WEBVTT

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(Jenine Melton)
One of the reasons I decided to join was I really believed in a mission.

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Being prior Army and an Iraqi veteran, I understand the
criticality of the mission overseas that these

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service members are required to support. So
at the same token, I understand the value

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that civilians can bring to the war effort.
So I said, I think that I have some skills

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that can be leveraged to use to support our
war fighters.

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(Stephenie Jonas-Sullivan)
We will step outside your comfort zone in ways that you don't even realize. And when you come back, in retrospect, it's shocking

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what you're able to do when you choose to
deploy. And you come back different.

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(Melton)
You have to be adaptive, and you have to be flexible.
So that's one thing you have to understand,

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that things change that, based on mission, they
might need me to do a little of this or that.

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(Jonas-Sullivan)
When you're in a deployment environment, you
eat, sleep, workout, worship, work with

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the same people over and over and over again.
You see them every day.

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You spent countless hours with them, so it gives you that connectedness that you don't experience in the states.

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(Melton)
They’re happy to see us there. I'll say that it really
showed me that I can be a change agent even

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out of uniform. I can make a difference as
a civilian.

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(Jonas-Sullivan)
You can't really describe it. It's doing something that's not your mundane work, and you're helping a nation. And you're

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forging relationships with people who just want peace.