WEBVTT 00:00.119 --> 00:02.230 Hi , I'm Lance Corporal Elias Saker . 00:02.319 --> 00:05.170 I'm a 50 7-Eleven Seaborn Marine and 00:05.179 --> 00:07.110 I'm with Fourth Assault Amphibian 00:07.119 --> 00:09.840 Battalion . We've done a lot of range 00:09.850 --> 00:12.072 days . So we went out to the range . We 00:12.072 --> 00:14.680 shot the M four S . We , some of us 00:14.689 --> 00:16.633 actually pistol crawled , which is 00:16.633 --> 00:19.770 pretty cool . It's my first call . We 00:19.780 --> 00:22.000 took a trip to Alexandria for our 00:22.010 --> 00:25.319 Cultural day and we went ahead 00:25.329 --> 00:28.350 and did some PT out here . We were able 00:28.360 --> 00:30.829 to go ahead and check the army's tanks , 00:30.989 --> 00:33.500 which was also pretty cool . So for 00:33.509 --> 00:35.779 what I know about Delta Company , I do 00:35.790 --> 00:37.846 know that they're transitioning into 00:37.846 --> 00:39.901 boats as far as I know . That's what 00:39.901 --> 00:42.123 we're doing . We're kind of phasing out 00:42.123 --> 00:44.346 the tracks and we're going into boats . 00:44.346 --> 00:46.290 This is my first time working with 00:46.290 --> 00:48.479 partner nations as a marine . It is 00:48.490 --> 00:50.157 very , it's been a phenomenal 00:50.157 --> 00:52.268 experience . I get to speak , I guess 00:52.268 --> 00:54.323 my native language to them . So they 00:54.323 --> 00:56.546 kind of understand me . I helped around 00:56.546 --> 00:58.323 here to help people that didn't 00:58.323 --> 01:00.546 understand language barriers . So I was 01:00.546 --> 01:02.601 able to help them out with that . It 01:02.601 --> 01:04.768 was , it was a nice experience talking 01:04.768 --> 01:06.934 to the military here , you know , kind 01:06.934 --> 01:08.934 of like the differences between our 01:08.934 --> 01:10.990 military and their military . It was 01:10.990 --> 01:13.212 pretty cool working with them . And not 01:13.212 --> 01:15.379 only did we get to train with just the 01:15.379 --> 01:17.268 Egyptians ? I had the opportunity 01:17.268 --> 01:19.490 opportunity to see . I got Italian . So 01:19.490 --> 01:21.601 it was a pretty cool , pretty diverse 01:21.601 --> 01:24.440 group of military out here . So 01:24.449 --> 01:26.727 originally my parents are from Lebanon . 01:26.910 --> 01:29.077 I was born in San Diego . I just lived 01:29.077 --> 01:31.243 there for one year though and the rest 01:31.243 --> 01:33.410 of my life was in the Middle East . So 01:33.410 --> 01:35.900 Lebanon , Saudi Arabia , Abu Dhabi all 01:35.910 --> 01:38.077 over the Middle East . And in the last 01:38.077 --> 01:40.188 seven years of my life before I moved 01:40.188 --> 01:42.243 here in 2018 , was in Lebanon . So I 01:42.243 --> 01:44.466 spent seven years there . And my entire 01:44.470 --> 01:46.581 life , I learned English , Arabic and 01:46.581 --> 01:49.550 French . So I'm trilingual . I kind of 01:49.559 --> 01:51.615 felt like I was back home honestly , 01:51.615 --> 01:53.726 because in my household , back , back 01:53.726 --> 01:55.948 in the States , I speak with my parents 01:55.948 --> 01:58.115 in Arabic and we speak French to throw 01:58.115 --> 02:00.170 some French in there as well . So it 02:00.170 --> 01:59.459 kind of felt like I was kind of back 01:59.470 --> 02:01.790 home in a sense speaking to them in 02:01.800 --> 02:04.160 Arabic . It was pretty cool and it kind 02:04.169 --> 02:06.058 of shocked them at first that the 02:06.058 --> 02:08.169 Egyptians see American in the uniform 02:08.169 --> 02:10.447 and then I get to speak their language , 02:10.447 --> 02:10.110 kind of shocked them . It was pretty 02:10.119 --> 02:12.175 cool , pretty cool experience to see 02:12.175 --> 02:15.500 their faces . I learned well , I pistol . 02:15.929 --> 02:17.985 So I learned how to shoot the pistol 02:17.985 --> 02:20.207 out here . And I also learned something 02:20.207 --> 02:22.207 kind of on the cultural side . I've 02:22.207 --> 02:24.151 always wanted to come to Egypt . I 02:24.151 --> 02:23.460 always wanted to see the pyramids and 02:23.470 --> 02:25.526 that stuff . So coming out to bright 02:25.526 --> 02:27.960 star gave us that opportunity . And 02:27.970 --> 02:29.970 plus I also was able to learn the 02:29.979 --> 02:32.146 Egyptian dialect . So I kind of picked 02:32.146 --> 02:34.257 up on some words because the Lebanese 02:34.257 --> 02:36.312 dialect and the Egyptian dialect are 02:36.312 --> 02:38.368 not similar , but they're still very 02:38.368 --> 02:40.535 different and learning , learning some 02:40.535 --> 02:42.757 words that they use that we don't and I 02:42.757 --> 02:44.923 kind of picked up on some of that . So 02:44.923 --> 02:47.035 I'm kind of learning on that too . So 02:47.035 --> 02:50.399 that was pretty cool . Honestly , one 02:50.410 --> 02:53.199 of the challenges I've experienced out 02:53.210 --> 02:55.320 here is dealing with the heat , you 02:55.330 --> 02:57.441 know , being from Florida , it is hot 02:57.441 --> 03:00.080 out there , but it's also humid . But 03:00.089 --> 03:02.200 out here the dry heat , you know , it 03:02.200 --> 03:05.059 does , it does affect us . So I tend to 03:05.070 --> 03:07.509 drink a lot of water out here and 03:07.520 --> 03:09.687 keeping myself hydrated and letting my 03:09.687 --> 03:11.464 marines know that I've lived in 03:11.464 --> 03:13.576 countries where it's dry heat and you 03:13.576 --> 03:15.631 don't want to , you don't want to go 03:15.631 --> 03:17.798 down in this heat , so stay hydrated . 03:17.798 --> 03:19.464 But that's one of the biggest 03:19.464 --> 03:21.520 challenges that I have , I have seen 03:21.520 --> 03:23.464 out here for marines and myself is 03:23.464 --> 03:23.199 dealing with the heat and being out in 03:23.210 --> 03:25.199 the sun and full kit or out on the 03:25.210 --> 03:28.669 range . But I've overcome that . 03:29.130 --> 03:32.169 So actually when we went to Alexandria , 03:32.179 --> 03:34.401 we had the opportunity to go visit some 03:34.401 --> 03:36.380 cool monuments out there and some 03:36.389 --> 03:39.089 history and we got to drive by the 03:39.220 --> 03:41.442 Great Library of Alexandria . I believe 03:41.442 --> 03:43.720 it was . And it was a pretty cool site . 03:43.720 --> 03:45.887 It was big , it was huge and something 03:45.887 --> 03:47.979 I've never seen before . And we 03:47.990 --> 03:50.046 actually went out to lunch at a cool 03:50.046 --> 03:52.369 restaurant on the water , which we got 03:52.380 --> 03:54.491 to try some authentic Egyptian food , 03:54.491 --> 03:56.658 which was phenomenal . I think anybody 03:56.658 --> 03:58.658 here that had the opportunity would 03:58.658 --> 03:57.910 tell you the same thing . It was 03:57.919 --> 04:00.880 beautiful and I really enjoyed it . So , 04:00.889 --> 04:04.240 working with the Egyptians was a little 04:04.250 --> 04:06.306 bit difficult at first because I was 04:06.306 --> 04:08.417 kind of picking up on their dialect . 04:08.417 --> 04:08.309 So I had a hard time understanding them 04:08.320 --> 04:10.990 at first and to be able to get them to 04:11.000 --> 04:13.000 understand me , I had to kind of go 04:13.000 --> 04:14.944 slow in my Arabic at first until I 04:14.944 --> 04:17.000 started picking up their dialect and 04:17.000 --> 04:19.222 then they started understanding me more 04:19.222 --> 04:21.444 and more . But working with them , they 04:21.444 --> 04:23.444 are great people . I really enjoyed 04:23.444 --> 04:23.369 working with them , whether it's on the 04:23.380 --> 04:25.380 civilian side or dealing with their 04:25.380 --> 04:27.436 military . It was a great experience 04:27.436 --> 04:29.769 and they're very respectable people . 04:30.839 --> 04:33.450 So , MS is a 50 7-Eleven sea burn . So 04:33.459 --> 04:35.579 that's chemical , radiological , 04:35.589 --> 04:37.311 biological and nuclear defense 04:37.311 --> 04:40.089 specialist . And basically , I tend to 04:40.100 --> 04:42.510 deal with our unit's gas chamber . So I 04:42.519 --> 04:45.209 tend to make sure our marines are up to 04:45.220 --> 04:48.640 date on their yearly qualifications on 04:48.649 --> 04:50.705 their sea burn training . So the gas 04:50.705 --> 04:52.869 chamber , make sure their proper p pe 04:52.880 --> 04:55.140 everything , the gas mask mops suits 04:55.149 --> 04:57.260 and all that stuff and make sure they 04:57.260 --> 05:00.950 call when the quality time for . So I 05:00.959 --> 05:03.070 currently go to a school , University 05:03.070 --> 05:05.181 of South Florida . I'm studying civil 05:05.181 --> 05:07.779 engineering . I got two years left and 05:07.790 --> 05:09.901 as a job on the civilian side , I'm a 05:09.901 --> 05:11.846 real estate investor . So I invest 05:11.846 --> 05:13.846 money into real estate properties , 05:13.846 --> 05:16.068 flip the house and sell it for profit . 05:16.068 --> 05:18.234 Basically being , you know , marines , 05:18.234 --> 05:20.123 very disciplined on time and time 05:20.123 --> 05:22.346 crunches . So it made me very organized 05:22.346 --> 05:24.457 in my time studying because I have to 05:24.457 --> 05:26.679 manage my civilian job school and drill 05:26.679 --> 05:28.901 weekends . So managing my time is a big 05:28.901 --> 05:30.957 thing for me . An organization of my 05:30.957 --> 05:33.123 things , my school work , my work work 05:33.123 --> 05:35.570 really the Marine Corps I think brought 05:35.579 --> 05:37.468 that upon me and taught me how to 05:37.468 --> 05:41.179 organize my things and be very 05:41.209 --> 05:44.359 set in stone if that makes sense . So 05:44.369 --> 05:46.480 the Reserves have done , I mean , the 05:46.480 --> 05:48.702 opportunity to go overseas . This is my 05:48.702 --> 05:52.570 first time for an A so go get to go 05:52.579 --> 05:56.570 overseas and train . It might 05:56.579 --> 05:58.690 sound weird . But before I joined the 05:58.690 --> 06:00.690 Marine Corps , I never shot a rifle 06:00.690 --> 06:02.912 before . So I get to do that . I joined 06:02.912 --> 06:05.079 the Marine Corps Reserves because I've 06:05.079 --> 06:07.301 actually always wanted to be a marine , 06:07.301 --> 06:09.190 you know , coming from overseas , 06:09.190 --> 06:11.357 coming from a country , kind of like a 06:11.357 --> 06:13.468 third world country . I really always 06:13.468 --> 06:15.357 watch the news . I've always seen 06:15.357 --> 06:15.260 cartoons and stuff like that . And I've 06:15.269 --> 06:17.670 always seen military and I've always 06:17.679 --> 06:19.790 loved the United States . It's always 06:19.790 --> 06:21.623 been a dream of mine to join the 06:21.623 --> 06:23.846 Marines . And the reason I did Reserves 06:23.846 --> 06:26.068 was because I wanted the opportunity to 06:26.068 --> 06:28.123 go to school , not only go to school 06:28.123 --> 06:30.290 because I know active duty does that , 06:30.290 --> 06:32.179 but I've also wanted to be a real 06:32.179 --> 06:34.123 estate investor and I feel like it 06:34.123 --> 06:36.235 would be a little bit hard to do real 06:36.235 --> 06:38.346 estate if I were overseas . So that's 06:38.346 --> 06:40.179 another reason because I did the 06:40.179 --> 06:42.290 Reserves . I wanted to do real estate 06:42.290 --> 06:44.401 at the same time . And I feel like it 06:44.401 --> 06:43.630 would be a little bit harder active 06:43.640 --> 06:45.862 duty . Plus I always like to stay close 06:45.862 --> 06:47.807 to my family and the ones that are 06:47.807 --> 06:49.918 around me . So I know Marine Corps is 06:49.918 --> 06:51.973 my own family , but I do have also a 06:51.973 --> 06:53.973 family at home . So I would love to 06:53.973 --> 06:56.196 stay at home and stay with my family as 06:56.196 --> 06:58.140 well . Be nearby being a reservist 06:58.140 --> 07:00.140 doesn't take up too much of my time 07:00.140 --> 07:02.307 honestly , because I do enjoy going to 07:02.307 --> 07:04.251 the gym on my own . So I am always 07:04.251 --> 07:06.709 physically there . It doesn't interfere 07:06.720 --> 07:08.887 with my school work because it happens 07:08.887 --> 07:10.776 to fall on a weekend . It doesn't 07:10.776 --> 07:12.664 interfere with real estate either 07:12.664 --> 07:14.498 because you know , I work Monday 07:14.498 --> 07:16.831 through Friday or on my own time really . 07:16.831 --> 07:19.053 So the Marine Corps Reserves is kind of 07:19.053 --> 07:21.164 just like an accessory . So to say to 07:21.164 --> 07:23.519 my schedule . So it's just there as 07:23.529 --> 07:25.529 another job , like a weekend job if 07:25.529 --> 07:27.640 that makes sense . So , I do enjoy it 07:27.640 --> 07:29.529 and it does not interfere with my 07:29.529 --> 07:28.959 schedule .