WEBVTT

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At the time , I was a member of the

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Washington Homeland Response Force as a

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team leader for the search and

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extraction team , uh where we , you

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know , we trained to do urban Search

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and Rescue . Um Something exactly like

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this . Uh And I that day that the

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event occurred , uh we had kind of or

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at least the Monday , uh the Monday

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after that it occurred because I

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believe it happened on a Saturday . Uh

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So we come into work on a Monday and

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we're kind of seeing these news reports

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come through of this uh tragic mudslide

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and kind of how nobody could really

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tell how big it was . But uh people

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knew that there were tons of people

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missing from it . Uh So we saw that and

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kind of lean forward and getting

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prepared . Uh We hadn't gotten any

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official word yet . We had really

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legitimately just seen it through the

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news . Uh But thinking that this is

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something that we could probably be

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tasked for . Uh we started preparing

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our equipment , preparing our trucks ,

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making phone calls out to the

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traditional guardsmen that were a part

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of the team , uh making sure that they

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were available um reaching out to our

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uh our search instruction train medics

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to make sure that they were available

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to go as well . Um And , and really ,

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so that first day at what , in between

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kind of reading the news reports and

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figuring out what was going on , we

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were just in a really a preparedness

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mode . Um And then later on in the

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evening , um is when we got the

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official go notice that , that we were

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gonna head out the door

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when we , we , so we got there and we

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spent the night and then the next full

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day that morning we actually went out

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to the , um , the site , the pile and

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we kind of , um , set up behind a

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hill . So we , you know , we're getting

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all of our trailers unloaded and we're

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kind of suiting up . Um , and then we

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walked as a group over the crest of

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this hill and that's the first time

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that we could see everything and it ,

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and it really , I mean , I'll never

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forget it . It , it , it just the

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expanse of , it really was difficult to

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wrap my mind around . Um , just the ,

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uh , seeing the , the slide off in the

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distance , but then also the , just the

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massiveness of the debris field and

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houses just splintered like matchsticks

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and , you know , ginormous Ponderosa

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pines just wiped out completely . Um ,

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so it really like he almost

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kind of your brain kind of goes into

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reset mode because it , it can't really

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understand what , what the actual level

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of devastation that it was .

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Um So from ,

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so I would say the first day it was

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like , what , once your brain had

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finally kind of reset and you're like ,

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get to work mode , you know , that's

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why we were there . Um And we just uh

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got our orders from the , um ,

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from the OPS branch chief , uh that ,

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that was working the site locally . Um

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And we divided up into our teams and we

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um kind of integrated with both the

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civilian firefighters and they , they

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had some civilian volunteers on the

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site as well . Um And we , we were each

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assigned an area and we just got to

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work . Um And

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yeah , it , and it was , it was a

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difficult response because we are

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dealing with loss of life and , you

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know , the deadliest mudslide in us

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history . Um So just being involved

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with the recovery of remains and being

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there with , uh with the friends and

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family members of those people out ,

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out on the pile , working with them

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side by side . So , um , I would say

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for me , like the first few

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months afterwards , I didn't really

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want to talk about my experiences up

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there with someone who hadn't also been

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up there with us . Uh And we had some

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amazing chaplains uh that were there

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with us that went out in the mud with

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us and they were a huge resource to

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have . Um And , and I'm very grateful

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that they were there with us and , you

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know , after time and , uh , being able

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to process , you know , certainly it's ,

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it's something , um , that I am willing

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and do enjoy talking about because , um ,

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I think of all my 23 years in , uh , in

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the Air Force and the Air Guard , um ,

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that , that is the most meaningful , uh ,

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event that I have ever been a part of ,

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I've deployed , you know , multiple

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times overseas . I've been to multiple

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other domestic operations , but OSO is

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the most meaningful because uh it is

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truly what the guard means . It's ,

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it's neighbors , helping neighbors ,

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it's Washingtonians helping

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Washingtonians uh at their , during

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their worst day .