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- There's a quote, and
it says your humanity

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is an asset to your
effectiveness, not a liability.

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And that is something that
has just stayed with me

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over the years as something that I try

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to put into practice every day.

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(dramatic music)

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My name is Lieutenant
Commander Mandy Le Monde.

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I'm the Executive Officer
of the Pacific Strike Team.

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Being an XO at the Pacific
Strike Team is so much more

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than just managing day-to-day activities

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and deploying and supporting the mission.

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It also affords me the opportunity,

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as a leader within this organization,

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to mentor and inspire others,

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those who are just coming into
the service, and show them

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that they can be whatever
it is that they wanna be.

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I wish more people knew
how diverse the mission

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of the National Strike Force can be

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and how talented and
versatile our crews are

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in supporting these missions.

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We really are the Coast Guard's

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all-hazards response
element, and we're so capable

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and adaptable of
supporting these missions.

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Being recognized as

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the IAEM Uniformed Emergency
Manager of the Year

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is incredibly humbling,
and I'm very grateful

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to those that nominated me for this award.

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For me, this award recognizes

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not just the individual
contributions of one person,

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so if you were to ask anybody

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in the emergency management field,

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we will all tell you that it takes a team

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to do the work that we
do and to do it well.

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So this award, to me,
recognizes the efforts

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of all of the men and women
in the National Strike Force,

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the Pacific Strike Team, and I
wanna give them a huge thanks

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for all the hard work and dedication

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that they exhibit every day.

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I'm very much of the philosophy
that when an opportunity

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like this presents itself, you take it,

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and 14 years later, I haven't looked back.