WEBVTT

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(gentle music)

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- [Airman] It's hard to
describe the feeling it's just,

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you wouldn't be the same if you didn't,

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there would always be a gap there

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and you know that you miss something

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that you really needed to do.

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I've been in for quite a few years,

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but I knew that I had to
do at least one enlistment

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in the Airforce.

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There was only one way
I was gonna come in.

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There was gonna be a guaranteed contract

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to be a combat controller.

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There was no other option for me.

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The core skills of a combat controller is

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setting up an auster airfield

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and running pretty much
air traffic control

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in a combat zone.

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The big thing for me is being outdoors.

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When I was growing up here in Austin,

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there was plenty of things to do outside.

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Doing team sports kind
of made me want to be

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apart of that team for
the rest of my life,

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which parallels with
special operations community

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and being apart of a team.

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I think it's fair to say that
anybody that's from Texas

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is proud of themselves and the state,

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but I love Austin in the
fact that everything,

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everybody's outgoing,
everybody's accepted,

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it's so culturally diverse,

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it's really helped me
assimilate to other cultures

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that I've traveled around in the world.

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That initial leaving your
hometown and what you love

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was probably the hardest thing,

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but then I began to explore other cultures

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and figure out the rest of the world

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and now I enjoy moving
around just as much.

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Being a combat controller
really is the best of the best

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for special operations so it's really,

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I'm really proud to be an airman

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so that I can wear that heritage,

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that the people before me have built.

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The most rewarding part
is definitely knowing

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that when we get back from a mission,

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that I have an impact that
saved my best friends' lives

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that I'm out there fighting with

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and when they say, thank
you, that you saved my life,

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there's really no other,

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there's nothing else
that compares to that.

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So I really think that the Airforce

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could almost be for anyone,

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you just gotta find the right place

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and where you fit in and
really make your life

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meaningful and impactful.