WEBVTT

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Mhm .

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It means a lot to me as mayor of a

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community that so honors our military

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veterans and active duty service

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members and their families . They're so

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important to us . They not only defend

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their communities , especially these

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citizen soldiers , but also defend

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their country and they provide the

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freedoms that we enjoy . And so I was

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very fortunate to be here to say

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goodbye to these men and women of the

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1304 back in October of last year . And

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so so that I could be here to welcome

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them all and to see both the tears and

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the smiles on the faces of the family

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members as they welcomed their soldiers

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home . And so what a great opportunity

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as a commander , I am ecstatic and it

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was a little nerve wracking because as

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a command , it's a big responsibility

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to have troops under your care . And my

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priority was to bring him back home

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safely and that we did exactly that and

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the mission was successful as well . I

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think that everyone is really happy to

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be back home . I'm excited to adjust

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back to the new life . All right , or

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pre existing life . Happy to see my

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wife . Happy to see my dog and start

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fresh once again , a whole new career .

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So I actually served this post right

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here on Central Road in Arlington

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Heights for about 17 years myself . And

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so it's very special to me , not only

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as the mayor of this community , but

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also as a veteran and a former service

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member and member of this unit . And so

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just very special to me that I can

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welcome these people home and thank

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them for their service again to their

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community and to our great country ,

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you know , having a great support as

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far as my family , even though they

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weren't there , they were still , you

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know , there mentally and uh battle

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buddies that I grew and I , I could

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call them my family . Um And then also

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like just physical physical is a huge

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part . And uh yeah , every day was a

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challenge and I made it through the

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United States army reservists is very

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versatile . We come from all

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backgrounds and have all kinds of

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education and training . I myself am a

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police officer on the civilian side and

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with that background that I have as

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well as other soldiers , we have , we

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bring to the table and we contribute a

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lot to the United States army and to

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the military as a whole based on our

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experience and training . It was my

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first appointment . So me a lieutenant

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on my first employment has a lot of

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challenges . A lot of things I've

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learned how to deal with soldiers , how

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to deal with peers , ordinates , senior

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peers . But other than that , yeah ,

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it's just adjusting . I think that was

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my biggest challenge . You know , I was

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on the edge and then my baby brother ,

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he joined and I was like , wow , my

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parents were super proud and I was like ,

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if you could do it I could do it . I

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did it . It's a surreal feeling , you

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know , 1% less than 1% does it . And I

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say to anyone on the fence do it and

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you won't regret it . So , for the Army

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Reserve , there's a lot of people with

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a lot of background . So you've got

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people on the civilian side being law

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enforcement officers , being teachers ,

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being construction workers . So when

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they come to a deployment like this ,

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everyone brings a lot of , a lot of

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experience all over um to make this

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mission , uh basically successful .

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Thank my beautiful country . And I

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think we're all worth it and just

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learning every day just to be a better

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soldier and just a human being and uh

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trying to make the world a better place .