WEBVTT

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(building music)

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- Seems like these days
everything we buy or own

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is just a disposable item, you know?

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You get a little nick on a cellphone

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or you get a little scratch here and there

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and poof, gone.

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Throw it away and go buy a new one.

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That's not how I was raised
and I feel like we need

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to get back to a more
durable society I guess.

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I remember being a kid and
going fairs and festivals

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growing up in the Midwest and being drawn

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to the sights and sounds
of the blacksmiths there.

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The coal burning, the
hammers on the anvils,

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and the steel and grinding and all that,

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just a very kind of an
industrial kind of feel to it.

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The thing that really draws
me is you take this piece

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of steel, this piece of iron or metal

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that when cold is extremely
hard and immovable

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and heat it up, you apply
pressure with a hammer

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or some other tool, and you
just bend it to your will

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and you make it what you want it to be.

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You turn it into a blade that is sharp,

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it's functional, it's
tough, it's resilient.

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And you look at that
in terms of what we do

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in the military and basic training.

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We take kids and young people
out of maybe high school

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or just in college and
through very intense

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and very extreme training
and hard circumstances,

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we turn them into sharp,
strong, and determined soldiers

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that can go out and fight and win wars.

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(machinery sounds)

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You've got to be next to
those dangerous things.

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I mean, you're working
with 1200 degree steel,

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working with grinders that
can take your knuckle off

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or a forge press that
can lop your hand off

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if you're not careful.

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It's just like being in the military

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where we are training to be
in these dangerous areas,

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to close and defeat our enemies, right?

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I mean, that's what we do.

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It is an honor to be
able to serve our country

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and to be able to defend those
that we love and care about.

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There's no end to the number
of skills that we can bring

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the bear to the fight
as a reserve component.

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Every hammer's got its own purpose

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and its own way of helping you

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as a blacksmith reach your goal.

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Just like in the Army, we
got several different MOS's

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out there that all work to
accomplish the same mission.

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You can't successfully
accomplish a mission in the Army

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if you only have one MOS.

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Infantry can't do it all,
military police can't do it all.

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If you don't have the right
people, have the grit,

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have the desire to win,
all that technology

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is gonna be for nought.

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This craft is very time
consuming, it's very difficult.

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I mean, blood, sweat, and
tears go into every item

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that comes out of my shop and every other

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blacksmith or bladesmith shop.

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That's what I try to instill in my work

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as an Army Reserve soldier
is the work we put in now,

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if we do it right is gonna
echo through the generations.

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Our kids will benefit from it,

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our grandkids will benefit from it.

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That's what the Army Reserve is.

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It's people coming
together, taking time away

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from their civilian jobs or family lives,

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putting the uniform on, and
helping the country succeed

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and win its battles.

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(soft music)