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Speaker 1: So this is always kind of like a bittersweet moment

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Speaker 1: for us. You know, it's been an incredible week hearing

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Speaker 1: some of these stories for our military Christmas Bonus and

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Speaker 1: their families, and you know, obviously they're very happy winning

5
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Speaker 1: the Military Christmas Bonus and we're thrilled to be able

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Speaker 1: to help them out for the holidays. But it's very

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Speaker 1: sweet because it's the last one. I would love to

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Speaker 1: be able to give everybody that writes in everything, I mean, honestly,

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Speaker 1: anything that you want, I wish I could help, but

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Speaker 1: you know, we have to choose five, and it's it

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Speaker 1: is a tough call. But you know, hopefully if you've

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Speaker 1: written us, and you know you're listening to us right now,

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Speaker 1: hopefully you've had it and you know, I know you've

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Speaker 1: had a tough time, but hopefully you have a great

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Speaker 1: holiday season and we wish nothing but the best for you.

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Speaker 1: And again, we wish we could help everybody, but it's

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Speaker 1: kind of the way it goes. So this final one

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Speaker 1: is a wild story. We're very well aware of it,

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Speaker 1: and you actually may be well aware of it because

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Speaker 1: it was a pretty big news story earlier in the year.

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Speaker 1: And I'm so glad that they've written us because we're

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Speaker 1: well aware of it, because it literally happened down the

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Speaker 1: street from us. Let's talk to William right now. William

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Speaker 1: is a neighbor of the person that this happened to.

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Speaker 2: How's it going, William, Hey, good morning.

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Speaker 1: Good morning, William. I'm really really glad you reached out

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Speaker 1: because we obviously are well aware of this story and

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Speaker 1: well aware of your guys' situation because it happened down

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Speaker 1: the street. Our radio station is right here, you know,

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Speaker 1: in Karnie, Mesa, and this whole crazy situation happened down

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Speaker 1: the street. I remember that morning very vividly, very well.

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Speaker 1: We all do, because we were obviously talking about it

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Speaker 1: and it was a massive news story. So William, why

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Speaker 1: don't you explain to everybody what exactly is going on

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Speaker 1: and what happened.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so back in May, a private plane was landing

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Speaker 2: here at the airfield right after the fifteen work clothom

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Speaker 2: used to be. I can't remember the name of the airfield,

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Speaker 2: but like three point thirty in the morning, crash landed

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Speaker 2: into Murphy Canyon Military housing and like had a light

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Speaker 2: fixture and sheer off a wing and went between a

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Speaker 2: couple of buildings and set a bunch of stuff on fires.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it was It was a crazy story,

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Speaker 1: crazy situation. Yeah, it hit a house and you know,

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Speaker 1: obviously jet fuel you get into that and you know

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Speaker 1: it caught on fire. They were evacuating the whole neighborhood

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Speaker 1: because you know, jet fuel, it was toxic.

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Speaker 3: Oh, I was so wild.

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Speaker 4: Like I was driving in. I saw the big glow

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Speaker 4: when it crashs because we're right on the other side

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Speaker 4: of the fifteen from you, right on the on the

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Speaker 4: west side of it. And then you just heard siren

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Speaker 4: after siren after siren, And I mean it went on

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Speaker 4: for days in that neighborhood because, like Eddie said, with

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Speaker 4: the jet fuel, it was so tragic.

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Speaker 1: Well, it turns out, you know that's military housing. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: over there. So William, tell us a little bit about

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Speaker 1: your neighbor.

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Speaker 2: Uh yeah, my neighbor Ben and Srojan and McCarty. He's

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Speaker 2: in the Navy like I am. His house was that

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Speaker 2: that corner unit that had the big hole in it

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Speaker 2: you can see from all the all the pictures. My

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Speaker 2: house was the one directly next to his, and and

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Speaker 2: so yeah, when the when the plane came in his

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Speaker 2: his unit was pretty much completely destroyed. The Luckily the

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Speaker 2: dogs they had them in the bedroom that night because

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Speaker 2: that that corner of the building was their living room,

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Speaker 2: so there was no one sleeping there and they had

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Speaker 2: the dogs in the bedroom that night, and so no

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Speaker 2: one on the ground was hurt. But yeah, you know, Ben,

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Speaker 2: Ben's a pretty awesome dude. He and his wife were

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Speaker 2: you know, super supportive, you know, even of my family

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Speaker 2: during their struggle because I was deployed when all this happened. Ye,

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Speaker 2: scary man. Yeah, so my my wife and kids, we

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Speaker 2: were at home in bed when it happened, and and

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Speaker 2: despite everything going on, you know, they were reaching out

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Speaker 2: to my wife, you know, saying like asking what she needed.

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Speaker 3: And they lost their house.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they lost their house exactly. And so yeah, he's

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Speaker 2: just he's been a really solid dude and a great

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Speaker 2: neighbor and a good friend.

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Speaker 1: That's awesome. Well, let's let's talk to him. Ben is

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Speaker 1: on the line with us right now. Let's talk to

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Speaker 1: Ben this morning. How you doing, Ben, Good morning, man. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we are obviously are well aware of your story. It

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Speaker 1: literally happened a couple of miles away from us, so

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Speaker 1: that morning was was insanity and I can't even imagine

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Speaker 1: what you guys were going through because you have kids,

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Speaker 1: don't you.

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Speaker 5: Yes, yes, we have two boys. There were two and

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Speaker 5: four at the time.

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Speaker 1: Oh my god, Now talk me through that morning. What

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Speaker 1: what exactly did you hear and see? And what exactly happened.

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Speaker 2: I woke up to my wife.

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Speaker 5: She like sat up in bed, she screamed. I ran

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Speaker 5: out of the living room, looked around. I saw a

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Speaker 5: big hole in my living room, and then there was

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Speaker 5: smoke and fire everywhere, and I was very confused. We ran,

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Speaker 5: We grabbed the boys and went and got the dogs,

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Speaker 5: and we had we had to head out the back

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Speaker 5: because the front of the house was gone fire.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: And then we got to the back and we couldn't

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Speaker 5: get out the back gate because the gate exit was

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Speaker 5: towards the fraud and off the back. So we actually

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Speaker 5: ended up in a Will's backyard. We had to open

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Speaker 5: the continuing gate when we got into Will's backyard, and uh,

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Speaker 5: we tried.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 5: We were banging on their screen door trying to make

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Speaker 5: sure that they were out of their house. And then

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Speaker 5: someone had to get a ladder and get us, me

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Speaker 5: and the kids and the two dogs out of the

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Speaker 5: my life over the fence and down the street. I

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Speaker 5: didn't really know where it happened as far as it

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Speaker 5: being a plane or anything. This is about four forty

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Speaker 5: five in the morning. I didn't find out until about

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Speaker 5: six am that my house had even actually been hit.

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Speaker 5: I was really confused trying to find my car. I

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Speaker 5: was like, I know, I parked my car there at

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Speaker 5: the corner.

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Speaker 2: Where did it go?

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Speaker 3: Man, what's going on? Yeah?

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Speaker 4: Because the jack hit your car and pushed it all

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Speaker 4: the way into your house, right.

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Speaker 5: Something like that. Yeah, the white truck that was in

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Speaker 5: the front, it was parked on the corner, and I

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Speaker 5: knew I'd parked it there, And I was like, I

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Speaker 5: wonder if they towed it out of the way to

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Speaker 5: get ah to get to the fire.

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Speaker 1: See dude, Wow, yeah, Ben, that is unbelievable. So I

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Speaker 1: gotta imagine you probably lost quite a bit of stuff

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Speaker 1: in that fire and in the crash, right, Yeah.

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Speaker 5: I mean we it definitely was a pretty like a

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Speaker 5: start over point for sure. I mean, there wasn't a

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Speaker 5: whole lot we could say, a tub or two we

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Speaker 5: were able.

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Speaker 2: To get out.

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Speaker 5: The garage wasn't so damaged. Tools didn't melt so we

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Speaker 5: were able to save those, but there was a few

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Speaker 5: things unfortunately.

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Speaker 1: That's good obviously. That's the most important thing is you know,

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Speaker 1: you and your family and dogs are all safe, and

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Speaker 1: you know it's it's still tough. I mean, that's that's

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Speaker 1: an unbelievable thing to have to go through, and you know,

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Speaker 1: we're devastating obviously, and of course typical military guy downplaying it.

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Speaker 3: I've seen photos.

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Speaker 1: Well, and then also him worried about other people going

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Speaker 1: over the neighborhood, you know, going over Will's house. I mean,

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Speaker 1: just crazy stuff. So Ben, I'd like to let you

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Speaker 1: know that you know, I go know, this isn't going

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Speaker 1: to replace everything, but you are the winner of today's

153
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Speaker 1: Military Christmas Bonus, and you did win a lot, so

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Speaker 1: hopefully this helps out with the kids in the holidays

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Speaker 1: a little bit from what you guys went through. This

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Speaker 1: is all that you won. I'm gonna name everything that

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Speaker 1: you've won here, and it's a lot. You got a

158
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Speaker 1: two hundred dollars OG's Pizza and Brew House gift card,

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Speaker 1: a four pack of San Diego Goals tickets, a two

160
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Speaker 1: hundred dollars gift card from Sadano Auto Group, a gift

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Speaker 1: card at Windmill Farms, a hundred dollars Sombrero's Mexican Food

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Speaker 1: gift card, a one hundred dollars gift card from AIS Insurance,

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Speaker 1: a four pack of San Diego Seals tickets, a four

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Speaker 1: pack of SeaWorld San Diego tickets, a four pack of

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Speaker 1: Legoland California tickets, a four pack of Disney on Ice tickets,

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Speaker 1: a three hundred dollars gift card at Minor Key Carcare

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Speaker 1: and Oceanside and Escondido. A gift card at ocean Side Gymnastics,

168
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Speaker 1: one hundred dollars Curbside Eatery and Drinkery gift card, Family

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Speaker 1: Portraits at Cosma Studios, gift card from Nothing but Cakes

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Speaker 1: and Mission Valley, one hundred dollars Amazon gift card from

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Speaker 1: Grey Coca and Family, a two hundred dollars visa gift

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Speaker 1: card from p One Ryan Lewis, and a pair of

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Speaker 1: Padres tickets to a military Sunday game. You've won all

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Speaker 1: of that, Wow, I know it's a lot. That's a lot, Ben,

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Speaker 1: Like I said, Man, Yeah, you guys went through a lot, man,

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Speaker 1: and obviously we appreciate you and your sacrifice and you're

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Speaker 1: serving our country so hopefully that helps out just a

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Speaker 1: little bit this holiday season.

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Speaker 5: Okay, yeah, thank you, that's amazing.

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Speaker 1: Thank you guys, absolutely will yeah, thanks thanks for letting

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Speaker 1: us know. Will we appreciate you too.

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Speaker 2: Man and my pleasure.

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Speaker 1: There you go, there you go. That was a very

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Speaker 1: very cool way to end our military Christmas ponency here

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Speaker 1: and openly everybody who served as a very merry Christmas.

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Speaker 3: Because the night before Christmas he lived all alone in

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Speaker 3: a one bedroom house made of plaster stone. I had

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Speaker 3: come down the chimney with presents to give to see

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Speaker 3: just who in this dwelling did live. I looked all around,

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Speaker 3: strange sight to see no tensil, no presence, not even

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Speaker 3: a tree, no stockings on the mattle, just boots filled

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Speaker 3: with sand. When the wall hung pictures of far to lands,

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Speaker 3: medals and badges wards of every kind, A sobering thought

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Speaker 3: came alive in my mind. This house was different. It

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Speaker 3: was dark, it was dreary. I had found the home

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Speaker 3: of a soldier. I could see that most clearly. The

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Speaker 3: soldier lay sleeping, silent, alone, curled up on the floor

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Speaker 3: in this one bedroom home. His face was so gentle,

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Speaker 3: the room in such disorder not at all how I

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Speaker 3: pictured a United States soldier. Was this the hero of

201
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Speaker 3: whom I just read curled up on a poncho the

202
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Speaker 3: floor for a bed. Then I realized the other families

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Speaker 3: that I saw this night hold their lives to soldiers

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Speaker 3: who are willing to fight. In the morning. Around the world,

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Speaker 3: children would play, grown ups would celebrate a bright Christmas Day,

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Speaker 3: but they all enjoy freedom each month of the year

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Speaker 3: because of soldiers like the one line year. I couldn't

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Speaker 3: help but wonder how many lay alone a cold Christmas eve.

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Speaker 3: It lands far from home, the very thought, but a

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Speaker 3: tear to my eye. When I dropped to my knees,

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Speaker 3: I started to cry. The soldier awakened. I heard his

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Speaker 3: rough voice, shata, don't cry. This life is my choice.

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Speaker 3: I fight for freedom. They don't ask for more. My

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Speaker 3: life is my God, my country, my core. And the

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Speaker 3: soldier rolled over and drifted asleep. But I couldn't control

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Speaker 3: with my continued to weep, and I kept watch for hours,

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Speaker 3: so silent and still was both of us shivered from

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Speaker 3: the cold night's chill. I didn't want to leave him

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Speaker 3: on that cold, dark night, this guardian of honor, so

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Speaker 3: willing to fight. Then the soldier rode over with a

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Speaker 3: voice soft and pure. He whispered, carry on a saddam

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Speaker 3: Christmas day, all secure. One look at my watch, I

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Speaker 3: knew he was right. Merry Christmas, my father. May God

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Speaker 3: bless you this fight