WEBVTT

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I am Captain Andrew Pfeiffer , Company

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Commander of Bravo Company 1 - 14 ,

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General Support Aviation Battalion ,

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otherwise known as Big Windy .

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Currently located Dahlman Turkey along

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the southern coastline of Turkey .

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We're currently tasked by um to assist

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and support our NATO ally , Turkey with

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their current wild firefighting efforts .

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The Turkish Forestry Ministry receives

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grid coordinates from authorities on

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the ground that there is a fire that is

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currently active . They come and notify

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us . We scramble to the aircraft with

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the help of a local national , one of

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the Forestry Ministry workers who are

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border aircraft . They receive grids

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for the fire as well as local dip sites

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around that fire area . And we launched

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the aircraft using our flight computers

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and other systems to navigate to those

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areas and assist . However , we can ,

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it's an incredible opportunity to be

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able to fight fires here in Turkey .

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Support NATO Ally in this way . My

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previous unit was in Alaska and we have

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the ability to use our water buckets

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there as well but never on an actual

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fire . So being able to actually assist

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and put out fires like we did yesterday ,

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it was just an incredible opportunity

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and we're grateful for the ability to

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come out here and able to assist how we

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can . Uh Big Windy always has the

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ability to self deployed just about

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anywhere in the european as well as

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African AO ours , our crew , we took

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three cruise with us as well as three

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maintainers in a weather officer as

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well um in our ability to self deploy

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to this area maintain ourselves during

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our operations here . just kind of

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proves why we're we've been tasked to

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do this mission . We have an incredible

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group of individuals here who are hard

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working and motivated and they've

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exceeded the standards in every way .

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Turkish landscape is beautiful . I

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would say it's a tropical , arid uh

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sort of environment . Excellent . Well

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maintained . The Turkish people have a

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lot of national pride , which is really

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nice to see and that's why they care so

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much and assets come out here to assist

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in this firefighting efforts . The

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dynamic environment around here with

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the high mountains as well as leading

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down to the ocean has kind of created

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an environment where there's some some

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high winds , dry air as well as high

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heat , which is what's leading to these

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fires . Um When we go out to assist

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these fires generally they've been on

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the hillsides and leading into the

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mountains . Um and our job is to try to

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keep those fires away from the local

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towns and the local people and keep

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everybody safe . We've had a great

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opportunity to interact with some some

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other countries really , the

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international community in an

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environment that we traditionally don't

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or have . Not recently , especially in

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a NATO ally country like Turkey , which

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we haven't been to in a while . Um

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we've learned a lot about international

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airspace and just moving between

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multiple countries on our flight from

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Germany Turkey as well as uh

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interoperability with partners here in

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Turkey , all kind of with the same goal

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and cause of assisting the Turkish

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people . However we can I'm C . W . To

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Kenneth guthy and I'm a CH 47 pilot at

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Big Wendy , first of the 2/14 . So

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right now we're stationed in Turkey out

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of the doll Amman International Airport

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and we're here for humanitarian aid to

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help fight the wildfires that have been

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ravaging this country . We had a very

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action packed mission yesterday

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fighting active fires on the front with

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other helicopters that are also here to

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support the wildfires . It's exciting .

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So I come from Missouri I would have

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never thought in a million years I'd be

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piloting an aircraft uh in a foreign

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country and Ally and helping out as

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much as we are helping out here and

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it's it's kind of amazing . So I I plan

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on making the Army of career but after

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I get out I kind of want to uh dip my

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toes in the civilian wildlife . Um so I

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would like to fight wildfires . Um I

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know they have civilian CH 47s and so I

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think that's this right here is good

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practice , good training for when I

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eventually do get out of the military .

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So I've seen Azerbaijan and then I've

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also seen the french and there were a

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few other enemy aircraft . I believe

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they were Turkish . I'm proud of

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everyone here because they're they're

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working hard , it's hot out here , but

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we're here to do a mission and we're

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completing it , no one's complaining .

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And uh we're here to support a NATO

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ally . So it's , it's just really nice

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to see actually get our feet wet and do

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good things for good people . My name

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is Rogers Warren , I work for the

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United States Forest Service Fire and

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Aviation management office as an

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aviation management specialist where

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I've been um working with aviation

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resources and aviation contracts . Um

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since about 2012 prior to that I was a

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wild land firefighter my entire career

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with the U . S . Forest Service and the

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National Park Service . That's my 30th

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fire season since I first started from

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what I've learned from the General

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Directorate of Forestry is this is one

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of the worst fire seasons that they

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have seen . The conditions this year

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started much earlier conditions ,

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meaning warm and dry conditions that

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are conducive to fire . So this was the

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worst that they've seen starting the

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earliest and lasting the longest really

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warm , hot , dry days . You know , low

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humidity , continued periods of wind ,

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um no rain in the forecast , no

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measurable rain in the forecast just

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leads to the drying of fuels and the um

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the conditions that are right for fires .

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Currently the firefighting belongs to

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the government of Turkey . Um There are

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local resources , There are local fire

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departments from the local

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municipalities , but the General

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Director of Forestry overall controls

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all over the firefighting efforts and

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they have , as far as aircraft is

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concerned , they have leased a number

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of aircraft from different countries .

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You know they brought private

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contractors in from Ukraine and other

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countries have come to assist as well

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as the U . S . Um generally what I've

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learned from the Turkish is that we are

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more similar than we are different from

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the US Forest Service . So they have a

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dispatch system that is much like our

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911 system . So if somebody saw a fire

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or observed a fire On a hillside they

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could dial 112 on the phone and get a

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dispatcher expressed to them the

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problem and they would reach out to the

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local forestry um division . So they're

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they're they're configured into

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districts and subdistricts . Each sub

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district has a set of firefighter , you

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know responders and a fire engine . And

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so they would they would be the first

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responders to that wild land fire . And

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if they were unable to control it they

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would then reach out to a regional

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office and then the regional office

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could reach out to a national office to

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continue bringing in resources . Um So

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that's how a fire would get suppressed .

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It would start very locally . Um Just

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the same as it would for us in the U .

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S . And then as it exceeded that local

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capacity they would reach out

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regionally and then regionally to

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nationally they could get resources and

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as as regional support for the mula

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region , the southern part against the

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mediterranean . So yeah we're

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considered a regional resource of the

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sub districts could reach out here for

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any of the aviation assets that sit at

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Belmont airport . Yeah again the

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similarities are greater than our

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differences with the Turkish Forestry

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Commission and I have seen a

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willingness to cooperate between the

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two governments and the two entities

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and I've seen a lot of information

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sharing um both the way the Turkish

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Forestry Commission fights fire and the

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way we would train , you know the

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pilots that we brought , our very

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experienced have done some firefighting

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in other places . So they had a

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knowledge in the background that they

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shared with the Turkish forestry folks .

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So I've seen a great cooperation in

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that , you know , we would like to see ,

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you know from our perspective with the

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U . S . Forest Service . You know ,

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hopefully this could be a the start of

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a much bigger and longer lasting

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relationship with the Turkish Forestry

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Commission in a cooperative sort of

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firefighting effort . Because

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firefighting now is not just um local ,

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it's a global problem