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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm wanh and this is the big take from Bloomberg.

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Speaker 1: We've got something special for you today. This Saturday, Taiwanese

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Speaker 1: are heading to the Poles to elect a new president,

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Speaker 1: and perhaps no issue weighs more heavily on the mind

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Speaker 1: of voters than the escalating tensions with China. Conflict with

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Speaker 1: its mighty neighbor just across the waters is a constant

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Speaker 1: that Taiwanese have lived with for decades. China sees Taiwan

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Speaker 1: as a breakaway province. In nineteen forty nine, China's Communists

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Speaker 1: defeated the Nationalist Party in a civil war and took

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Speaker 1: over the mainland. That defeated army fled to Taiwan to

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Speaker 1: establish its own government there, which China refuses to acknowledge

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Speaker 1: and has threatened to take back the island by force

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Speaker 1: if necessary. Are the people of Taiwan. That danger has

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Speaker 1: felt more real since August twenty twenty two. That's when

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Speaker 1: a surprise visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to

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Speaker 1: the island prompted China to launch unprecedented military drills. And

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Speaker 1: on top of those growing internal fears, Taiwanese are also

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Speaker 1: paying close attention to a global battle outside the region,

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Speaker 1: a battle that feels too similar to their own worst nightmare,

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Speaker 1: Russia's invasion of Ukraine. As Vladimir Putin sends in waves

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Speaker 1: of new troops. The struggle to fight back against a

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Speaker 1: more powerful enemy has hit close to home for many Taiwanese,

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Speaker 1: so close that a few of them have even decided

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Speaker 1: to join Ukraine's fight. Today, our reporter Young Young brings

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Speaker 1: us a story of one of them, a young Taiwanese

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Speaker 1: soldier Sun Changwang, or Jonathan Sun, who volunteers to fight

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Speaker 1: for Ukraine. Here's Young with Jonathan's story.

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Speaker 2: On a Saturday afternoon last June, Jonathan's Sam prepares to

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Speaker 2: board a flight at Taiwan Tahyan International Airport. This will

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Speaker 2: be the start of his journey to the war in Ukraine.

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Speaker 2: Jonathan is snacking on some Taiwanese popcorn chicken in the

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Speaker 2: foot court of Terminu one. He's twenty four years old,

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Speaker 2: five feet eight, in a navy blue shirt and a

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Speaker 2: fresh flat top, baby faced but well built. His wife,

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Speaker 2: who asked that we call her Gina, sits quietly by him,

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Speaker 2: ice bread and puffy. Jonathan, mom Ma, I'm taking the

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Speaker 2: flight tonight. To Ukraine, he says, and she starts crying

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Speaker 2: on the phone too. Then crying becomes begging, Begging becomes yelling,

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Speaker 2: and yelling becomes crying again. Jonathan tries to comfort her.

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Speaker 2: Don't worry, he.

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Speaker 3: Tries to laugh it off. I'll be back soon.

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Speaker 2: Jonathan's got two bags beside him, one big and one small.

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Speaker 2: In them, He's got everything he expects to need for

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Speaker 2: the next couple of months. A bulletproof vest, two bulletproof boards,

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Speaker 2: a helmet, muscle pain relievers, and a ton of Taiwanese

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Speaker 2: instant noodles. He did his homework before packing these bags.

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Speaker 2: He talked to multiple people who knew about the situation

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Speaker 2: on the ground in Ukraine, from tactical gear suppliers to

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Speaker 2: other volunteer soldiers. All of them warned him about the risks.

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Speaker 2: They told him the logistics in Ukraine were garbage. At

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Speaker 2: that time, the country had such a shortage of equipment

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Speaker 2: that soldiers were sharing things like helmets on the battlefield.

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Speaker 2: Hearing these kinds of stories scared Gina. She did not

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Speaker 2: want Jonathan to go, but she knows her husband. He's

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Speaker 2: as stubborn as a mule. She told me, if she

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Speaker 2: overreacted or tried to talk him out of it. He

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Speaker 2: would disappear and do it anyway.

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Speaker 3: If I try to stop him, it's very likely that

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Speaker 3: I would never see him again, and I would find

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Speaker 3: out that he's made it into Ukraine when he's dead.

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Speaker 2: Upstairs, in the airport hallway, a group of people are

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Speaker 2: waiting to send Jonathan off. He's got some friends there,

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Speaker 2: but also some people he's just met. Some of them

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Speaker 2: are Ukrainians living in Taiwan who heard that Jonathan was

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Speaker 2: going to join the fight and want to see him off.

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Speaker 2: These Ukrainians have worked with local Taiwanese people to raise

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Speaker 2: money to donate supplies and equipment to Ukraine. Some of

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Speaker 2: the money they raised paid for Jonathan's gear. At one point,

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Speaker 2: Jonathan and some members of the Ukrainian community all stand

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Speaker 2: in a line for a picture. They hold two flags

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Speaker 2: in front of them, one for Taiwan, one for Ukraine.

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Speaker 2: Nobody smiles in the picture. Jonathan's wife, Gina says, the

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Speaker 2: journey to this moment of him heading off to the

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Speaker 2: war started back in February twenty twenty two, just one

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Speaker 2: day after Russia invaded.

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Speaker 4: That's joy wish Katia.

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Speaker 3: He has a habit of watching videos before going to sleep.

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Speaker 3: You know, that was his pre bedtime routine, and almost

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Speaker 3: everything he watched at that time was about the war.

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Speaker 5: She's the hawling and c but los Ukula, don't.

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Speaker 2: Go and see Gina told me. There was one video

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Speaker 2: that really got to him. In the video, a Russian

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Speaker 2: war plan was firing on the village near Kiev. It

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Speaker 2: was filmed from a civilian's house. The plane fired two shots,

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Speaker 2: one of them broke through the window. A small child

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Speaker 2: started screaming. A woman rushed them downstairs to the base.

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Speaker 4: Meant the moment, couldn't it.

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Speaker 3: There was a moment when he saw a kid getting bombed.

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Speaker 3: That kid was of the same age as his son.

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Speaker 2: Jonathan has a son from a previous relationship.

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Speaker 6: Tana sold you to the soul.

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Speaker 3: He said to me, I don't know what I'm gonna

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Speaker 3: do if my kids was bombed like this.

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Speaker 2: This idea that his own son could be bombed at home,

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Speaker 2: it wasn't coming out of nowhere for Jonathan. For decades,

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Speaker 2: China has been threatening Taiwan with the prospect of animation,

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Speaker 2: and lately China's military has been ramping up aggressive activities

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Speaker 2: across the Taiwan Strait, so when the war broke out

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Speaker 2: in Ukraine, it was easy for Jonathan to see himself

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Speaker 2: in the face of the people who were under attack. Now,

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Speaker 2: of course, lots of people saw this video too and

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Speaker 2: didn't decide to go to Ukraine and enlist. But Jonathan

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Speaker 2: was yon and a little lost, and his wife said

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Speaker 2: for much of his life he felt disempowered, like he

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Speaker 2: didn't have a say in what happened to him. But

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Speaker 2: making a choice to go to Ukraine that was something

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Speaker 2: he was in control of. Jonathan's plan was to fly

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Speaker 2: to Poland and then travel to Ukraine by car from

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Speaker 2: the border. Once in Ukraine, he would go to the

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Speaker 2: Foreign Legion. A week after he left Taiwan. On that flight,

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Speaker 2: Jonathan updated his Facebook profile picture. In it, he was

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Speaker 2: standing in what looks like a dormitory holding a rifle

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Speaker 2: in a full military camouflage uniform. In the comments, his

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Speaker 2: friends back home did not shy away from pointing out

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Speaker 2: his beer belly and far stretched shirt. Did you get

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Speaker 2: two sizes too small, somebody asked, He replied politely, I too.

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Speaker 5: Well, I'm sure I'll lose weight soon.

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Speaker 3: He was right about that.

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Speaker 2: Once Jonathan got to Ukraine. He went to a base

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Speaker 2: of the Ukraine Foreign Legion. It's usually the first stop

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Speaker 2: for foreigners who want to fight for the country. It

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Speaker 2: was there that he made one of his first friends

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Speaker 2: in Ukraine, a young American soldier from Ohio who goes

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Speaker 2: by Shaggy.

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Speaker 6: Hello, my name is Shaggy. I am a volunteer fighter

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Speaker 6: in Ukraine.

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Speaker 2: Shaggy said he and Jonathan both showed up at the

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Speaker 2: center and basically said hello, I want to fight, and

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Speaker 2: then they answered a bunch of questions.

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Speaker 6: You give him many military documents you have, you have

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Speaker 6: to do like medical checks, and then you'll have to

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Speaker 6: like do an interview where they find out your military experience,

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Speaker 6: and then they make a file for you, and then

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Speaker 6: they send you to whatever unit they want to send you.

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Speaker 2: Shaggy told me he and Jonathan watched a lot of

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Speaker 2: people come and go at the Legion. Many didn't stick around.

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Speaker 6: So a lot of people came, I guess with like

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Speaker 6: big dreams of being some sort of action hero. They

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Speaker 6: hadn't had any military training, they didn't have any military experience.

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Speaker 6: They just didn't process what exactly they were getting themselves into.

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Speaker 2: But that wasn't the case. Was him and Jonathan before Ukraine.

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Speaker 2: Shaggy served in the US Army for three years and

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Speaker 2: Jonathan was in the Taiwanese Army for nearly five years.

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Speaker 2: In a Facebook post, Jonathan seemed proud that he stayed on.

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Speaker 5: We don't take trash here. We take people who are

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Speaker 5: not scared to die, who dare to charge. So if

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Speaker 5: you want to come, come fast. We already kicked four people,

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Speaker 5: oh yesterday. We desperately need more right now.

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Speaker 2: And to people who met Jonathan early in his time

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Speaker 2: in Ukraine, he looked comfortable there, an eager soldier in

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Speaker 2: a growing conflict.

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Speaker 4: I think he was really built to be a soldier.

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Speaker 2: Saffron Chicase is a war photographer who was embedded in

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Speaker 2: the same unit as Jonathan for a while.

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Speaker 4: You could tell that, especially when he was wearing full kit. Well,

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Speaker 4: you know, some other soldiers, to be completely honest, when

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Speaker 4: they're wearing full kit, you start wondering, like, hey, who

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Speaker 4: who'd you borrow that from?

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Speaker 5: You know, did you borrow that from?

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Speaker 4: Did you take that from somebody? Like they seem like

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Speaker 4: they're out of their element, But Jonathan saying was definitely

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Speaker 4: in his element when he wore.

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Speaker 7: His kit it's just his second skin.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, second skin. Yeah, that's a good, good way to

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Speaker 4: put it.

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Speaker 2: So Jonathan was all dressed and ready to play his part,

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Speaker 2: but things got off to a slow start. It happened

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Speaker 2: a month since he arrived in Ukraine and he hadn't

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Speaker 2: gone on a single mission yet. Life at the Foreign

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Speaker 2: Legion turned out to be just about training every day.

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Speaker 2: Here's Shaggy again.

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Speaker 6: We just do military drills every day. Just wake up,

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Speaker 6: do exercise, come back, eat breakfast, train until lunch. It's

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Speaker 6: more training until later, and I have the rest of

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Speaker 6: the day off. That was pretty much about every day.

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Speaker 2: The training was helpful at first, but Shaggy said it

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Speaker 2: soon got old. He and Jonathan kept hoping to get

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Speaker 2: assigned to a mission, but instead they were sent to

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Speaker 2: the training ground. Jonathan posted a selfie I still face covered.

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Speaker 5: Captioned wait Wait Wait.

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Speaker 2: After nearly two months, Shaggy and Jonathan decided that's it.

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Speaker 2: They were done waiting.

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Speaker 6: So me, Jonathan and these two other guys we left

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Speaker 6: and we went to a unit that was actively fighting.

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Speaker 2: Unit that they left for is the forty nine Battalion.

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Speaker 2: I was able to reach one of the other guys

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Speaker 2: who went.

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Speaker 7: With them, I'll just go by Ron.

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Speaker 2: Jonathan, Matt, Shaggy and Ron in the Foreign Legion. They

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Speaker 2: spent their time there waiting around but also sizing people up,

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Speaker 2: and they found each other reliable.

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Speaker 8: That's why I left with the three others because I

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Speaker 8: knew how they would fight compared to if I just

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Speaker 8: stayed there. Because the team that in the legion that

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Speaker 8: was left with brand new, and I didn't know how

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Speaker 8: they would react or do anything when we got into

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Speaker 8: any conflicts.

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Speaker 2: Just like that, they made a pact going forward, they

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Speaker 2: would move as a group and back each other up.

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Speaker 2: But before Jonathan joined the new unit, some news drew

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Speaker 2: his attention back home to Taiwan. We don't even John

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Speaker 2: Pale the yeah jelouse since I nae said. At the

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Speaker 2: beginning of August twenty twenty two, US House Speaker Nancy

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Speaker 2: Pelosi made a surprise, unprecedented visit to Taiwan, which sparked

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Speaker 2: fury from China. China sees Taiwan as part of its

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Speaker 2: territory and opposes any official interaction with Taiwan from foreign governments.

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Speaker 9: And this morning, Chinese officials warned against the quote e

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Speaker 9: grigious political impact of a trip to the self governing islands.

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Speaker 2: With House Speaker Nancy Pelosi meeting with Taiwan's president overnight.

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Speaker 4: China is accusing the US of playing with fire.

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Speaker 2: In response to Pelosi's trip, Beijing announced military exercises in

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Speaker 2: the waters surrounding Taiwan, including conducting live ammunition drolls and

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Speaker 2: firing missiles directly over the island.

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Speaker 9: The Pentagon is working around the clock monitoring any Chinese

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Speaker 9: movements in the region and securing a plan to keep

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Speaker 9: Pelosi and the congressional delegation she's leading safe.

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Speaker 2: Taiwan at the time was debating extending its compulsory military

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Speaker 2: service from four months to one year, and Jonathan supported it.

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Speaker 2: He wrote on Facebook, just.

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Speaker 5: Straight up extended. Where do all these questions come from?

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Speaker 2: Then he asked himself, should I go back? After all,

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Speaker 2: it was his fear for his home that had brought

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Speaker 2: him to Ukraine in the first place. He talked to

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Speaker 2: the war photographer Seffron about it.

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Speaker 4: So, Jonathan, why are you out here fighting, fighting for Ukraine?

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Speaker 10: Why am I heir?

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Speaker 2: This is a video taped by Seffron when he first

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Speaker 2: met Jonathan this very evening. Sefron was able to grab

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Speaker 2: Jonathan for a quick interview. As he came up the

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Speaker 2: hill from training, the sun set behind him. His face

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Speaker 2: was a bit blurry from the halo.

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Speaker 4: First of all, where are you from them?

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Speaker 10: I'm from Taiwan.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so on, Jonathan tapped a patch on his chest.

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Speaker 2: I have Ukrainian half Taiwanese flag.

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Speaker 10: I'm here just because I need to get some experience,

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Speaker 10: you know, some real pen man experience. And yeah, so

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Speaker 10: I can get more experience, get back to Taiwan, and yeah,

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Speaker 10: help my country, defend my country. But I need to

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Speaker 10: help this country first.

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Speaker 4: I see, I see, And why do you want that experience?

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Speaker 10: What's what's happening in Taiwan? Then, well, China once wanted

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Speaker 10: to invade Taiwan. So yeah, trying to prepare yourself. Yeah,

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Speaker 10: I see, I see.

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Speaker 5: Awesome, awesome.

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Speaker 2: Back at the military base, Jonathan posted a photo. It

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Speaker 2: was just his bad on one side of it. A

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Speaker 2: giant Taiwanese flag was on the wall captioned hold on,

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Speaker 2: and in an Instagram post, he.

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Speaker 5: Wrote, as for when I'm going back, I'm not sure anyway,

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Speaker 5: I won't go back until I finished the fight.

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Speaker 2: Jonathan and his new friends Shaggy and Ron had left

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Speaker 2: the Foreign Legion in late August and landed at the

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Speaker 2: Capathian Siege forty nine Infantry Battalion, commonly known as the

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Speaker 2: Siege in Ukraine. At that time, they were stationed at Ezium,

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Speaker 2: a city in eastern Ukraine that holds outsized military importance.

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Speaker 2: One day, the Russians attacked the base where Jonathan and

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Speaker 2: the others were staying. It was a terrifying attack. Seffron

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Speaker 2: was there when it happened.

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Speaker 4: That's when they sent tanks rolling over the hills and

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Speaker 4: close to our base. That's when the tank started firing

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Speaker 4: on the base. That was a very scary moment for

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Speaker 4: many of the soldiers there, and they talk about that

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Speaker 4: moment a lot.

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Speaker 2: Jonathan and Ron were away at the time. They left

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Speaker 2: to sign some paperwork in order to keep fighting for Ukraine.

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Speaker 2: But while they were gone, the house they stayed at

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Speaker 2: was a hit. Some artillery landed a meter from where

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Speaker 2: they'd been sleeping.

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Speaker 8: Essentially, the shelter had was immediately demolished and everything inside

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Speaker 8: that I left there was.

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Speaker 2: Just like treaded, so you could have been killed basically. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: But Jonathan's fellow soldiers were standing ground. It was around

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Speaker 2: this time that Ukraine made a huge advance and pushed

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Speaker 2: the Russian forces into a stunning retreat. The whole front

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Speaker 2: line on the Russian side had collapsed in eastern Ukraine

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Speaker 2: Easy and where Jonathan's battalion was stationed, was abandoned by

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Speaker 2: the Russians in hate. While waiting for orders on what

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Speaker 2: to do next, Jonathan hung with the boys and regretted

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Speaker 2: not bringing Lego or video games to kill time. Instead,

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Speaker 2: he watched a lot of TikTok videos and practiced his

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Speaker 2: dance moves. Ron told me he would drop everything and

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Speaker 2: dance to this song every time he heard it. Jonathan's

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Speaker 2: friends say he was unexpectedly funny and it drew people

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Speaker 2: to him.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it was.

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Speaker 8: It was fun being with him.

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Speaker 2: Gina says Jonathan had nicknames for those he bonded with

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Speaker 2: and shared everything with her on FaceTime. She thinks this

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Speaker 2: was perhaps the happiest time in Jonathan's life.

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Speaker 3: He would tell me about everything and everybody around him,

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Speaker 3: always with a smile. I was to see him smiling

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Speaker 3: more during this time than when he was in Taiwan.

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Speaker 1: Is That's how I do.

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Speaker 3: It did not last.

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Speaker 1: Jonathan's journey in Ukraine takes a dark turn after the break.

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Speaker 2: After Russia retreated in September twenty twenty two, Ukraine immediately

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Speaker 2: started looking for the next front line to push forward.

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Speaker 2: Jonathan's battalion closed in on the Russians, gradually claiming areas

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Speaker 2: where they used to be and amidst the fun that

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Speaker 2: Jonathan seemed to be having with his friends, a new

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Speaker 2: type of vulnerability seemed to poke through in his posts online.

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Speaker 2: For the first time, Jonathan started to openly acknowledge the

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Speaker 2: very real danger he was in. It came through in

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Speaker 2: a conversation he had with a stranger. As the war progressed,

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Speaker 2: volunteering soldiers like Jonathan started to get more attention from

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Speaker 2: the media. Jonathan's profile is a public and it's not

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Speaker 2: hard to find him online given his outspoken posts. But

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Speaker 2: not everyone who came to his page admired him for

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Speaker 2: going to Ukraine. People caught him a coward, a poser,

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Speaker 2: a Taiwan separatist, and one online interaction in particular took

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Speaker 2: a darker turn. He posted a screenshot of the chat

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Speaker 2: on his Facebook page. So you're in the Ukrainian Army?

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Speaker 5: Yes?

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Speaker 2: How long have you been there?

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Speaker 5: Four months?

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Speaker 8: How are you treated there?

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Speaker 2: What's the casualty rate?

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Speaker 5: You don't even know how You're gonna die, not alone treatment.

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Speaker 8: Well, you're not dead yet, are you.

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Speaker 2: These words on their own might not sound that hurtful,

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Speaker 2: but in Chinese culture you don't go about and ask

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Speaker 2: people whether they're dead or not. It can feel like

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Speaker 2: a curse. Jonathan left a caption on the screenshot.

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Speaker 5: Of the chat, you're or not that yet? Are you

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Speaker 5: to be? Frank? I don't know if I get to

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Speaker 5: be that lucky every time. In the middle of many nights,

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Speaker 5: it was the sound of bombing that woke me up,

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Speaker 5: and I'm scared. You never know if it'll head your

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Speaker 5: house next time.

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Speaker 2: Throughout his entire time in Ukraine, Jonathan was warned by

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Speaker 2: everyone about the risks he was taking. Gina told me

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Speaker 2: he really believed that he come home with honor. Jonathan

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Speaker 2: didn't even say goodbye to his son. He didn't see

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Speaker 2: the need to. But here he is in the middle

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Speaker 2: of the night, just about thirty kilometers from the enemy's base.

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Speaker 2: It seems like he started to feel a target creeping

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Speaker 2: on his back. A few days later, he posted this video.

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Speaker 2: You only see a naked light bulb on the ceiling

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Speaker 2: Jonathan probably filmed this lying on his bed. In the background,

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Speaker 2: you can hear the shooting sound lending clothes to where

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Speaker 2: he was he captured the post.

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Speaker 5: If you got too many bullets, you can share them

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Speaker 5: with me.

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Speaker 2: In late October, Jonathan's battalion had a new mission to

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Speaker 2: chase the Russians even further away. They were set out

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Speaker 2: in two days. The first group will be in charge

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Speaker 2: of pushing the front line and attacking the enemy with

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Speaker 2: armored vehicles. The second group, where Jonathan was, would defend

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Speaker 2: the front line right behind the first group, guarding trenches,

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Speaker 2: shooting mortars, making sure no opposition came their way. The mission,

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Speaker 2: as the soldiers were told, was supposed to be just

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Speaker 2: about five days, and the plan was to move forward

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Speaker 2: all the time as the first group gained more ground.

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Speaker 2: This is absolutely not what happened next. Instead of moving

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Speaker 2: forward every day, the groups made progress only on the

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Speaker 2: first day. We don't know what, but somethings stopped the

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Speaker 2: first group from pushing the front line further and things

359
00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:41,720
Speaker 2: pretty much stopped. On day two. Jonathan's group was defending

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Speaker 2: the line rather than Benson. We got this video from

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Speaker 2: Jonathan's wife, Gina. She shared some videos with us that

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Speaker 2: Jonathan never shared publicly. In this video, it was raining

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Speaker 2: relentlessly and everything was turned into mud. Jonathan was walking

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Speaker 2: in the rain, pacing around picking up trash left behind

365
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Speaker 2: by the Russians. This hilltop he was at used to

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Speaker 2: be occupied by the enemy just days ago. You can

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Speaker 2: hear the bombing occasionally in the background. Now both sides

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Speaker 2: were locked in a stalemate. Jonathan's group was stationed on

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Speaker 2: one hilltop, the Russians on the other. They were just

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Speaker 2: about one kilometer away from each other, separated by a

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Speaker 2: valley in between. I talked to Shaggy about it.

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Speaker 6: Every day we would get shelled periodically throughout the day,

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Speaker 6: sometimes with brad rockets, sometimes tank fire, sometimes with mortars, artillery,

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Speaker 6: just various weapons that they would use.

375
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Speaker 2: The Russians used heavy artillery, They fired whatever they had

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Speaker 2: on hand, and the Ukrainians fired back. The ring went

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Speaker 2: on for days, and the mission had gone twice as

378
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Speaker 2: long as it was supposed to be. People started complaining,

379
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Speaker 2: some got sick and asked to leave early. Jonathan was

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Speaker 2: constantly drenched, so was he sleeping back, but he wasn't

381
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Speaker 2: going to leave. On the eight day of the mission,

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Speaker 2: Jonathan was ordered to move bunkers. Someone one hundred meters

383
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Speaker 2: got sick and left early. He stepped in to feel

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Speaker 2: the spot. The bombings sounded worse there, at least from

385
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Speaker 2: the look of Jonathan's videos.

386
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Speaker 3: Right the hell he said.

387
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Speaker 2: In the video, you can see Jonathan flinch and curl

388
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Speaker 2: up in the bunker. Round told me there's nothing you

389
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Speaker 2: can do when militaries are just firing artillery at each other.

390
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Speaker 2: All you can do is to lie low in the

391
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Speaker 2: bunker and wait for it to pass. You can tell

392
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Speaker 2: if a cannon is getting close to you by the

393
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Speaker 2: sound of it, and you just pray that it doesn't

394
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Speaker 2: land on you. One night, it got too close.

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Speaker 7: In Hio High.

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Speaker 5: Do you guys think I'm having fun here? Let me

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Speaker 5: show you what fun I've been having. Does this look

398
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Speaker 5: like fun to you?

399
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Speaker 2: A piece of sharp note hit just about six meters

400
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Speaker 2: away from Jonathan. The shell cut through his vest and

401
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:33,000
Speaker 2: dented his helmet. He filmed a video showing his damaged gear,

402
00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:34,840
Speaker 2: cursing at the Russians.

403
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Speaker 5: Oh they just broke my helmet. You Ah, it's straight

404
00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:50,240
Speaker 5: up dented. I'm so pissed.

405
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Speaker 2: The shell didn't just dan Jonathan's helmet. It also left

406
00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:05,400
Speaker 2: him with a concussion. A truck was supposed to pick

407
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Speaker 2: up the injured from the field every day, and the

408
00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:12,199
Speaker 2: next day Jonathan should have been on it, but the

409
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:15,199
Speaker 2: road was so muddy that the truck didn't come the

410
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Speaker 2: next morning. That following afternoon, as usual, Russia fired another

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Speaker 2: tank round. Luck was not with Jonathan this time.

412
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Speaker 4: I remember I was sitting at the commander's table. It's

413
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Speaker 4: like the small kitchen table, and I was drinking a coffee,

414
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Speaker 4: and there's a radio charging area, like a counter where

415
00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:42,440
Speaker 4: they put all the radios and charge them, and they

416
00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:45,600
Speaker 4: just let them sit there and they keep them on,

417
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:48,920
Speaker 4: and you can hear a different radio chatter coming in,

418
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Speaker 4: and all of a sudden we hear.

419
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Speaker 10: It broke out through.

420
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Speaker 4: It broke a walk through, which means evacuation. They are

421
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Speaker 4: requesting evacuation. I'm pretty good at identifying people's voices, so

422
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:13,640
Speaker 4: immediately I knew it was Third Company's commander's voice. And

423
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Speaker 4: you could also tell that there was a very there

424
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Speaker 4: was a lot of distress in his voice, so much

425
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Speaker 4: so that I thought he was injured.

426
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Speaker 10: Yeah.

427
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Speaker 4: A few moments later, as the press officer is listening

428
00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 4: in and getting more information, we realized that one of

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Speaker 4: the guys is Jonathan. One of the guys is saying, yeah.

430
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Speaker 2: But Jonathan was an injured he was dead.

431
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Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean you can.

432
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Speaker 4: You definitely feel like there's something that drops inside of

433
00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 4: your stomach. Yeah, your gut feels heavy, and you don't

434
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Speaker 4: know what to do. You want to do something, but

435
00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:16,040
Speaker 4: there's nothing that you can do. You know. It's kind

436
00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:19,800
Speaker 4: of like being late to work and you're on the

437
00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:24,320
Speaker 4: train and you just wish that you could run. Maybe

438
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Speaker 4: you could run and get there faster, but you're on

439
00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:29,640
Speaker 4: a train. There's nothing you could do. You just have

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Speaker 4: to sit there and wait.

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Speaker 8: And it kind of.

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00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:33,640
Speaker 4: Felt like that, you know.

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00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:41,440
Speaker 2: The news about Jonathan also made its way to run.

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Speaker 7: I was just angry that that Hugh went down there

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00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:49,680
Speaker 7: instead of stayed here with me staying in that position,

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00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:52,880
Speaker 7: because you just went down there like.

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00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:53,520
Speaker 4: The day before.

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00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:58,120
Speaker 8: So I'll just punched a tree a couple of times,

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00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:01,000
Speaker 8: and then I mean I can't really do anything. We're

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00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:08,080
Speaker 8: still there and we're still thinking artillery.

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00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:12,040
Speaker 2: Two days later, over eight thousand miles away, the news

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00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:16,760
Speaker 2: reached Gina. It was, of course, the thing she had

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00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:20,120
Speaker 2: feared a most since that Saturday back in June twenty

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00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:24,040
Speaker 2: twenty two, when she watched him get on that plane

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00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:28,360
Speaker 2: Poupati takuha.

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00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:31,920
Speaker 3: I feel like I want to blame him. Why didn't

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00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:35,240
Speaker 3: you take care of yourself? Why didn't you go to

458
00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:44,920
Speaker 3: the doctor after you got hit? And I want to

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00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:50,120
Speaker 3: blame myself dash and beIN Why couldn't I help y go?

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00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:58,560
Speaker 2: Jonathan's been gone for over a year now, and the

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00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:01,800
Speaker 2: war in Ukraine continue is on with no end in sight.

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00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:06,840
Speaker 2: According to US officials, about half a million soldiers from

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00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:09,920
Speaker 2: both sides have been killed or injured there since the

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00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:14,400
Speaker 2: war began, and back in Taiwan, the fear over a

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00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:18,600
Speaker 2: potential Chinese attack still hands heavy in the air, although

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00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:25,920
Speaker 2: analysts say it's unlikely anytime soon. At the new home

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00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:32,560
Speaker 2: in Taipei where Gina now lives, signs of Jonathan are everywhere.

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00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:37,560
Speaker 2: A giant flag of Jonathan's battalion the siege hands above

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00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:41,640
Speaker 2: her bed. His photos and badges are at her bed side.

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00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:46,920
Speaker 2: The day she spoke to us, we joined her for lunch,

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00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:49,480
Speaker 2: and when it came to divvy up the portions, she

472
00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:52,520
Speaker 2: puts some rise out for Jonathan and his shrine next

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00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:57,920
Speaker 2: to her bed. He's just here with you, I said,

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00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:00,400
Speaker 2: I know.

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00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:09,960
Speaker 1: She replied, that's Young Young from Bloomberg. If you want

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00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 1: to see photos of Jonathan Sun's journey, visit Bloomberg dot com.

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00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:16,600
Speaker 1: You can also read Young's account of reporting the story there.

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00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:20,600
Speaker 1: This episode was produced by Young Young. She and Juan

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00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:24,280
Speaker 1: Chin Hua reported the story. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney,

480
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:28,080
Speaker 1: along with m O'Brien and Dan ten Kate. Sound design,

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00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:31,640
Speaker 1: mixing and engineering was by Young Young and Alexander Sugiura.

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00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:36,000
Speaker 1: Sage Bauman is the head of Bloomberg Podcast and a

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00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,080
Speaker 1: big thanks to our colleagues for their help in making

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00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:42,680
Speaker 1: this episode, including Samson, Ellis, Alice Huang, and Katria Alampei.

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00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:46,840
Speaker 1: Join us next week for another episode from Taiwan. We'll

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00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:50,320
Speaker 1: hear how locals are preparing for the prospect of a

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00:33:50,400 --> 00:34:03,959
Speaker 1: Chinese invasion. See you