WEBVTT

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I'm Commander Major Michelle S jones ,

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M I C H E L A . S J O N E S . I'm the

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ninth commands are Major of the army

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Reserve .

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Okay .

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Okay . The purpose of the visit is to

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accompany the estimate with the USO

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tour . That's the first piece . The

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second piece is to come out where my

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soldiers are to visit them . Send uh

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first of all give them many thanks for

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what they're doing has second to wish

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them a happy holiday knowing that they

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are awaiting their family . Three to

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answer any questions , concerns that

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they may have about things that's going

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on back home about the mission , about

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the army , about the army reserve and

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last for a couple of them given that

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hug when they need that hug and give

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them motivation encouragement to keep

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doing what they're doing because there

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are wonderful soldiers , all of them .

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Uh

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Yes . Yeah . Yes .

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Actually I did actually did very good

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questions as you know , the army's

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transforming and they have great

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questions or had great questions about

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transformation . Uh They get bits and

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pieces over here . So um things from

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how the army reserve is going to

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restructure on . What is that going to

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mean to the units that were there when

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they go back on , their unit's gonna be .

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There have been deactivated or

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reorganized into that nature . Um ,

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Some still had a couple questions about

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what is the law governing the period of

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time . Uh Some of them wanted to know

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how can I volunteer to stay longer

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and those are generally the questions

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that they asked again . Not a lot of

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issues . There's the only difference

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between the soldiers serving in the

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army reserve and the active component

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is that it's the reserve component and

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that's it . Soldier is a soldier is a

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soldier and the heart of the soldier is

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always the same . It's just that uh our

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soldiers in the army reserves and the

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National Guard . I had 22 lines of how

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can I say shame to command the civilian

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side and the military side . And right

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now the military side is the side that

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takes precedence . I

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think . Howard a tour . How do you feel ?

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It's important to check the morale from

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the polls have been here . They , you

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know away from the holidays for the

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first time from their families ,

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evidence that we're trying to get back

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to my report first time during the

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holiday season . Most people , it's

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festive . It's uh gathering with

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friends and family and doing things

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that they normally don't do on a

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regular basis celebrating this tour .

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What it brings us a celebration . It's

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not just a celebration of music and

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entertainment , but it's also a

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celebration of the mindset of some of

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our entertainers back in the U . S .

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The entertainers that are with us

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volunteer , just like the soldiers ,

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you know , to be here . They wanted to

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give something to our soldiers and I

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think soldiers by knowing that there

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are people out there . There are

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entertainers that do this from the

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bottom of their heart just to reach out

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and say thank you for serving this

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nation . We want to come out , we want

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to support you . We want to give you a

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little boost , hope their little

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motivation and a whole lot of love . So

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it serves to let them know what , not

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just the military things about them ,

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but but a lot of entertainers and , and

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I've had the privilege and the honor of

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this is my second time with coming out

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with a USO tour and just to listen to

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the entertainers and oh by the way ,

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three of them have served in the , in

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the army and one of the managers is

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actually the tired son first class . So

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they understand again the heart , the

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mind and the spirit of a soldier and

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just listening to them talk about it

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and how emotional and heartfelt that

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they feel for the military member and I

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have to say a military member because

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this is a joint . Um , but what they

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feel and it's so sincere , they changed

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as individuals . They changed as human

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beings every time they come out and

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reach out and touch one of our soldiers .

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So yeah ,

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my goals other than obviously the tour

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itself , those pockets of time

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that that I can , I add

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in things that aren't necessarily on

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the agenda . Every soldier is not gonna

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be able to come to the show . Every

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soldier is not gonna be able to come to

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lunch or general breakfast and meet

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with us . So I make a concerted effort

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to go where they are , be it their duty

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area , be it going over to the um

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facility . It's not the hospital , but

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where we have soldiers that have

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injuries , non battle injuries , just

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meeting with them and and talking to

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them and let them know that they're not

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forgotten . So reaching out , not just

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to those that can come to where we are .

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The go to those , uh , that can't come

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to where we are . So that's , that's a

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sidebar if you will of a mission that I

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said that I was going to do and I'm

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doing been successful so far yesterday .

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Uh ,

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easy , very easy .

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They want to do this again . They

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volunteer . They , as a matter of fact

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last year , several of them said , you

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know , I can't wait to do this again

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next year . This is not hard . It

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really isn't . We don't have to go and

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uh , you know , please please come and

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do this . They volunteer , volunteer ,

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uh , something with one Any

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of the issues and concerns that

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soldiers have , uh , as the commands

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are made of the army reserve . My

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concentration is to make sure that I

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always remained the voice of our

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soldiers . That is why this position

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exists for no other reason than to

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represent our soldiers and their

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families . And the only way that I can

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do this from them is by listening to

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them and saying not my opinion is , but

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soldiers are telling me these are the

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things , these are the policies , the

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regulations and the laws that we need

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to change to make their service even

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more meaningful . Or they can

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concentrate on the mission at hand and

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not have to worry about what we're

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doing as an institution back in the

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rear . I don't know . Yeah . Um ,

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my question , Well you

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can have encountered something about

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this . Show about anything else . Do

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you have any other questions ? I would

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say comments first of all . I want to

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thank every service number because this

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is all volunteer , uh military . That's

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number one . Not every american serves .

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And oh by the way , congratulations to

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all those . The day that was sworn in .

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Um , it took the oath of citizenship to

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serve the United States Army and not be

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a citizen . Um , is just words cannot

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describe the feeling that I had that of

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that ceremony today . Um , and to

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all our service members are discovered .

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We do care whether we're here or

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whether we're back home and we do care .

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And again , the entertainers that are

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here , They love our soldiers , our

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service members and their here because

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they want to be here for no other

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reason other than that . And for that ,

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I am eternally grateful and we truly

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are blessed

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nation