WEBVTT

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What I enjoy most about serving  in the   Air National Guard as a musician  
  is being able to perform for others   and reach audiences

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in ways that other people... or other units   might not be able to do in the military.

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There are many things in our mission that are important.    I think one of those is recruitment and community outreach. 
  But also, I believe with music, the most important export   is our American culture.

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Using American grown musician's, we're able to reach out to different countries that speak

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The governor gave a call to order for the Air National Guard  to provide volunteers to step up. 
  When I saw the need in my own community,    I said I need to do something about it.

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The orders that I was put on    were COVID relief,  
  and we worked together with community members at the food bank.

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But when the pandemic began,  volunteers went down cause everyone stayed home 
  But the need for food due to job losses in California went up,

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So they didn't have a way to meet the demand,   and the fact that we were able to step in and help out.

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Every day we were thanked by the food bank workers, and they'd say... 
  "Thank you guys for being here..."

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Thank you for stepping up and supplying the help we need, 
  "Without you, we wouldn't be able to do what we do,"

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In May of 2018, I got a call from the commander last minute.
  And  it was a call to action,   "Hey, we need you to travel to Puerto Rico...   there's something that's happened,"

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"We need music for a funeral."

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Within 24 hours, we packed our stuff and headed to Puerto Rico

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When we got there, we found out what it all was for.
  There was an airplane that was set to be retired...

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And their plane ends up going down.

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And their plane ends up going down.

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When I got there; my proudest feeling or feeling of honor (I've had)

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and she said, "Thank you for being here." 
  "My husband would have been proud to have seen you guys..."

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(sobs) so for me...that was my prideful moment.