WEBVTT

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how are things going over there ? Uh ,

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I guess my question was as far as our

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unit or as far as I'm concerned , or

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hello ? Uh , I'm doing well .

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I'm doing long . Uh , it's

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been a long haul . We've been here over

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300 days now . Um ,

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but after the initial culture shock and

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getting into a combat type situation ,

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it's like any other job I hate to say ,

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say it like that . But you fall into a

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routine and you , you have a job to do

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and uh , I have a

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broadcasters that fall underneath me .

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I'm the broadcast . And so I see of our

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public affairs unit and I have six

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broadcasters that are underneath me .

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And you know , we get missions that

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come down , we'll , we'll go out and do

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those missions to the best of our

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ability . We come back , we'll , uh ,

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we'll edit our B roll much like you

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guys do and make a story out of it . So ,

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uh , like say it's been a long haul ,

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but we're proud of the work we've done

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here and already come home .

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Your job , you have to be in the line

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of fire in the part , you're fairly

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dangerous area . Uh ,

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well , Mosul , at least

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historically , last year in november ,

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a year ago , this time was fairly

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volatile area after the

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Fallujah was cleaned out by the

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marines and soldiers down there . Uh ,

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the insurgents and Al Qaeda type moved

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up into the Mosul area and they took

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over a bunch of police stations on one

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particular day and , and kind of wreak

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havoc and uh , but since that time

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since the task force , freedom has

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taken over and the soldiers of the 11th

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armored cavalry regiment , which is the

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unit that we fall under . Um , they've

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made remarkable strides and getting the

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area more safe and secure . Um , as far

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as our job in particular , um , we do

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go in harm's way , we have to go out

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and what they call striker vehicles ,

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which is the main troop transport in

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Iraq besides regular Humvees . And uh ,

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we just pray and get on there and once

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you're in there and you have to do a

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mission , you kind of forget about

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everything , but the mission that

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you're on and things just come natural

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to you . So you take on the role of

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what you're trained to do and for our

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purposes , that , that's his

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broadcasters . So we go and get our

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footage and , and , uh , hope for the

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best . Last week , the war in

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Iraq kind of milestone with 4000

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soldiers giving their lives . What is

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the morale like of the soldiers over

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there ? Uh , molly . I'm continually

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amazed and I told my wife this ever

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since I got here despite setbacks like

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losing troops . Uh , and it really hits

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home with our unit because every ,

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every troop that has given their life

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here in the Mosul area , our unit

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that's tasked with doing a memorial ,

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um , to honor their life , and it's a

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very moving to go to these ceremonies .

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Um , and it is , uh , equally

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moving and tough to edit the video to

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make it so that it's ready to give to

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the families in the troupe of the , of

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the unit that lost the soldier . Um ,

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uh , be that , be that as it may .

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Uh , the morale has been unbelievable .

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The soldiers that just left ,

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uh , 25th ID , which is

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the uh , folks from Hawaii and port

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Louis area , uh , every day that we go

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out with those guys would be like ,

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they would just pick up the slack and

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move on and they had a job to do . And

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I'm amazed at the resiliency , the

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american soldier , I'll always take

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away from this deployment . Just how

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proud I was to be able to serve with

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people as great as they are because the

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new unit has fallen in there out of

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Anchorage , Alaska . And they've done

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equally incredible job just in two

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months time with going out . They'll

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face a setback , but they'll , they'll

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pick up from that setback and move on .

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And again , I'm just , I'm proud to

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serve with . You've got a beautiful

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family here . How hard is it to be away

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from them ? Thanksgiving's coming up .

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You have to be back for christmas is

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what I understand , how hard is it a

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way to be away from your beautiful wife

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and your Children for so long . Uh , we

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did this one other time , not nearly as

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long and probably not as dangerous

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situation when I was in Bosnia in 2000

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and one , I did that for six months .

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Um , that was , that was very tough .

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Um , with the added danger of this

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particular mission . Um , you do a lot

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of soul searching . But uh , the thing

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I'll also take away from this

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deployment is how strong my wife has

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been being able to raise our two kids

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and equally as far as I'm concerned ,

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tough environment . Um , she's got a

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fairly important position to be a

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hospital in Iowa City and uh , but she

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comes back every day and basically as a

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mom and a dad to our kids . So , uh ,

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For that situation , I'm very proud of

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her . Uh , it's tough . But we talked

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to each other probably around 4-5 times

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a week via phone and I can email almost

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every day and I talked to my kids at

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least once a week . Um , so again ,

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although we're separated by the miles

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thanks to modern conveniences , we've

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really kept in touch . Pretty good .

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Well , staff Sergeant , we thank you

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for your time today . Your Children and

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wife are still listening . If you've

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got anything else you'd like to say to

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them , we've got about two minutes left ,

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so you guys feel free to chat . Thank

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you very much for your time