WEBVTT

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Okay , again , my name is Leslie . He

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couldn't make that out . So thank you

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for talking with us today .

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Greg . Thanks Greg . How long have you

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been in Tikrit now with 78 actually ,

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the T 78 is headquarters southeast of

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here , along the Iranian border in the

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Diyala province . The 42nd Infantry

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Division is our higher headquarters and

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their station here in Tikrit . Okay ,

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how long have you been in Iraq now in

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Iraq ? I arrived here in the late

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start , early december 2000 and four .

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So about 11 months now ,

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at this point with the elections coming

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this weekend , how is everything going ?

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What's the mood like there ? Well , I

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think this referendum vote is gonna be

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extremely successful . We've had to do

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a lot of work on our side , working

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with different Iraqi security forces

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preparing , there's just a lot of

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moving pieces in a referendum or any

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kind of election here . And just to

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guarantee safety and success for the

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overall mission , it's just taking a

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lot of cross , a lot of coordination ,

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but I think it's going very well and I

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know this is going to be a successful

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referendum vote and I'm really looking

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forward to celebrating with the various

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Iraqi security forces on sunday after

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it . I'll send for the people

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that are in Iraq right now . Is there

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something chaos there , You know ,

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I don't see chaos at all in Iraq . Now ,

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I do see blips on the news that there

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are horrendous acts of terrorism going

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on in different parts sporadically and

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unfortunately tends to be the

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sensational that different news

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channels choose to show the viewers .

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What they failed to see on a daily

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basis is the humanitarian things that

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we're doing when we go to a

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village or small school and we

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distribute school supplies and choose

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for the Children . Uh They don't see

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the Daily Iraqi training , Iraqi army

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training where these guys are becoming

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more and more capable and confident

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every day . All we see is horrendous

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acts of violence done to innocent

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people . And I think that's very

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unfortunate because the story of Iraq

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is much broader than that narrow ,

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narrow picture of the violence . How

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are the people in Iraq responding to

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you and your soldiers over there ? Well ,

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my experience in Eastern Diyala has

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been very positive . Most of the people

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are extremely supportive of both us and

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the new Iraqi government with the Iraqi

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security forces . Um , I think this

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referendum , uh talking to those

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individuals , uh they say they're going

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to vote uh and I think it's a real

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strive for democracy because these

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people are not as scared as they were

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back in january to go out and kind of

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choose their destiny for themselves .

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Why do you think they're not as scared

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anymore ? Well , I think as the Iraqi

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army and Iraqi police have become more

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confident the civilian populace around

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them has become more confident .

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They're seeing these Iraqi security

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forces out there doing stuff . They're

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seeing truckloads of bad guys getting

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driven away to the different stations

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in Iraqi army compounds , they're

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seeing a difference and I truly believe

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that they're starting to understand

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that you know , hey , these guys are

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here for us . They're trying to keep us

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safe and the world around us is safer

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because of them . Uh Has President Bush

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been conferencing with your group ? Uh

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No , the only time we got to talk to

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the President was right before our

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actual time that we went live , it was

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actually a little surprised because we

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had a little technical difficulty right

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before the President started talking

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and we lost all power for about two

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minutes . It came right on the camera

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girl kind of pointed to us and there

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was the president's voice across the

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speaker . So it's pretty , pretty

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amazing actually . What's the overall

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mood toward President Bush this

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election is approaching this weekend ?

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Well , President ,

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Well , we told them , you know ,

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to rest assured that this referendum

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vote is going to go off without a hitch .

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Now , I consider it a success

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regardless of how the vote goes if the

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vote is that we accept the constitution .

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Great if they decide not to accept the

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constitution , that's also great .

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Remember the american constitution took

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many years for us to get the final

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product totally agreed upon . So either

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way , the people of Iraq are going out

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there voting . They're practicing

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democracy . They're making their voice

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town . We really wanted to portray that

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city President and we wanted to know ,

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we wanted him to know how hard we've

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been working now hard , the Iraqi

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security forces have been working to

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make this thing happen . So in your

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opinion , do you think everything is

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going in a positive direction at this

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point ? I do . And oftentimes I find

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myself caught uh kind of a vicious

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cycle now . I would love for things to

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move head faster than they are right

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now . But Rome wasn't built in a day

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and it's going to take some time here

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in Iraq to get everything working

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perfectly . And probably my standard ,

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the United States Army standard for

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perfect . Iraq is not ever going to be

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reached by the Iraqi security forces

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and that's okay because the culture of

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Iraq is not quite at the level that the

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United States Army is . So that's good

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that they're taking a piece of it and

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they're deciding their way how their ,

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how their security forces are going to

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work and how their culture is going to

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move forward . What are your hopes for

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Iraq and then your future ? Well , I

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would love to see in Iraq where these

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little kids that I mean at the schools

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for the Children of my Iraqi Army guys

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that I worked very closely with , You

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can see what they can just live without

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fear . Uh come in Chattanooga , you

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know , the Children don't worry about

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roadside bombs or you know terrorists

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driving a bomb into the local police

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station and possibly killing one of

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their loved ones . That's what I look

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forward to for Iraq . I think that the

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insurgency or the terrorists , they're

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already running scared . It's obvious

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they're making these horrible attacks

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against civilians . They're not

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targeting us , They're not targeting

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the Iraqi security forces as much .

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They're going after people and that's

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it's lunacy for them because they're

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losing any bit of support that they

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ever had . So I think they're kind of

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backtracking . They're going someplace

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they don't need to go . But that's good .

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They want to do crazy things . They're

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just gonna lose this for all the faster .

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So what's the next step after this

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weekend ? What do you think the next

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step is ? Well , I mean , the long term

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plan that , as I see it is continued

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economic development for Iraq .

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Continued improvement in Iraqi security

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forces , continued coordination between

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the different ethnic divides . Uh The

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only way Iraq is ever going to be

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perfect and peaceful is if they start

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working out their issues and the only

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way to do that is for them to sit and

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talk it out this a solution of talking

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it out and debating facts , debating

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history is going to be much more

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effective for them than holding the

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grudge is that they have for hundreds

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of years . We're seeing a lot of that

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progress made daily . So my hope for

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Iraq is that they just sit down and

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start talking about it instead of

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fighting over it ? Because there's

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really no end to the fighting and

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what's the next step for you . Are you

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coming home ? Yes , I think I am coming

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home . I can't wait to get home to

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Chattanooga . I've missed lucchese

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calzones and I've missed a big river .

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I've missed a lot of places in

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Chattanooga and I can't wait to get

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home . I'm first going to go down to

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southwest florida and spend some

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valuable time with my mother and my

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stepfather . Uh , they've been very

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supportive this year . Um , sending me

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great things , just notes of love

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encouragement , telling me how proud

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they are of me . But my plans are also

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come back to Chattanooga to all my

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supporters . There are some really good

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friends down at the covenant college

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quest office that have been nothing but

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supportive of me this entire year .

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Keeping me on the prayer list and just

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thinking well of him , I've got to go

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back and just tell them how much I

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appreciate that in person . So do you

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plan on going back to Iraq or how do

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you plan on continuing your help once

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you arrive home ? Well , I've

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considered coming back maybe a civilian ,

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um , working with the contractor . Um ,

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of course , my military obligation

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could bring me back here in this little ,

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this four or five years . Um , I love

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Iraq . I love the people . It is a

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great culture . I would have no problem

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coming back here . We're actually

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getting a bad rap part of Iraq that I

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was in . is it's just more different

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from what you see on the news . It's

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not like Baghdad or the Sunni Triangle

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or baku , but it was great and people

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really touched my life and I'm really

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proud to have been here working with

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them , but I'm also very thankful to

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them for kind of sharing our lives with

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me and let me help them . What date are

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you scheduled to come back home or do

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you know for sure yet ? Well , I do

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know , but unfortunately for

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operational security reasons , I'm not

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at liberty digital that I can't say it

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will be soon and I look forward to it

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very much within the next few months .

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Yes , hopefully it will be in that time .

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Yes . All right . And where is your

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family from ? In south florida ?

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Family from in south florida . South

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florida , Pine island areas near Fort

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Myers florida . Okay , But I have tons

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of friends there in Chattanooga . Okay ?

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I went to florida state . I had to tell

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you , I thought you had went to us .

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Okay , thank you very much . You hear

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that . I'm sorry . Can you hear me ?

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I think we'll break it up . Yeah , I

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can hear you sister . Let me a little

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bit and your voice . So we're pretty

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much done , but thank you so much . I

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appreciate . And we look forward to you

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coming home . Thank you very much . I

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look forward to seeing everybody back

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home soon . I'm sure