WEBVTT

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to those who have valiantly served our

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country . We thank you . There are 19

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million living veterans today . Men and

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women who wore the uniform for our

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nation in peace and combat . These

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brave Americans are symbol of what

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makes America great the ability to

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serve and defend knowing you could be

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in harm's way for our veterans who have

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deployed in support of operation

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enduring freedom in Afghanistan for the

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past 20 years . Your service and

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sacrifice will always be remembered to

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our nation's reserve Citizen Airmen who

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I am honored to represent . You are

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heroes . You only have to look at what

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occurred in Afghanistan in august with

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operations allies . Refuge . By the

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time we were 24 hours into the

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operation Reserve airmen were flying 34

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cargo aircraft into the country with 80

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Cruz volunteering to operate in that

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environment . Volunteerism also

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includes tanker crews , logistics ,

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intelligence , medical and personnel

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services ready to provide care and

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feeding for americans allies and the

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afghan people and they were all

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airlifted to safety . This is also

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another opportunity to highlight

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frontline workers who have been

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fighting the pandemic for almost two

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years now . They were reserved medical

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professionals who deployed to New York

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City within 48 hours of notification

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and aerial medical evacuation medics

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transporting patients globally . You

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have kept americans safe . We salute

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all veterans past and present for all

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you've done for this nation