WEBVTT

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Hey , team Colonel Miller here , and

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I'm joined today by Mr Andrew McMaster

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Will from the A . D . A civil engineer

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group . You're actually in the Engineer

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Division , right ? Yes , sir . Good

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deal . And today we're here to kick off

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our extremism . Stand down . If you

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recall back on the fifth of February ,

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the Secretary of Defense Secretary

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Austin , uh , directed commanders

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across the Department of Defense to do

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a stand down to focus on the issue of

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extremism in our ranks . Uh , and this

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is one that it's kind of hurtful to the

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soul , right ? We've spent with the

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last almost year talking about

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diversity and inclusion . Right , sir ?

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Um and so going through those diversity

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inclusion discussions , you had an

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opportunity to participate in a few ,

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right ? Yes , sir . I sure did . And

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one of the big things people don't tend

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to open up as well . So I opened up the

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conversation . And the big thing is ,

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you know , being a person of color is

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to sometimes Listen , you listen to

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your Children . You have to listen to

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them sometimes and hear what they're

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saying . So you have to listen to

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people of color sometimes because they

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have something to say , and sometimes

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they don't get hurt . So you gotta be

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open minded about this . This stuff you

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got to be open minded , not put up

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defenses or anything like that . And

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just listen for a few minutes and then

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see where we can have some common

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ground . And and there's a lot of

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vulnerability in that . Right ? You

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need to be open to the conversation .

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We all have opinions . Yes , we all

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have strong opinions , views , thoughts

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based off of where we grew up . What we

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saw the experiences that we've had

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throughout life . But that doesn't mean

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that you're wrong or I'm wrong . Just

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different , right ? Yes , sir . And And

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that diversity between us makes us

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together a powerful force . Stronger ?

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Yeah , absolutely . And so when we get

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into the topic of extremism , how does

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that strike you ? What do you think

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when you hear extremism , extremism to

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me is , uh , somebody just going

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totally overboard , going against the

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norms ? Uh , I mean , we have our

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constitution , and when you go against

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the norms of our constitution , a lot

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of us I was military and I'm civilian .

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I still upholding the values of the

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Constitution and So when you go against

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the Constitution , that's that's

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totally extreme . You know , that's the

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way I see it . Yeah , and and And folks

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have lots of conversations about the ,

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you know , the constitutional rights ,

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freedom of expression , freedom of

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speech and extremism is kind of the far

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spectrum of that , right ? We can have

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a conversation , right ? We can have

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that difference of opinion . Um , and

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we can see things through a different

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lens . But it's coming to that common

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understanding without , um enforcing

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that extremist ideology whenever I

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think extremist ideology that's going

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to the far end of the spectrum , that

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is violence , that is the threat of

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violence . That is , those types of

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things that we view as extremist . Same

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thing when you look at supremacist ,

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the view that , um , one race or gender

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or religion outweighs the others ,

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right ? And you just need to get rid of

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that or take a violent approach to that .

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Uh and so those are the things that ,

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quite frankly , just are inconsistent

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with what we serve . Absolutely . I

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mean , we need each other , all the

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races . We all need each other to

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survive . We all bring different things

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to the table . And , you know , that's

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what America is based on is based on

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everybody coming together and this

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melting pot and living the dream of

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freedom . Uh , equality , that sort of

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stuff . That's that's what America is

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all about . So we got to embrace all

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the cultures . You know , we may not

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understand it , but we gotta find a way

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to find some common ground because

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everybody comes to America for a reason

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for that that that that life of freedom

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to be able to express themselves

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without any retribution Is that that

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sort of stuff ? So that's what makes

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this country great . And you immigrated .

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Your family immigrated yourself , right ?

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Yes , sir . I'm an immigrant . I came

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here . I didn't feel like I belong . So

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I took a chance and said , Well , you

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know what ? I want to join the military

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and and really get that belonging .

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That sense of belonging . So I joined

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the Air Force thinking it was just

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going to be a four years . But I love

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this so much . I stayed and I'm still

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here . Yeah , that is awesome . Went

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through retirement and then

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transitioned did some contract side of

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the house and back on our civil service

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team , right ? Perfect . Yes , you know

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I'll never stop serving . So even when

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I retire , I still find a way to help

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out the out . The military is some sort

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of fashion or , you know , people here .

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That is awesome . And so so for us ,

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it's really about that profession of

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arms , right ? Whether your uniform or

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non uniform uniforms , it's about that

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profession of arms . They all the same .

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And when you get into things like

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diversity , inclusion and the

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challenges that we've seen across our

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nation , from the George Floyd incident

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and beyond , you see it within the

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Asian community right now in Atlanta

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and some of the other things that are

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going off across the United States ,

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you go back to January 6th and what

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happened in Washington , D . C . I mean ,

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those are the things that we really

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talk about too far in the end of the

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spectrum , that extremist ideology ,

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it's not that , uh , protests aren't a

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good thing , right , that that's your

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right for expression . So that's

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whenever it goes too far and hits that

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extremist ideology and hit some of

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those other things . And and as a

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member of the profession of arms . We

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also subscribe to a higher calling ,

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right . We have higher expectations .

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We have our core values , right . We

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have our 80th air base wing values that

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that we recently rolled out . When you

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think of those 88 their basic values

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and you just pull the thread on a

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couple of those , uh , we have

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commitment . We have diversity . We

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have inclusivity , right ? And so

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respect . Those are some big values

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that feed into who we are as a nation ,

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who we are as a service who we are as

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members of the 88 air base wing . Then

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when you bump to our characteristics ,

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what do we want folks to know us for in

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the 80th air base wing Collaborative ,

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professional , trusted ,

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caring . And when you

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ram those four characteristics and

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those four values against extremist

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ideologies , you see that they don't

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even come close to being on the same

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level , right ? You cannot be an

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extremist if you believe in those

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values . You know , when I came to Air

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Force , you know , we talked about

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integrity service before self and

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excellence and all we do and and that's

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what we need to strive for and , you

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know , and we just with the airbase

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group Air Base Wing , we pull all those

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things together and with our commitment ,

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our respect and just , you know , uh ,

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working with each other , we all have a

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common goal , and that's to get the

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mission done . And we can't get the

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mission done without each other . So we

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gotta find a way to work together . You

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know , uh , even though we have

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differences , that's awesome . And so ,

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team , what I throw out to you is , as

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we go into this extremism stand down

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and we have what I expect to be some

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hard conversations . Remember to sit

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back and listen , be vulnerable ,

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share talk just like we did through the

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diversity and inclusion conversations ,

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the sensing sessions . And we should

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still be doing through those sensing

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sessions . We're now starting a

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conversation on extremist ideologies ,

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and I think we can all agree that this

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is not congruent with who we are as a

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nation who we are as the Department of

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Defense , who we are as an air force or

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who we are as the 88 air based way .

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And so let's share those conversations .

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Let's have those tough conversations .

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And as part of this stand down , we're

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going to drive through a couple of

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different topics . We're going to talk

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about the oath of office , whether

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you're uniformed and non uniformed . We

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take the same oath of office . We'll

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talk about that oath of office . We are

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going to talk about values , the Air

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Force , core values and our 88 air base

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wing values . We're going to talk about

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impermissible behaviors , things that

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are not congruent with who we are as an

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air force and who we are as a wing . In

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conjunction with that , we'll talk

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about the 88 air base wing

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characteristics . What do we want

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people to know us for who we are . When

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people talk about us , what are they

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saying ? Eight keywords with those

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eight characteristics , and then we'll

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wrap up with a conversation on

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reporting what to look for . What are

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some signs for extremist behavior is

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that you can catch ahead of time . Uh ,

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and you know when whenever we talk

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about a team and the profession of arms ,

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it is built on trust . It is built on

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respect . It is built on commitment ,

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and whenever somebody doesn't look like

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they're traveling down that path . We

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may need to raise the flag , and that's

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not tattling on somebody that's not

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writing somebody out . That's holding

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folks accountable to what we believe in

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in the Department of Defense , the

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United States Air Force in our United

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States of America . Right ? And so

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we'll talk through reporting , Uh , and

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how that plays out . What are your

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sources ? Resources , Those things that

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you can get after . Um , but at the end

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of the day , this is a conversation .

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We are doing this in small groups ,

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settings for a reason . This should be

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the team that you're comfortable with .

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We've got facilitators that will be

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guided discussions . We have senior

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leaders pair it up with teammates

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across the wing , uh , intro to do a

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stage center to help guide that

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conversation . To give you something to

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talk about . You probably did some

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homework , right ? You watch them

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videos ahead of time , your

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facilitators will show you a few other

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videos . At the end of the day , what

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we're asking you to do just like our

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diversity inclusion sensing sessions is

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to listen , share be vulnerable . Now

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team as the wing commander and

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installation commander for Wright

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Patterson Air Force Base . I had the

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opportunity to see the greatness across

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our installation . I have the

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opportunity to see you doing phenomenal

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things each and every day .

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Unfortunately , I also had the burden

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of getting some of the not so great

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things that are going on across the

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space . I'll give you a couple cases in

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point . About a month and a half two

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months ago , one of our mission

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partners reached out to me and said ,

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Hey , we have a team mate that was

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parked at the medical group went into

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our medical center to get services .

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Whenever she returned to her car ,

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there was a sign on her window on a

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piece of cardboard that said ,

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Freeloading Communist that is not

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consistent with who we are . That is

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not teammates looking out for teammates

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that is not caring . That is not

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trusted . That is not professional .

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That is not US team . Just on Friday ,

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I received a note from another one of

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our mission partners , this one from an

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individual within a mission partner who

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said , Sir , I know you've got a lot

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going on and hope your week was going

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great but I want to bring this to your

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attention earlier today . So this was

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Friday . My wife went into the

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commissary . Our 15 year old daughter

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was sitting in the passenger seat of

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our car on the back of our car . We

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have a small bumper sticker that says

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Black lives matter to me . While my

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daughter was sitting there , a

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gentleman walked up to the window ,

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knocked on it , pointed at the sign ,

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dropped an F bomb expletive followed by

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them and then walked into the

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commissary . Folks , if you think this

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does not happen on our installation , I

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unfortunately have to tell you it does .

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It is not right . It is unacceptable .

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We live by the air force core values .

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They are not aspirational for us . We

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raise our right hand and commit to an

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oath of office . We serve each other .

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We are committed . We are trusted ,

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Well respected . We are caring

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team together we are stronger . I need

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you to have these hard conversations .

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I think in those examples you can see

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this does not build teamwork . This

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does not build trust . Those types of

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actions are unacceptable . On this

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installation , we need to look out for

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each other . We need to be

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collaborative . We need to build on

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each other as we talked . We are

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stronger together , absolutely ,

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absolutely stronger . Together , our

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diversity is our strength . Inclusion

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is when we bring strength to power . We

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need each and every one of us on this

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team , right ? Absolutely , sir . We

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cannot , you know , hate somebody we

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don't know . You know , if we come from

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a perspective of love , you cannot hate

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somebody you don't even know . So on

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that point , sir , I say absolutely

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good deal team . I know this could be

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hard , but we need to have these

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conversations . And this is just the

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start . I appreciate your commitment to

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making us stronger . I appreciate your

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vulnerability as we have these

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conversations and I ask that you listen

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here , respond , don't react and share .

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I look forward to us getting through

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the extremism , stand down , having

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some great conversations and getting

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better on the other side of this . Keep

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looking out for each other