WEBVTT 00:00.040 --> 00:02.630 Okay , let me go ahead and get with you 00:02.630 --> 00:06.260 on this thing . Um you know , I'm 00:06.260 --> 00:08.427 looking forward to seeing you when you 00:08.427 --> 00:10.760 get back and interviewing you of course , 00:10.760 --> 00:12.982 but this is kind of a special , this is 00:12.982 --> 00:15.093 kind of a special purpose interview , 00:15.093 --> 00:17.093 kind of a special purpose satellite 00:17.093 --> 00:19.204 interview . Why are you taking to the 00:19.204 --> 00:21.316 airwaves today in particular ? Well , 00:21.316 --> 00:23.260 I'll tell you what , we've had the 00:23.260 --> 00:25.427 great honor to be able to speak to our 00:25.427 --> 00:28.870 Commander in chief . It's uh kind of a 00:28.880 --> 00:32.170 culminating event for us as we near our 00:32.180 --> 00:35.750 mission here in Iraq will be coming 00:35.750 --> 00:38.800 home soon , but we still have one major 00:38.800 --> 00:40.970 event coming up saturday . The 00:40.980 --> 00:42.924 president wanted to hear about our 00:42.924 --> 00:45.080 progress uh with the Iraqi security 00:45.080 --> 00:47.720 forces concerning this upcoming 00:47.730 --> 00:49.952 constitutional referendum for the Iraqi 00:49.952 --> 00:52.270 people and that's what we're here to do 00:52.270 --> 00:55.860 today , understood . Uh 00:55.940 --> 00:59.730 I'm sure you can educate me so much 00:59.730 --> 01:01.786 on the kinds of things you guys have 01:01.786 --> 01:04.063 gone through , but what have you tried , 01:04.063 --> 01:06.230 what have you had to go through to try 01:06.230 --> 01:08.397 and get ready for sunday's vote ? What 01:08.397 --> 01:10.230 kinds of things have needed your 01:10.230 --> 01:12.380 attention and how we tried to prepare 01:12.380 --> 01:15.430 for that ? Well , we've actually been 01:15.430 --> 01:19.410 partnered with our Iraqi counterparts , 01:19.410 --> 01:22.990 Iraqi Army counterparts for the past 56 01:22.990 --> 01:25.180 months . We've been working with them 01:25.180 --> 01:27.458 training with them mentoring with them , 01:27.458 --> 01:29.458 preparing them for this event , not 01:29.458 --> 01:31.340 only for this event to , but to 01:31.350 --> 01:33.810 continue prepare for future events and 01:33.810 --> 01:35.754 to eventually take over the entire 01:35.754 --> 01:38.600 security of the nation . Uh They are 01:38.600 --> 01:42.160 learning their training hard uh in some 01:42.160 --> 01:45.210 cases . Uh some Iraqi army units are 01:45.210 --> 01:47.266 ready to do this themselves and have 01:47.266 --> 01:49.321 been doing it themselves for a while 01:49.321 --> 01:53.290 now . Uh Well let me ask 01:53.290 --> 01:55.457 you , I understand that you're a medic 01:55.457 --> 01:57.790 yourself . Is that right ? Yes I am sir . 01:57.790 --> 02:01.700 So as as a medic , what kind of 02:01.710 --> 02:03.710 maybe you played a role that didn't 02:03.710 --> 02:06.043 have anything to do with your specialty ? 02:06.043 --> 02:07.821 I'm not sure . But how have you 02:07.821 --> 02:09.821 personally been involved in helping 02:09.821 --> 02:12.043 them and helping yourself get ready for 02:12.043 --> 02:14.210 this weekend ? Yes sir . I'll tell you 02:14.210 --> 02:16.488 what , I'd love to share that with you . 02:16.488 --> 02:18.821 It's an honor for me to be a medic in U . 02:18.821 --> 02:21.620 S . Army but we have instilled that 02:21.620 --> 02:24.190 honor or that feeling of honor in the 02:24.190 --> 02:26.110 Iraqi Army medics that we've been 02:26.120 --> 02:28.690 working with closely that myself and 02:28.700 --> 02:30.850 two other trainers from the third 02:30.850 --> 02:33.000 squadron of the 2 78 Original combat 02:33.000 --> 02:35.000 team headquartered out of Knoxville 02:35.000 --> 02:37.167 Tennessee . We've been working closely 02:37.167 --> 02:40.530 with uh with 19 Iraqi Army medics from 02:40.530 --> 02:43.280 the brigade that were assigned . We 02:43.280 --> 02:46.460 have trained them uh and basic 02:46.470 --> 02:49.020 intermediate and advanced emergency 02:49.020 --> 02:52.570 medical , trauma . We've gone through 02:52.580 --> 02:56.070 uh classroom and hands on exercises 02:56.070 --> 02:58.670 with them . We have helped them to 02:58.670 --> 03:01.460 stand up their own aid station , uh 03:01.470 --> 03:04.320 their own room within their compounds 03:04.330 --> 03:07.630 uh equipped with medicines , advantages , 03:07.640 --> 03:09.807 letters and everything . They may need 03:09.807 --> 03:13.060 to support their troops uh during this 03:13.070 --> 03:16.770 upcoming time . Yes . When you 03:16.770 --> 03:18.770 started working with them , did you 03:18.770 --> 03:20.992 find that they were pretty well trained 03:20.992 --> 03:22.937 fairly well versed or did you guys 03:22.937 --> 03:24.659 pretty much have to teach them 03:24.659 --> 03:26.881 everything from the ground up ? Yes sir 03:26.881 --> 03:29.880 there were a few in the group that uh 03:29.890 --> 03:32.130 that have been trained before that had 03:32.130 --> 03:34.019 had some prior medical training . 03:34.019 --> 03:36.240 Either through the Iraqi Army or 03:36.240 --> 03:38.580 through some some prior coalition 03:38.580 --> 03:42.040 forces . We basically got this group 03:42.040 --> 03:46.040 together uh 19 Iraqi Army soldiers . 03:46.055 --> 03:49.235 We did start from the ground uh whether 03:49.235 --> 03:51.346 they had had some training or not but 03:51.346 --> 03:53.402 we quickly identified those that did 03:53.402 --> 03:55.513 have fire training so that they could 03:55.513 --> 03:58.705 mentor their own soldiers . And we kind 03:58.705 --> 04:00.872 of used to train the trainer technique 04:00.872 --> 04:03.435 where we would teach a class during the 04:03.435 --> 04:07.075 day . Then that evening , the right 04:07.075 --> 04:09.355 scars in the class would go back and re 04:09.355 --> 04:11.535 train on those subjects in the evening 04:11.535 --> 04:12.995 with their soldiers . 04:14.575 --> 04:17.745 I know you get some news from home . I 04:17.745 --> 04:19.575 don't know if you're aware of 04:19.575 --> 04:21.742 everything that's going on over here . 04:21.742 --> 04:24.475 The President's approval numbers are in 04:24.475 --> 04:26.750 a slide right now . And from what the 04:26.750 --> 04:28.917 pollsters say , the pollsters say that 04:28.917 --> 04:31.139 a lot of people are not feeling so good 04:31.139 --> 04:34.160 about about the war in Iraq , what kind 04:34.160 --> 04:36.480 of message do you have for our viewers 04:36.490 --> 04:39.870 with regard to that ? Well , 04:39.880 --> 04:42.660 when I went home back to Mount Pleasant 04:42.660 --> 04:45.070 timothy . Uh the small town of Mount 04:45.070 --> 04:48.740 Pleasant uh back in june , the question 04:48.740 --> 04:50.810 that I was asked most was what is 04:50.810 --> 04:53.620 really going on out there ? Um I think 04:53.630 --> 04:55.630 people wanted to hear directly from 04:55.630 --> 04:59.460 someone on the front lines . Um I would 04:59.460 --> 05:02.430 say that the Iraqi security forces , 05:02.440 --> 05:04.930 Iraqi Army , Iraqi Police , Iraqi 05:04.930 --> 05:07.330 Border Patrol , um Our main mission 05:07.330 --> 05:09.552 right now is to train them and to stand 05:09.552 --> 05:11.608 them up so they can handle their own 05:11.608 --> 05:15.320 security . Uh If you look back uh how 05:15.320 --> 05:17.320 many years it took us to get to the 05:17.320 --> 05:20.120 level that we are right now as a as an 05:20.120 --> 05:22.130 army or as a military in the United 05:22.130 --> 05:24.480 States . Uh And we have only worked 05:24.480 --> 05:26.647 with them for a short period of time . 05:26.647 --> 05:29.550 Uh They are at a very high level . 05:29.560 --> 05:33.320 Uh and they are starting to do 05:33.320 --> 05:35.540 operations on their own . Uh We're 05:35.540 --> 05:38.490 starting to take a back seat uh role in 05:38.490 --> 05:40.930 these operations . Uh just observing 05:40.940 --> 05:42.996 and were there for support when they 05:42.996 --> 05:45.490 need us . Uh The Iraqi people are 05:45.490 --> 05:47.980 wonderful people . I've had the 05:47.980 --> 05:50.290 opportunity to work with them . Uh work 05:50.290 --> 05:53.220 in the small village is performing uh 05:53.230 --> 05:55.790 medical , civil action programs where 05:55.790 --> 05:59.570 we uh evaluate uh small towns . 05:59.580 --> 06:03.470 Uh we treat uh Iraqi civilians , 06:03.480 --> 06:06.540 uh women Children , men in these 06:06.540 --> 06:09.330 villages for various ailments and 06:09.330 --> 06:12.220 injuries . Uh I've spoken with them . 06:12.230 --> 06:15.360 They are getting excited about this 06:15.360 --> 06:17.760 referendum vote . Uh This is a 06:17.760 --> 06:19.871 historical time for us to be here . I 06:19.871 --> 06:22.140 was here in january when they had their 06:22.140 --> 06:25.030 first democratic elections . Now 06:25.030 --> 06:27.030 they're gonna they're getting ready 06:27.030 --> 06:29.308 saturday to vote on their constitution . 06:29.308 --> 06:31.680 Now , whether this , I don't think the 06:31.680 --> 06:33.960 success of our mission or the Iraqi 06:33.960 --> 06:36.230 security forces mission depends on 06:36.230 --> 06:39.470 whether the uh referendum is voted up 06:39.480 --> 06:42.520 or down . Uh I believe , even if it is 06:42.520 --> 06:46.510 voted down . Uh it shows the world that 06:46.520 --> 06:48.860 the democratic process is working in 06:48.860 --> 06:52.480 Iraq . Uh they the Iraqi people are 06:52.480 --> 06:56.280 learning to their voice can be heard 06:56.290 --> 06:58.512 through the polls , I believe , instead 06:58.512 --> 07:01.510 of with violence . Uh now that's not to 07:01.510 --> 07:04.110 say that this is a cakewalk here , it's 07:04.110 --> 07:06.160 very dangerous , but they are learning .