WEBVTT

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Good morning and welcome to the Road to

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Drill podcast . Good morning . Good

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morning . How are you doing ? I'm great .

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Uh We're doing this on video now . A

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couple of tips I picked up when I was

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in Estonia , they record all of their

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podcasts on video and then they

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rebroadcast them . So I'm like , why

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can't we do that ? We have all the same

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equipment . So let's do it . Absolutely

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big drill coming up . It's been a very

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crazy month . Uh probably , you know ,

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since air defender , it's been our

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busiest period , I would say coming

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right out of last drill . We went in

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the northern strike . Uh That actually

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started while we were at drill . We

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know our members here in P A went out

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the door on Sunday of that drill up to

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Alpena and Grayling . There were a

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couple of key training events that the

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1 27th Wing participated in . One was

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the Wet Wing Deuel and Hot refuel at

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civilian airports around the state ,

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including Saginaw and as we were up in

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Saginaw . Yeah , we got to see that .

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So , whereas everybody gets to see the

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A tens conduct IC TS and refueling on

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the ground , the KC 1 30 fives are

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doing it too . And so we wing Deuel and

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how refueling is part of that . And you

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can learn more about those processes by

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going to the 1 27th wing website and

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reading some of the stories and

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checking out the video that you also up

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north at Graying at the Grayling Army

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airfield . The 1 27th medical group

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practiced uh critical care , aerial

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transport and in route patient staging .

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So this is a joint exercise that

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combines the efforts of the army , the

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battlefield medics , the ground

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transportation for these patients and

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then the staging kind of like the

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triage for members that are critically

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injured , whether they're going to be

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treated there on the ground or need to

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be uh medevaced out of the war zone to

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a more advanced care facility . So uh

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they practiced that for a week and uh

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we also got to witness that and uh

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there's content out on the website . Uh

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So check that out a lot of great things

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the medical groups doing also with the

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air refueling group . They are about

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mid tour right now with their 2023

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deployment to Centcom . So they're in

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the middle of swapping some crews . How

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is that ? Yeah . So our typical

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deployments are six months and they

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have a designated number of assets that

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they're filling in their deployment

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package . So they broke that up into 23

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month groups . So the first three month

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group , which felt like it just went

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out the door . Uh , they're about to

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come back and we're gonna send out

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their replacements . Excellent . Also ,

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last week we had Governor Gretchen

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Whitner out . Uh , she was able to

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witness some of the activities of the

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1:27 a.m. XS . Uh , she got to go

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around and do some hands-on , uh ,

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maintenance with our members and also

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take part in a integrated combat turn ,

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which is really cool . So , uh

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ok . Did she turn a wrench ? She did

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turn a wrench . Yeah , she turned a

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wrench a bunch of times . It was

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impressive . Yeah , several wrenches

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and along with uh turning some wrenches ,

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she got to assist in launching a jet

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with the crew chiefs . Yeah . So it was

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really cool . Finally , this past week ,

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the navy uh called upon the wing to uh

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help with some for aircraft that were

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in the path of the hurricane . Right .

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Right . And that I've been here six

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years and I feel every year around this

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time we help evacuate um

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aircraft that are in the path of

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hurricane , we're , we're perfectly

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suited for it . And with the size of

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our ramps , uh our abilities to uh sort

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of answer that call 24 hours a day and ,

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and our ground maintenance here at the

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base , uh it's really an ideal location .

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Um and the weather here in Michigan ,

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we don't get hurricanes . So it's a

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good place you want to stash your , we

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have a lot of ramp space . So this

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weekend , what's happening this weekend ?

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So we're going to have a fun sandwich

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this weekend , we're going to have the

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first part of the bread is today . We

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have the Family Day . We're going to

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welcome wing members and family and

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we're gonna show them appreciation and

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we're going to have a barbecue .

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There's gonna be a little Caesars love

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kitchen . Um , there's gonna be all

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sorts of activities for kids and we're

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just gonna hang out and you know , get

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to know each other petting zoo this

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year . Ok . And that'll be today

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and tomorrow we're gonna have the meat

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of the sandwich and that's gonna be

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mission . Right . Right . So should I

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talk about the other ? No , we can talk

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about meat . So the meat that Sergeant

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Fitzpatrick is referring to is we're

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gonna have a sea burn exercise . So

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give us a chance to suit up in our chem

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gear and go over some of the processes

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for chemical , biological , radioactive ,

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nuclear . And thank you , that is going

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to take place between 08 and 11 a.m.

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tomorrow . So that's gonna be the whole

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wing , the whole wing is taking part in

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that . So it's something we do every

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year . We're actually going to be doing

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it multiple times per year here with

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our ready airman training . So this is

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kind of a precursor to what we're going

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to be uh practicing on a more regular

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basis . So coming out of that sea burn

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exercise tomorrow , uh , we will have

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our annual five K here at the base .

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The running of the hogs that starts out

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on the flight line at 1400 . So members

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are already registered for that . But ,

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uh , you can still run if you would

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like to run . I think it's easy

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sometimes to forget or take for granted

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the mission that we have here And while

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we talk about how busy we are all the

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time , it's not just fun and games ,

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we're here to do our military mission ,

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right ? So all of that agile combat

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employment , all of the KC 1 35 . What

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wing D the , the er PS those

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are real world missions and those are

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preparing us for the fight . We got an

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email this morning from a direct and

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part of that is reemphasizing our push

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to change how we do things so that we

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can continue to be better . And he

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posted two questions , ask yourself

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this if we were to go to war with a

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peer adversary today ? Are we ready ?

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Do we think we're ready ? And how can

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we become more ready in our existing

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organizations ? So while we're wearing

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our mop gear on Sunday , we should all

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keep that in mind , right . So uh

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coming up in the month of September ,

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it is actually Suicide Awareness Month .

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So later on today , uh Mr Chad Bishop

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is going to be in to talk about some

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prevention methods and just the general

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awareness of it , you know , uh 22

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veterans per day still are committing

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suicide on average . So it really is .

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And it's a terrible thing and I , I

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don't think there's anyone in our

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viewing or listening audience that

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hasn't been affected by it in some way .

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So that's why we take a month to

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recognize the prevention and just , you

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know , again , general awareness . So

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coming up later this month , we go into

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Hispanic Heritage Month . So that

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starts on the 15th and runs to the 15th

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of October . And then we also

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celebrate a birthday this month . Happy

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birthday . United States Air Force Air

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Force is a Virgo . Um How old are we ?

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Uh 1947 the Air Force was

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established as a separate branch of the

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military . 70

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76 76 . We are

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76 . Wow . And during our

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service time we've seen the birth of

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even another service Space Force . So ,

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yeah , pretty cool . That's all I have .

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Do you have anything else ? No , I

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think that's it . Well , again , please

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stay tuned . We're going to have , like

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I said , we're gonna have Mr Chad

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Bishop in to talk about suicide

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prevention . And also we're going to

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hear from our commander General Bron .

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So stay tuned for that , but otherwise

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have a fantastic drill . Have a great

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jo and Happy birthday Air Force . Happy

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birthday , Air Force . Take care