WEBVTT

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uh David Hammond

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spelled H A M A N N

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uh , correct . And you are

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from Fort Wayne , is that right ? Yes ,

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I am . Okay . Uh what's your rank ,

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Their uh specialist E four ,

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Okay , and how long have you been

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stationed there ? Uh I've been

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here for three months and then been

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stationed up in Fort wainwright Alaska

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for the past two years . Tell me a

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little bit about what you're particular

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job is there in Iraq um

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over here . Um I am a cab scout

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and uh we do a lot of patrols around

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module and sometimes we go out and

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around on the outskirts and uh just

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visiting with people and keeping up the

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morale around here and so forth . Like

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that kind of hard for us to I mean ,

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obviously coverage , daily basis of

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things are going on in Iraq . That's

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kind of hard for people to get a

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perspective what it's like , kind of

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give us from your perspective , what

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the situation is like there in Iraq

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right now . Well , we'll

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drive into downtown module , a lot of

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people that will sit there and wave at

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us and kids are like everywhere and

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they're always coming running up to our

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vehicles asking for food , candy ,

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money , whatever , just constantly

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asking for stuff , but a lot of people

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that sit there and the wave at us and

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then other times we'll roll through

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another part of town and nobody will

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respond to us whatsoever . They turn

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their back to us and uh they really

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just don't like us whatsoever .

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Obviously ,

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there's still a fair amount of danger

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involved over there right now . How

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much do you worry about your safety and

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while you're station there um every day

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we roll out the gate , there's a lot of

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concerns . Um Always getting reports or

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something that's in the area that we

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gotta particularly walk out for and so

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forth like that . Um You've all heard

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about the imposed I . E . Ds and so

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forth . Um That's a major concern of us

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when we roll out the gate with our big

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vehicles , uh they're always trying to

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get us and uh we're doing what we can

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to stop that .

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President Bush has indicated that even

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though the new constitution is ratified ,

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but there's still a lot of work to do

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and we're still going to be there for a

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while . Um How's that sitting through

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some of them ? Um

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It goes from one extreme to another .

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Uh I really can't can't see for

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everybody , but for me , um I really

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don't want to just pull out and leave

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because there's so many people that

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have been over here and giving their

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lives to do what we're trying to

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accomplish over here . So I'm all for

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for sticking it out and finishing what

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we've already started when you when you

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think it will be finished . But the

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question is I don't know that you put

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in a good time on it . But uh

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when as far as your concern , what will

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you feel the job is finished

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for me ? I'm just a

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driver of vehicle . That that's the way

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above my level of knowledge and so

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forth like that and what's going on out

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here . Have you been given any

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indication of how long you yourself

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will be stationed there ? How much

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longer you'll be in Iraq right now ? Um ,

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our unit , we got uh , I don't

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know anywhere from a year to a year and

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a half over here . It's not as much as

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they tell us whenever we go home ,

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that's when we're going home . And you

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may have mentioned that . I didn't

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catch it . Uh , where were you

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originally stationed here in the state ?

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I was originally station in Fort

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wainwright Alaska .

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How to get from Portland to Alaska .

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Uh ,

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I was an injured soldier just ready to

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get into the military life . I always

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wanted to be in the military . And when

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I went to the recruiter , I said , I

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didn't care where you guys send me .

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Just let me get into the military . And

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they said , all right , uh , for

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wainwright was a new unit and they

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needed soldiers . So they sent me up

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there . What do you want the people

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back home to know about the work that

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you're doing there in the way ,

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uh , that

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I'm doing what I can to keep the bad

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guys out of our homelands and keep them

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over here and catch them over here ,

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let's say like that and uh , make sure

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that what happened on september 11

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doesn't happen again . Okay . One more

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thing we've been trying to get hold of

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your mom and haven't had any success on

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the phone , but I'm sure you'd like to

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send a message to her and another

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friends and relatives here in Portland .

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What's up with that message ? Uh

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that I love you mom and everything's

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cool over here . Uh I got a

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girlfriend over she lives over there

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and uh name's heather living together .

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And I just love all my friends , and

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like to say everybody say hi to

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everybody over Courtney love in high

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school ,

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okay ? And uh go ahead , Right ,

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Oh and hi to everybody over at ST

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Peter's Church as well .