WEBVTT

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Back in the 70s Laos was still

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considered a communist country and they

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had so much civil unrest in that area

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that my my dad just felt like it was

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better if we just went ahead and fled .

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My name is Lieutenant Colonel noi Boeri

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Boone holbrook . I am the commander for

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the 41st civil support team here in

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Louisville Kentucky . I have been in

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the military service for 30 years

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this year . Guards up and down the

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coast . Um knew my dad as a fisherman I

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guess one night it was time to go and

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my dad just acted like he was fishing .

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Nobody really questioned that . And

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then and my dad knew exactly where to

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go and that's how we ended up in a

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refugee camp . So when you're in the

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refugee camp , what they do is they

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write on chalk and they write your name

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and there's a number that's associated

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with you as an individual and then you

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as a family unit and then they're just

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waiting , you're waiting for a family

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to sponsor you . Late April of

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1980 landed in California and then

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took a flight from California into

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Chicago . I've been in journey ever

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since . Yeah . The way

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of the Les oceans . You typically

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already arranged marriage and set up

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and then there's really no future . Um

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past grade school . Pretty much I was a

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junior in high school and the first

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recruiter that actually showed up and

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my doorstep was a National guard

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recruiter , offered a lot of things as

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far as like free tuition for in state

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school . And and so I went ahead and

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I took the opportunity , I signed up in

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1992 and then I didn't officially

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transfer to the Kentucky National Guard

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until I think 1996 ,

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Um it's ironic because the Kentucky

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garden , I can honestly say that

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Kentucky guard has wonderful leadership .

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I mean great leadership that says a lot

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about the state . And so I think that's

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probably what made me hang around um

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the diversity as far as coming , having

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to work with other people of different

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backgrounds . Um and it's almost like a

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challenge when you work with people who

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don't have the same either educational

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background or experiences that you do

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in the cohesion , it is a lot of what

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Kentucky gave me , you know , like

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we're all here and the biggest thing is

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that , you know , when challenges come

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our way , it's not , it's not about how

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many times you you fall , it's about

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getting up and and doing the right

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thing , but it's also bringing a sense

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of unity to get something done in a

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common goal , I don't know , that's

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cheesy , it's not cheesy . So as long

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as you stay true to yourself and making

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sure that you keep within those um the

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boundaries of what you're given . I

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mean , the world's your oyster , you

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know