WEBVTT

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(dramatic music)

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(clock ticking)

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(alarm clocks ringing)
(upbeat music)

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- [Charles] Garrett.

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- [Garrett] What?

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- [Charles] Dude, we have to go to work.

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- Ah, I just woke up.

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God. (groans)

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(groovy music)

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- Hi, my name is Sergeant
Charles Blackmore.

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I am a 68 Whiskey combat
medical specialist

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with the 101st Special Troops Battalion

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and the 101st Division
Sustainment Brigade.

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So normally in the morning,
waking up roughly 4:30,

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getting our PTs on, try
to get a light workout in,

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just to kind of wake you up, get ourselves

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kind of refreshed and everything.

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And from there, we'll head to the showers

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and after that we'll come back
to our room to get dressed.

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ACUs, OCD pattern, to
kind of head in to work.

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Try to get to breakfast
roughly between six and 6:30.

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That way we can at least be here

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at the aid station roughly 15, 20 minutes

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before we open up shop.

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Gives us time to kind of look over some

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administrative details
that we might've missed

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the day before, or at least
get everything kind of prepped,

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cleaned and ready for the day ahead of us.

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We start seeing patients if they show up

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for walk-in hours at zero seven.

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And from there any patient
that kinda comes in,

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gets screened.

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The NSF 600 with their vitals taken

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and get the subjective
information from them,

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basically they reasons
for visiting that day

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and the objectifications we
can find for what exactly

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is wrong with them at that time.

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Here we have Sgt. Treps
and Specialist Dosantos

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kind of adding to our
COVID supply stockpile

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we have going on here.

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Into one of the treatment
rooms that we have

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here in the battalion aid station.

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Got a nice little shelf for supplies, bed,

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we have some informational
posters on some ACLS

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information on the wall as well,

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including our MC4 computer.

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Back into this corner,

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we have our med shelf with the
over the counter medications

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that we can give out by
request as well as everything

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located in our cage,
which normally requires

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an appointment with the
battalion aid station

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or at least a walk in
visit to see the provider.

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Back here is the office for
myself and Lt. Col. Williams,

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the brigade surgeon.

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Back here is kinda where
we receive phone calls,

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where Col. Williams receives patients

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that get briefed by one of our medics,

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kind of where all the business
side of the house happens.

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So the reason why I had
decided to enlist, it's kind of

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always been something that
I'd wanted to do primarily

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and following in the footsteps
of not only my father,

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but my three other siblings,

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as well as other members
of my family and serving

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the United States of America
via the armed forces.

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I also just had a greater
call to purpose and a sense of

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want and need to serve my country.

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And I couldn't think of
anything better to do so than

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enlisting in the United States Army.

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(relaxing music)

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So normally for lunch, we'll head in

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about 11:30, 12 o'clock-ish.

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Takes us about a half hour to eat.

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For some of us it's kind of light,

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it just depends on what
we're doing that day,

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but we get plenty of options
at lunch on what the eat,

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what we want to choose to eat.

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In the afternoon, when we
come back, it's kind of,

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it's more into the
immunization side of things,

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getting everybody up to
speed on medical readiness.

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So between anthrax and influenza
vaccinations is what we're

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primarily concerned with and
whether we have a kind of

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a rendezvous with
somebody on the footprint.

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So for our flu vaccinations today,

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we're actually meeting up
with some outlying down trace

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units at the theater
gateway location to get them

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squared away.

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And then once we get all that complete,

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what we're primarily focused
on at that time is rehashing

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something that might've happened
throughout the day that was

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either new or pertinent or
something that Lt. Col. Williams

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thought we needed to kind
of go over again once more.

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And he'll take that afternoon
time to kind of look online

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or look through the books
and educational material

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we have here to present us
with a class that afternoon,

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something for us to ponder
before we kind of head into

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the evening to relax a little bit on.

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(relaxing music)

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Far as being away from friends
and family for my first

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deployment, it's not the first
time I've had to go through

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a holiday season while
not being able to talk to

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or be around friends and
family during that part

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of the year, but it's definitely,

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I think gonna hit a little differently.

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While it's surreal at this time,

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I think once we get a little
closer to a Thanksgiving,

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and then most Christmas not
being able to have that shared

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environment with friends and
family that I normally would

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back home, and most
definitely including my wife,

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it's definitely gonna sit in.

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And I think that's when
I'll come to the realization

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that I am kind of halfway across the world

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and completely away from everybody

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and everything I've ever known.

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And while I'm not looking forward to it,

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I know I've got my friends in uniform here

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that will definitely
help me get it through.

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And not only that, but together,

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we'll make our own Thanksgiving together,

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we'll make our own Christmas,
and we will get through

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until we can actually get back home

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to celebrate everything in

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retroactively with our families.

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(upbeat music)

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So usually normally after
we're done with the workday,

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later afternoon or more towards
the evening, we'll come out,

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do some PT later on at night
when it's a little cooler out.

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Right now, we're out the zone one track.

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They've got nice little soccer
field facility out here,

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as well as the quarter
mile track that we can

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normally get it timed, one mile, two mile,

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or three mile run in.

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We don't normally come out here too often,

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so we usually use the tracks
a little closer to zone six

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out where we're at
sleeping and everything.

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But tonight we thought we'd
take a nice little stroll

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under the lights and
see what we can put in.

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So as far as messages or anything,

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I would like to let soldiers
within our footprint

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for the 101st Division
Sustainment Brigade know

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is that if you see my face or
if you see any of the other

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medics' faces, just get used to them.

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We're not ill-kind to
being able to help you out

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for any questions you have,
whether it be medical,

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anything personal, like
we're more than willing

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to kind of lend out a helping hand

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to help you get through
anything that may be going on

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in your life.

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And like I said, medically, personally,

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we'll be there for you.

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So that's typically how a day in my life

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here in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait goes,

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do some PT to finish off the
night and get some dinner chow

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and hit our bunks to kind of
decompress until we rinse,

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repeat the next day.

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I would like to take some time here

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at the end of this video to
give a shout out to friends

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and family back home.

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They were California, Louisiana,

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mom and dad in Indianapolis
and my beautiful wife

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in Clarksville, Tennessee.

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I love you, and I miss you,

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and I can't wait to get back
home to kind of celebrate

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everything we've missed
since I've been gone.

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For everyone else, I'll see you next year.

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And until then, happy
Thanksgiving and merry Christmas.

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(soft music)