WEBVTT

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- Okay, team.

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Good afternoon everybody.

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I am traveling, so I'm
not done in Huntsville,

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but I'm out and around
checking on, you know,

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quite frankly, the workforce
or a certain part of it.

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And so interesting travels
again for me this week,

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week 10 of our adventure
here against COVID.

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Making adjustments accordingly.

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Still have a little bit
of hotel room anxiety,

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you know making sure everything is clean,

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as well as,

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you know, where do I eat,

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exciting times for a person who already

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has a limited palette to begin with.

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But I won't bring it deep into that,

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into my sad state of terrible eating.

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So I will tell you though an
adventure, at the partners,

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we as Susan had me out,

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doing things in the
house this past weekend,

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had two big responsibilities

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and that was about laying down some mulch.

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And then trimming back the
bushes around the house.

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The bushes are somewhere
between 6 and 8 feet tall

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and 6 and 8 feet round.

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It was quite a task for me,

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both physically and
mentally, quite frankly.

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All done very well,

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until I found myself about 8 feet up

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trying to get a spot that I couldn't reach

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in my overextension caused
me to fall over the bush.

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And luckily I remembered my tuck and roll.

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Getting up pretty
quickly concerned because

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the trimmer was still running.

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So no danger there no while
have quite a bit of danger,

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but no damage, and
thankful that I remembered

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and at 60 years old, I can
still be agile to the situation,

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so made it through that
little bit of soreness

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but it's all good.

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I was able to do PT the next day.

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So that was my metric for I'm all right.

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So that that was the extent
of the partner adventures.

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Hopefully she has something,
Susan has something else

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for me to do next weekend.

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We'll see she's pretty
good about keeping my list,

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racked and stacked, so more at the end.

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So, today, I want to give
a couple moments of thought

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to Memorial Day weekend.

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And what does that weekend stand for?

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As we head that way,
you know, this is about

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the men and women who
have lost their lives,

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in defense of our country,

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in defense of our Constitution,

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in defense of our way of life, right?

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And we should never forget that, you know,

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the courage,

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their determination, their persistence,

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their selfless service, and quite frankly,

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at the end of the day
given what others have

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not given their lives.

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So I ask that you all
take a moment, right?

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And think about that, you
know, not not to be sad,

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but to remember what they did,

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and and to give thanks to
them and their families.

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For all that they did,
because of what they did

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we live like we live today.

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We are the luckiest nation in the world.

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And it's because of their sacrifice.

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So I ask you to take a
moment and think about that.

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In that light, though, as we

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and you've heard me say it before,

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I believe we're at war,

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against COVID-19.

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And in that light, I
think we have many others

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who are putting themselves in harm's way

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to protect our way of
life and to protect us.

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They might not be soldiers,
sailors, airmen, marines

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or coast guardsmen, but they

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are department of the army
civilians who are making

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the mission go on their contractors who

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are making mission go on.

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But then also let's just
talk about the obvious.

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The medical teams, right?

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Our doctors, our nurses, our technicians,

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those who keep the hospitals clean,

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those who are caring

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for patients every single day.

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You know, I'm just tipping my hat to you.

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Thank you for what you do.

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Whether it's supermarkets,
policemen, firemen,

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those who pick up our waste
our garbage truck man.

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I just want to say thanks,
I've done it before,

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but in light of Memorial Day,

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I just think you're
special people, all of you.

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So thanks for all that you do.

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As Memorial Day comes
upon us, what is it right?

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it is the beginning of summer.

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For a lot of people as you think

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and I want you to enjoy
right, enjoy the weekend.

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Understand what it means
is we've talked about,

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but also take time to get out.

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It is still our personal responsibility

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to make sure we

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are disciplined in our actions.

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Right? When we go out, we
owe it to each other, right?

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In your in public to be
wearing a mask, right?

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It's about respect for each other.

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When we go out, we owe it to
each other to be 6 feet apart.

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When we go out, right?

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It's important that we stay disciplined

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in making sure

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our hands are clean,

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and we're not touching our face.

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And so all this is on you, and I apologize

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that has to be on you.

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But if you institute

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and maintain a personal discipline,

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then the spread of the
virus will dissipate.

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And when the spread of
the virus dissipates,

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then we are winning.

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And so it's on all of us as individuals

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and collectively as a
society to do this, right?

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And so the more we do

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the better off we'll be both personally

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and as well as a community.

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So I'd ask that you think about it.

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Don't let the summer,
don't let the you know,

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our past memories drive
us to ill behavior.

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Don't let the rhetoric
on TV, right drive you

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to ill behavior, right?

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Take responsibility, hold
yourself accountable,

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be disciplined in
execution, and we are going

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to benefit personally and as a community,

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we will be stronger today.

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But we will be more

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importantly victorious

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in this war with your personal effort.

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So I'll close now with Susan and I

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are planning will be by ourselves.

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We're gonna Skype with our
sons and their families

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and we are gonna enjoy the
virtual time with them.

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And then quite frankly,
we'll be making calls

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to our other family members.

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You know, my parents,
Susan's brothers and sister,

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my brothers and sister,
and then we're just gonna

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have a virtual special weekend.

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Now with that said,

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I already saw her list and she does

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have me doing some things.

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Quite frankly, I'm a little
concerned about the list

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and my ability to do it,

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but I've been taking them
on one step at a time.

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YouTube is become my new friend,

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but I don't do anything
without YouTube now,

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and I've learned a lot.

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I've learned a lot about hanging pictures.

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I've learned about a lot about shells.

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I've learned a lot about how

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to change the plumbing in my toilet.

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I've learned a lot about electricity,

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which Oh, by the way, I still contract out

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because I'm not touching it.

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You get a second think
about me doing that work.

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If nothing else at all to bring a smile

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to your face knowing that
I will dork it up for sure.

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And then I'll do my best to cover it up,

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so that Susan's happy.

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So all of you, thanks
for what you're doing.

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Thanks for managing our priorities,

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taking care of yourself and your families,

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making sure that we are in
the fight against COVID-19.

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And then making sure we're
doing our mission every day

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around the world to support

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the warfighters who are in harm's way.

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We're just doing it.

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We're doing it well.

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And I'm so proud to be your commander

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and I thank you for all that you do.

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So, God bless all of you.

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And I'll talk to you again next week.