WEBVTT

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(upbeat music)

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I am Tech. Sgt. Jesse MacDonald.

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I am with the 407th EOSS,
assigned to the tower.

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I did ... building relations with...

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coordination, you know, with the Saudis,

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that was imperative,

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because we also had to
build the regulation.

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So, we were writing all our guides,

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writing all the training,
setting up airspace,

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really laying the groundwork
for establishing what,

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you know, Jaber or Salem currently are.

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And originally went there, um,

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and then in lieu of going home,

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you know, somebody had emergency leave.

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They called me up, and they said,

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"Hey, would you mind filling in?

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You know doing the back coverage."

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I was like, "No, not at all."

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I wasn't expecting to go home

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till like three months later anyway.

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So, then I came here and COVID hit

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and now 10 months later
I'm still down right.

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- My name is Tech. Sgt. Todd Russel,

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and I'm a LNO at Al Jaber Tower.

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At Iraq at Al Taqaddum Air Base.

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I was there for three months

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before they decided to shut down the base.

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And so, in approximately two weeks,

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we had to close down the base.

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So we had almost, was
it, 1,600 tons of crates

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and all kinds of vehicles

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that had to leave the base
in two weeks time span.

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You could tell from the base,

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that it was a first time for them as well,

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'cause everybody was running to our shop,

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because we also had a talk there

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to coordinate all the aircraft movement

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with the crates and stuff like that.

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So, everybody's just knocking on our door,

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and be like, "Hey, we need
this done, we need this done."

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And, it was a mad rush to get it done,

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but we got it all eventually
done in like two weeks.

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But it was non-stop aircraft
that were coming from Salem,

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Jaber, and just picking up equipment

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and just bringing it back here.

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Knowing your base is
just gonna close down,

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and then you have to, instead
of just directing aircraft,

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now you're driving a forklift
or building up a pallet.

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So, it's a different side of the job.

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- I like doing all the odd work.

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So when, you know, the host
in the air and, you know,

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you post (indistinct) or
multiple sling load operations,

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if we're doing NBD work or
mixing all the aircraft,

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like, the more complex it
is, the more fun it is.

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And then, the day just goes
by a little bit faster.

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Air traffic, you know,

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your coordination to
get aircraft airborne,

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so they can go and execute the mission.

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While we might not realize it,
you know, it is imperative,

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the aircraft getting boarded and you know.

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And we do contribute to
that, whether it's, you know,

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calling, you know, the internationals

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like the Kuwait centers and
organizing, like, you know,

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flight routes or anything of the sort,

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like, it's a major impact.

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You know, you don't really
feel it, but it's there.

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(welding)