WEBVTT

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[Uplifting Music]

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(Air Force Maj. Ryan McCaughan)

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So, the MSAS is in Ethiopia to support their air mobility program.

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The U.S. government donated a C-130 to Ethiopia about a year and a half ago.

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Since that time, it's been maintained exclusively by Ethiopians, and the Mobility Support Advisory Squadron's

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been out here four or five times since then to help them conduct maintenance on it,

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plus their other mobility aircraft.

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It sat for a little while, and we need to help the Ethiopians figure out how to get it airborne,

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so they can help support peacekeeping operations in the region here.

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Ethiopia is a extremely important regional partner,

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They are the world's largest United Nations peace-contributing country.

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They're a proud people, extremely friendly. We've had great relationships here.

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We want the Ethiopian air force to taxi the aircraft we provided.

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We want to do a high-speed taxi down the runway.

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Yeah, it was extremely rewarding to take the runway, taxi down that thing

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79, 80, 90 knots. Then, we taxi back in, and

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we see the ground crew -- who's been working on that aircraft for a year and a half.

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that hasn't seen it actually taxi itself -- just cheering and celebrating, you know, amongst themselves.

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It's extremely rewarding to see how satisfied they were. It's what makes it all, makes it fun.

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Ethiopia is doing a lot of heavy lifting in East Africa, and the U.S. is helping them do that.

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It's ultimately, at the end of the day, that's what this is all about.