WEBVTT

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- So, if this whole air force thing

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doesn't work out for you,
what's your backup plan?

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(laughs)

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(rock music)

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Hi, I'm Jeff Kelly with the USAFE-AFAFRICA

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Public Affairs Office, and
you and I are riding shotgun

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today with General Jeff Harrigian,

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the commander of US Air Forces in Europe

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and Air Forces Africa

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and also the NATO Aircom
commander, that's a mouthful.

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A lot of hats that you're
wearing there, sir.

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- That's a few hats,

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yes, it is.
- A few hats.

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Well, you're probably wonderin'
why we're riding around

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in the commander's POV today.

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And nobody better to answer that question,

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than the man himself.

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So General Harrigian, put it over to you.

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- Oh thanks, first off this
is a really great opportunity

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just to have a conversation,
talk about some of the things

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that are on my mind, some of the things

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that affect our airmen, our air force,

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about some of the things that
are goin' on in our world.

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So hopefully we can get somethin' of it,

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at the end of the day we'll
take people's feedback

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and see where we go from there.

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- Absolutely sir, absolutely.

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Well,

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(laughs) I think that
any good video series

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starts out with a origin story,

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and this one is no different.

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So I've gotta ask you the question,

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folks out there that are
watchin' probably wanna know

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who is Jeff Harrigian?

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The guy behind the four
stars, and I'm not talkin'

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about the air force IO information,

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where you come from,
and how has that shaped

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the leader you are.

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- Yeah, so probably helpful
to start out with the fact

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that I grew up just outside Chicago,

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little town called Western Springs,

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and was there through
my junior high school.

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But end of the day I went to the academy,

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but I have to say most
people don't know this,

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that before I went there, I
didn't get in on my first try.

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I ended up goin' to a place called

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The Marine Military Academy
down in Harlingen, Texas

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for a year, so prep school.

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- [Jeff K] Yeah.

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- 'Cause there were some speed bumps

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en route to getting the pilot training,

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but at the end of the day,

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raised in, I would call
it your middle class

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family,

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dad worked hard,

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my mom was a teacher then a librarian.

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And I love my Chicago sports team.

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I remain hardcore Bears even though

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it's a terrible season.

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Blackhawks and a Cubs
fan, so happy to talk

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about any of those goin' forward,

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but at the end of the
day, kind of your guy.

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Probably most people would put me

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in the overachiever category,
I would have never thought

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I'd been here doin' this
job, but I'm honored

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and I'm very privileged
to have a chance to do it.

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(casual music)

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- So if this whole air force
thing doesn't work out for you,

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what's your back up plan?

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- (laughs)

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I had always figured

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I'd retire and go fly for the Air Alliance

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or something like that, but at this point

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that is no longer part of the plan.

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So,

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- Mmhm.

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for those of you that don't know,

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I have a bird dog, I love bird dogs,

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and I've always figured
it'd be very relaxing

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to go be a bird dog trainer.

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Just hang out with the dogs,

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now I think it'd be a little bit of work,

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but I think that's a pretty
reasonable back-up plan

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when I call it quits, or have
to find something else to do.

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- [Jeff K] I'm signing you up.

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- [Jeff H] (laughs)

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- Is there anything you
would say to the airmen

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out there in Europe and Africa right now

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that are wondering to themselves,
does what I do matter,

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is what I do making a difference

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here on the European
and African continents.

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- Each and every one of
you that are listen to this

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make a difference in how we deliver

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air power and space power

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for not only our airforce,
but ultimately for our nation.

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And collectively, all
of you pulling together

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to make sure that we're able to deliver

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that combat power and
logistically sustain it.

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Take care, importantly of
our airmen and their families

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is really critical to our success.

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- [Jeff K] All right, so
we're passing the Taj Mahal

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that is the BX that
ramps on air force space.

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Is there any sort of a fast pass

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like amusement park
style, that the four stars

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get you to go to the head of the lines?

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They're sometimes pretty
long there, the food court?

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- [Jeff] Yeah, no.

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(laughs) there's no fast pass.

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Well there's been a lot of success,

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there's a lot of firsts in 2019.

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How do we capitalize on the gainings

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that we've made in the last year

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as we're looking forward now into 2020?

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- I think it's important for
us, that as we look back,

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we appreciate all the work that was done.

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And sometimes,

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in our business we tend to

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go okay took care of that, what's next.

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And leveraging

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our historians,

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the work that the PA does,

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has a chance to review all those issues

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whether it be internal
to our organization,

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or ones that we supported in

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terms of supporting EUCOM or AFRICOM

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are things that we need to look back,

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and then make sure we've
captured our lessons,

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use those lessons as we think about

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how we're gonna move
forward together into 2020.

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- I think that about wraps
up the time that we've got,

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with the first edition of
Riding Shotgun With Cobra.

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Is there anything that you'd like to say

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to the folks that are ridin'
shotgun with us right now,

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as we end this package.

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- I think there's

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no missed opportunities ever,

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where we should not
talk about sayin' thanks

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to our airmen, and that includes
our civilians out there,

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their families, and everyone
that's worked so hard

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through 2019 to get

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the job done.

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- All right sir, well I have

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actually a little bit of a parting gift

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for you here, it's a skateboard

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air freshener, I know
it smells nice in here,

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it's great, but maybe you
hang this in your mirror

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and the young airmen
think your're hip, and.

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- Uh yeah, thanks for that, but no.

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You can take that with you.

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You're out, mister.

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- Yes sir.

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- (laughs)

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(hard rock music)