WEBVTT

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Let's start off with telling us your

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full name , spell it out for us . Give

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us your rank and duty title . My name

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is Paden . P AD E N , Jonathan J O

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N A T H A N , I'm a tech sergeant

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out of the one 22nd . Uh , I'm a

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security forces , uh , flight flight

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chief and tell us your home

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the one 22nd for Wayne Indiana .

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All right . Uh , that's preliminary

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stuff . We'll just go right into the

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questions . So the instructor

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certification program , how did you

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hear about that ? Uh , our training

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manager sent out an email to everyone

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and I knew that I needed help in the

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training that I was providing to people .

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So I immediately jumped on it . Uh ,

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knowing almost nothing about it other

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than they teach you how to , how to

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instruct people . Um And why did you

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decide to , um , enroll in the program ?

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Well , I do a lot of training being a

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flight chief and I , I felt like my ,

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my training was lacking , it was boring ,

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you know , I was boring myself . And so

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I thought this might be a good way to

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improve it . Ok . Um , so

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tell me what you've learned so far and

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what do you think you'll take away from

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this course ? Well , I learned how to

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create a lesson plan and then how to

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give a presentation based on that

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lesson plan . And um I think it's

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considerably better than the training I

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was doing before and , and the level of

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training is gonna improve a lot and

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hopefully I won't be falling asleep

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teaching it anymore . Um , ok , so

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we're gonna switch gears just a little

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bit . Um Tell me about your

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international Guard story . Why did you

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enlist in the international guard ?

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Well , my father retired at the out of

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the air Guard . And um when I was

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thinking about joining the military ,

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he highly recommended the , the Air

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National Guard and I knew I wanted to

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stay in my local area and joining the

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guard . Let me join the military while

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staying um in my my area . So it kind

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of worked out perfectly . All right .

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So what would you say to

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someone who's thinking about joining

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the guard ? Uh I'd say it's a , it's a

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great opportunity for anyone . Uh

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There's a lot of career fields you can

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pick from . Uh So there's , there's

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something to do no matter what it is

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you want to do . Uh If you want to join

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the military full time , that

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opportunity exists inside the guard .

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And if you want to just be a weekender ,

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you know , that's , that's a great

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opportunity as Well , so really ,

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there's something in there for , for

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everyone covered . Um ,

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so in all your time in the garden so

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far , what's been your favorite memory ?

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Oh , probably when I deployed to Iraq .

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Uh , you know , we had a really

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important mission there . I felt and I ,

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I don't know if I could narrow it down

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to one memory , but the whole

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deployment was , was pretty memorable ,

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especially compared to later

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deployments . Was there anything

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significant that happened ? Well , we

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got mortar , mortar attacked and rocket

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attacked a few times . And um you know ,

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it really gave you a sense of purpose

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when you're out there . Uh And there's

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actually AAA bad guy that you can see

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instead of just kind of like the

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invisible boogey man that we are

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generally fighting and as security

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forces . Um How did that

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interaction take place ? What was the ,

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I guess the feeling on the ground there

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as you were doing it or what did you

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need to do to ? Well , I had a

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couple of different roles . Um I was a

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taz operator for a while , which means

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I was observing all our sensors on base

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and um when I was a Taz operator and we

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got attacked and I mainly was on the

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phone or on the radio , uh calling

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people and getting information and

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passing on information to the army and ,

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and doing all those sorts of things .

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And um when I was on patrol and it

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happened and we were going out to the

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sites , the impact sites and , uh ,

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making sure there was no wounded there ,

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making sure that the , uh , mortar

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rocket rocket had exploded and we

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didn't need someone to come out and

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take care of it . Ok .

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So what are some of the benefits that

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you've experienced from being a guard

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member ? Well , um , I mean , there's

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lots of benefits , you know , just from

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the , the basic things like health care

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and , uh , you know , assisting in

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college , um earning your college

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degree through , through the Air Force .

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Uh , and then I've also met a lot of

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friends and , and , you know , had a

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lot of fun doing the different training

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and , uh , see the world , you know ,

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I've been to a bunch of different

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countries that I would have never been

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to , uh , without being in the military .

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So there's a lot of benefits . That's

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one of my experiences too was the

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travel because I was like a home body .

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Never got very far out of my home ,

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join the Air Force . And all of a

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sudden I'm seeing Korea and Japan and

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all different places around the world .

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It's just , it's quite the experience .

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Um , tell me a little bit about the

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camaraderie , the bonds that you've ,

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well , I mean , it's definitely great

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when you go on a deployment , you know ,

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you'll , you'll meet a bunch of new

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people . And , uh , it's really

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interesting watching that dynamic from

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the beginning where you know , you show

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up with a squad usually . So , you know ,

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12 people , but there's 50 or 60 people

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you're working with . And so there's ,

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there's a lot of change over the course

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of the six or seven months that you're ,

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you're working together from being

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strangers to being good friends by the

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end of it . Uh , so that's really

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interesting to , to , uh , see , and

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then there's also the people from your

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unit that , you know , you spend 10 or

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15 , 20 years working with and , uh ,

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get to be pretty good friends . Last

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question . Um , how do you see yourself

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contributing to the Air National Guard

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mission moving forward ? Well , like I

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said earlier , I do a lot of training

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and so being able to train the new

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generation of people coming in , uh ,

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can be pretty fulfilling when , when

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you , especially when you see them a

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couple of years down the , down the

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road or , excuse me , down the line and

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they're training people , you know . So

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you're , you're seeing a lot of , a lot

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of your work , um , accomplish

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something good for the military . It's

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very fulfilling .

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Um , to retire . Well ,

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uh , my goals , um ,

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do you see yourself making , you know ,

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chief master sergeant one day or

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running a section ? Uh , I ,

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I'd like to , um , be able to

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make it through and , um ,

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um , I just kinda wanna survive , I

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guess . Yeah , I don't have any big

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lofty goals . I'm , I'm enjoying what

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I'm doing and , uh , I'd like to con

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continue doing that and at some point ,

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maybe step into a teaching role , uh ,

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maybe , um , you know , be in charge of

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teaching for the unit or something like

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that . So , I guess that would be my ,

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my goal . What would you say that you

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want your legacy to be ? And just ,

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like , look at him . Uh , I , I , I

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like being able to see the younger

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generation as they get older . Um , and

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knowing that I , I taught them and

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seeing them teach other people , you

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know , it's kind of like , uh , very ,

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it's very fulfilling to see the people

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that you taught , passing on knowledge

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that you gave them to other people .