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Hi , I'm chaplain , Colonel Karen

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Meeker , United States Africa command

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based out of Stuttgart Germany . So

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we've brought 12 on our US delegation ,

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chaplains and one senior religious

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affairs specialist , plus two public

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affairs officers . And we're here to

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engage with our colleagues chaplains uh

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from Zambia , our hosts , Chaplain ,

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General Mataeo has been so gracious to

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invite us down for this engagement .

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And he also invited chaplains from

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across southern Africa . We have with

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us this week , chaplains from Botswana ,

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the Democratic Republic of Congo ,

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Malawi , Namibia . And of course , uh

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many from Zambia , the demands on our

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service members are so great . All our

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service members , soldiers , sailors ,

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airmen , marines , Coast Guard Space

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Force Guardians . They all make

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sacrifices in order to serve the

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purpose of freedom and peace around the

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world and their families make

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sacrifices as well . And so chaplains ,

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we're here to support them and we learn

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from each other coming from different

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backgrounds and experiences different

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theological perspectives , our

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educational backgrounds , and we bring

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all of that together in order to

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collaborate in order to share best

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practices that's really important

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because we can do more together . And

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then we as chaplains , you know , we

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love to meet people and build

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relationships . So those building of

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relationships are helpful , uh so that

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we can get things accomplished on

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behalf half of our nations and our

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armed forces . And also we

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take care of each other . And that's

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part of um being in that collegiality

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of chaplains . We often are doing those

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um , very difficult um ,

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operations if you will , where we're

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meeting people in their most dire

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situations . We're going with them on

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deployments in the combat , um ,

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name , you know , name a mission and

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you've got a chaplain there . Uh ,

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chaplains are there when , when uh we

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have a fallen comrade when there's a

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wounded , but we're also there when

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there's triumphs , life's greatest

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triumphs of birth and marriage ,

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graduation or promotion or retirement .

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Uh And so for us to come together as ,

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as uh colleagues , we can share those

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experiences and it's , it's very

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helpful and healthy for us .