WEBVTT

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I was born and raised in Baghdad . Iraq ,

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grew up in a middle class family . I

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was very close to my parents . My

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brothers and sisters at this hour ,

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American and coalition forces are in

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the early stages of military operations

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to disarm Iraq to free its people and

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to defend the world from grave danger .

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When I was 15 years old , I would go

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out in my little bicycle , interacting

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with us military . What I wanted to do

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is be a voice to the community out

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there because at the beginning , there

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is a gap in communication . So like my

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mom being a mom was very concerned and

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worried about my safety . We made a

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deal . The deal was that I stay at

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school do well and then I can do

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whatever I want . I got to be part of

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projects that were uh influencing the

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whole community as far as like schools ,

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hospitals and roads . When I left to

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the United States , I knew I wanted to

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join the military . I talked to all the

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recruiters and most of them offered me

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incentives . The Marine Corps just

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offered me a title and a challenge

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as an enlisted Marine I got a , I got a

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chance to come be part of First Marine

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Division . It was my first duty station

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when I put in for uh enlisted

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commissioning program , I got selected

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in 2014 . Coming back years later to

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serve First Marine Division . Again ,

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there is this strong uh and tight

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community that marines have within

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First Marine Division and the pride of

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being part of the blue diamond .

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Absolutely a a privilege . I see

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myself very fortunate . I never

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expected that I would be able to make

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it out of there or get my family out of

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there safely . Become a United States

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citizen , a United States Marine NCO

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and then a United States Marine

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Commission Officer . I do it all

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over again . I

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remind myself that this is a

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privilege and how grateful I am to be

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here .