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(gentle music)

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- Hello, Al Dhafra,
this is my second video

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to you on COVID-19.

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I have a couple topics
I wanna cover with you.

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The first is our strategy for COVID-19,

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and the second is quarantine,

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and before I say any of
that, I just wanna say

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thank you for what you
do every single day.

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You guys are crushing the mission,

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and I truly appreciate it.

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So our strategy for COVID-19,

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as I talked to you guys
in my previous video,

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we have an operational planning team

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of medical experts and
reps from every squadron.

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They meet with me every single day.

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We've come up with a two-part strategy.

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The first is to fence off Al Dhafra

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as much as we can.

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We've done that for about three weeks.

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Because of this, I am very confident

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that our main base
population is COVID-free.

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The second part of the strategy is because

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we can't ever 100% close off Al Dhafra,

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we have OCNs coming on and
off the base, and contractors,

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and we have to go do official
business off the base.

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Because of that, we have to prevent

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the possible spread of COVID-19.

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That's the measures that we talk about

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like physical distancing
and washing your hands.

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So the easy button on
preventing the spread

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is for me to, essentially,
shut down and close everything.

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I could cancel all events.

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I could close all
facilities, close the gym,

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close things like that,
but I don't want to.

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I'm not there yet.

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I need to balance your
safety and your health

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with your mental health and your morale,

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and that's my job as a
commander to find that balance,

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but here's what I need from you.

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Places like the DFAC,
like the Thirsty Camel,

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like the Smoke Pit, I
need you guys to help me

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and physical distance as much as you can.

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That allows me to keep the Thirsty Camel

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and the Smoke Pit open, and
also, please police each other

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on this, police yourselves,
and back each other up.

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It shouldn't have to
be the first sergeants,

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or the commanders, or
the chiefs who go around

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and correct people all the time.

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Again, please back each other up.

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So on the measures I've
taken, hopefully you feel safe

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here at Al Dhafra, because I'll tell you,

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we are probably safer here

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than just about anyplace
else in the world.

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The two things you can personally do

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to keep yourself safe are
physical distance from others

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and wash your hands often, and well.

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If you do those two
things, you, personally

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will be safe.

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So I put out an order to ADAB All.

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Hopefully you've seen it,
and hopefully it made sense

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and it's clear, but if you
just comply with that order,

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we'll keep each other safe,

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and I really appreciate you doing so.

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The second topic to talk
about is quarantine.

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We have a handful of
airmen who are quarantined

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on our base right now.

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Quarantine does not mean that
they are necessarily sick.

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I've quarantined them because
they've come from places

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like California, or New
York, or New Jersey,

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some of the places that
have cases of COVID-19,

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so again, we're trying to
seal off the base population

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as much as we can.

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They'll be there for about two weeks,

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and then, they'll be out
and join the rest of us,

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once we ensure they're COVID-free.

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The main place where we're
gonna quarantine people

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is the fenced-off area near the BX.

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There are some cases with small groups

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where I can quarantine
them in their own room,

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and I actually did that a couple weeks ago

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because they have their own bathroom,

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and sequester them in their room,

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and they don't need to interact

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with the base population,
but once that fills up,

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or with a large group, I have to put them

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in that fenced off area near the BX,

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so a small number of
people, I can put them

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in the wet stacks.

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Now, at this time, we run out of room,

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so we do have some people in Camp Q.

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Just to dispel any rumors, I did not

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quarantine the people in their own rooms

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because they were aircrew.

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There are aircrew in their own rooms,

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and there's also aircrew
in Camp Q right now.

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It's just because we had a small number.

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Again, quarantine doesn't
mean that they're sick.

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If somebody gets sick,
we'll put them in isolation,

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which is different, and that'll
be in a hospital downtown,

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or a completely different location,

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so, hopefully, that clears things up.

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When I talked to you last,
I told you I didn't know

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when you were going home.

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Now, we have a little bit better idea.

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SEC DEF put out a stop
movement order through 24 May,

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so I would expect that
we'll all be here together

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through 24 May.

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There will be exceptions,
but they'll be rare.

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Emergency leaves and things
like that will still happen,

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but they're now approved above my level

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at at least the AFSEM level, and I promise

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I will fight for you
if you need to go home

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for pressing circumstances,
so we will balance

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the mission and the
mental health and safety

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of our people to do the
right thing, in that case,

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so again, I'll come back to thank you

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to all of you for what
you do every single day,

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and I wanna throw a special thanks out

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to the group commanders,
squadron commanders,

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chiefs, and first sergeants who have just

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really, really carried me
through this whole thing,

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and I do also wanna say one more thing.

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What we're going through now is different

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than anything we've ever gone through.

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Normally, if you're fighting a war,

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hopefully, things at home are calm,

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and you can just focus
on that, but right now,

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we have stuff going on
here, but back home,

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the situation's pretty scary,
and we have family members

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and friends who are scared,
so we have to worry about

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here, and back home.

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It's a lot, so it's a lot on you,

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it's a lot on me, it's a lot on all of us,

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but you're not alone.

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We're all going through this together,

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so please back each other
up, talk to each other,

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talk to your leadership,
talk to mental health,

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if you need to, or talk to a chaplain,

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and when you see me walking around,

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you can talk to me, but
again, we're all going through

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this together, and we'll
get through it together,

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so again, Al Dhafra,
thank you guys very much

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for what you do every single day.

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I'm truly honored to
serve with all of you.

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Thank you.

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(gentle music)