difficulties . It is really great to be

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able to engage with all of you today .

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Um , as you know , phoenix Is

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primarily Illinois Guard led , we bring

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almost 3000 people to the fight . And

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then added to that are our sister

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services , our coalition partners as

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well as contract civilians , which

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include well over 1000 local national

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um interpreters and we are spread out

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literally all over the country of

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Afghanistan doing our mission of

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mentoring and training . And while we

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do our job , we just want to thank you

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for your support to all of you sitting

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in the audience , but mostly and

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especially to the families that are

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left behind . Thank you for the many ,

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many sacrifices that you make on a

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daily basis and on our behalf while

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we're over here doing our job and

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I would argue that it is probably

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harder on all of you back home than it

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is on us here and I think we all look

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forward to being reunited with all of

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you . Your soldiers are doing well .

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They're working hard and making many

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many sacrifices And as you heard I just

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want to express my condolences and

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deepest sympathies to the families of

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the 12 Illinois fallen comrades . And I

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assure you we miss them very very much .

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We are 6-8 months into this mission

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depending on when our soldiers arrived

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here in theater . As I travel around I

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find that morale is extremely high .

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They are very proud of their work . The

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things that they're doing here and it's

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very important work as we do our best

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to make a difference here in

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Afghanistan . And I know that all of

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them look very forward to reuniting

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with their loved ones back home and

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having a sense of accomplishment for

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what they've done here and then a sense

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of a job well done . So thank you for

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the opportunity to be here . And I look

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forward to talking with you some more

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this morning . That's

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right . Thank you general . And if you

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don't mind , what we will do right now

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is we'll begin with some of the

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questions general . Uh huh . Drugs were

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geared towards reuniting of the

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families that are here U . S . Cellular

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and their loved ones that are deployed .

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So if you don't mind there's a couple

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family members here with questions

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regarding that if you don't mind . So

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the first question from one of the

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family members hear us element , I've

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heard rumors that the alloy national

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gun , the small Afghanistan uh huh

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Original date . Is there any truth

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woman ? I would have to say .

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Unfortunately . No , there's no truth

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to that . We will be completing our

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full mission here , arriving back as we

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originally expected . I don't want to

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get into any dates or times . But as

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you know , we came in in waves and

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we're going to go out the same way as

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our replacements from the great state

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of Georgia . Come in here , assume

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command , take over the

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responsibilities that we're doing of

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training and mentoring the Afghan

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national Security forces and then we'll

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get the opportunity to finally make our

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way out of here and back to our loved

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ones . May I may I make a comment ?

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Dark place . I

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appreciate the question and we

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certainly recognize the

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anticipation that the loved ones feel

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at home while they're waiting for their

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soldiers to return . I would just add a

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caution that soldiers

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from time to time tend to engage in

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rumors deployed soldiers tend to deploy ,

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tend to engage in rumors maybe more

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than they do when they're not deployed

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And I would just caution you if I may

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without , I don't want to sound

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scolding but um , rumors are just that

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and if we can't , we don't operate on

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rumors in the military . We're pretty

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precise and clear and what it is . We

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communicate and your soldiers will and

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should know the facts . And so I

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would just ask you to avoid speculation .

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And if you hear a rumor or associated

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with the rumor and I would suggest you

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take it as a rumor as it probably ain't

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true . And uh , and we can sort out the

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facts for you and we make a lot better

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judgments on facts that we do on rumors .

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And so I would Carson here against that .

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Um , thank you . Yeah , thank you . Jim

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Great . I'm voting site . Um ,

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relative to even there . Call

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one more question on that is what is

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the most important court backs the rare

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detail . Welcome call

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us and take that first .

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Oh yeah . I think the most important

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thing for families is to understand

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that transition back to civilian life

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and back to family life . It takes time

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And your loved one has been away for a

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very long time . And yes , they've

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missed their flood ones for very much .

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But the transition back out of a combat

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zone , back into civilian life ,

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whether it's whatever their job is or

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wherever their hometown is , it takes

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some time sometime in some

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understanding . So take it slow , have

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some understanding , take time together

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to reunite and reintegrate . Uh huh .

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Take time to talk about the things that

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they've experienced . But I think most

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importantly just understand what

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they've been through . But they are

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excited to come home . They are excited

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to see him .

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Okay