WEBVTT

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- [Male Dispatcher] American
11, are you trying to call?

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- On September 11, 2001,

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I was Pre-Kindergarten at the time.

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(sonar beep)

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- The third grade.

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(sonar beep)

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- I was in the fourth
grade, I was in school.

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(sonar beep)

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- I was in fifth grade.

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(sonar beep)

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- I was in the seventh grade.

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(sonar beep)

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- 10th grade.

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(sonar beep)

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- I was a senior in High School.

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(sonar beep)

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- I was a First Lieutenant.

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(sonar beep)

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- I was a Corporal.

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(sonar beep)

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- A HN at--

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- [Caller] A plane just
hit the World Trade Center.

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- [Female Dispatcher] What?

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- [Caller] It's a 737.
- Wait what?

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[Caller] At the World Trade Center.

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- [Female Dispatcher]
Who are you talking to?

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- I watched the towers fall in my school.

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And my immediate thought at the time was,

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I just want to get to my recruiter

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to move up my recruit training date,

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so I can get there and
really defend the country.

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- First day of an exercise
and they came off and told us

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the planes had hit the World Trade Towers

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and we thought that it was
shaping the training evolution.

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- We were training in Livorno, Italy.

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and Company Gunny rolled up to me,

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said "Hey sir, New York
City is under attack."

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- Amazing, it's crazy.

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- There are not a group of Marines

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who wanted more than anything

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to go bring the wrath of America down

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on those who attacked our city,

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who attacked

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innocent Americans.

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(inspiring music)

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- But, later on as I grew older,

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the more we talked about
it, the more, you know

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anniversaries came up for September 11th,

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the more I kind of wanted to
go in more cause my family

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was there at the time.

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I wanted to make a
difference at that point.

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- Being stationed aboard
the U.S.S. New York

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makes me feel very proud.

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New York Fleet Week, it was
really weird to me because I

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had police officers
pulling me to the side.

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They're like, "Oh you're
on the USS New York?"

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And they would just
come and tell me stories

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about their experiences on
9/11 and it made me feel

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a little emotional because

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I'm not just in the Navy,

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I'm not just a female.

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I'm a part of something that
means a lot to a lot of people.

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- So I was 15 then, and two
years later I was enlisting

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in the Marine Corps at 17 and

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by 18 I was on my way to recruit training.

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That day absolutely impacted my decision

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to put on the uniform
and do what I do today.

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- Seeing those events first
hand and then being able

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to say that I've served on this ship.

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September 11th is what
made me join the military.

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So, you know, getting to
serve on the ship that was,

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formed out of that event.

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It's an honor.

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(machine gun firing)

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(uplifting music)

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- I will tell you that with
Marines embarked on that ship,

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that blue/ green team will go anywhere

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and defend our nation.

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It's just like any New Yorker would.

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(helicopter whirring)