WEBVTT

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^(whooshing)

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^- I was born into a military family.

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^My father was Navy, I have family in all five branches.

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^It was a very natural thing for me to grow up

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and join the military.

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It just so happened that I joined the Air Force.

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(energetic music)

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I bought the flag on my first deployment

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to a small nation called Qatar.

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I was an A1C, just starting my Air Force career,

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and this flag has been with me ever since.

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When people retire, they get a flag, they receive a flag,

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and that flag is supposed to be

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representative of their military service,

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but they get it at the very end.

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There's no real story behind that particular flag.

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When I joined the Air Force, I was only at home station

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for about two months before I deployed.

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So my first deployment, I picked up this flag,

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and I wanted it to be significant,

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something that I could take with me,

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wherever I'm stationed, take with me

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on every deployment and TDY,

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and it would have a story.

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This last summer I was able to take a trip with my family.

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we went out to Fort McHenry,

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and I wanted a picture of this flag at Fort McHenry

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in front of a sign, in front of some historic marker.

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Fort McHenry, of course, is where Francis Scott Key

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wrote the national anthem in the War of 1812.

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I asked one of the staff members,

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I said "Hey, what's a historical marker

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I can take a picture with this flag in front of?"

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And he leans over, and he goes "Hey Jim,

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these people wanna fly their flag!"

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So this guy comes running out,

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and he goes "Oh wow, okay. Let's go to the flagpole.

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Here help me hoist it up."

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So I was able to fly the flag

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on the flagpole at Fort McHenry.

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That was where the national anthem was written.

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There's so much history there.

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People died defending that fort.

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It was something to the effect of a 24-hour bombardment

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by British vessels, and it was an American victory.

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And here I was, able to fly my flag.

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It's still the same flag, it's a U.S. flag,

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fewer stripes and a lot more stars,

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but I was able to fly my flag on that historic flagpole.

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It was pretty humbling.