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Happy New Year and welcome to another 

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monthly edition of Core Connection . 

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It's the US Army Corps of Engineers 

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monthly vlog where we keep you up to 

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date on what your Corps of Engineers is 

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doing for our servicemen and women 

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around the globe and for the 

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communities across our nation . I'm 

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Patrick Bloodgood , your host and this 

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is core connection . 

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Yeah . Mhm . 

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We start the New year off looking back 

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in time as the Savannah district 

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continues to search for Civil War 

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relics located under the water in the 

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Savannah River last month . They 

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highlighted the discovery of some 

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cannons . This month we returned to 

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Georgia to see what more they have 

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found . 

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Yeah . 

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Hi , I'm Wil Wilson . I'm an 

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archaeologist with commonwealth 

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Heritage Group , currently managing an 

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important project here in Savannah for 

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the US Army Corps of Engineers were 

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studying relics of the Civil War hidden 

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beneath the waters of the Savannah 

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River . Following Union victories early 

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in the war , Savannah's confederate 

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defenders needed to block the Savannah 

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River so the U . S . Navy vessels could 

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not steam up and attack the city . To 

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accomplish this goal , confederate 

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engineers built rows of what they 

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called cribs , essentially big tall 

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wooden boxes filled with bricks and 

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rocks , which the confederates towed 

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out into the river and sank just below 

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the surface . These obstructions made 

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it impossible for any Union forces to 

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reach Savannah and even now , more than 

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150 years later , a few of the 

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confederate cribs remain in the murky 

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waters of the Savannah River this month . 

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Archaeological divers from commonwealth 

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Heritage group contracted by the US 

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Army Corps of Engineers are conducting 

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a detailed survey of four of the 

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surviving crips are fieldwork began in 

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early october with the sonar sweep of 

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the submerged structures . 

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We'll double check when you're down . 

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Mm hmm . Now we are plunging into the 

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cold , dark waters on every slack tide 

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to make detailed physical examinations . 

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Working from the research vessel parker , 

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Our team includes archaeological hard 

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hat divers as well as a professional 

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support team . On the surface , 

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we use a real time video connection and 

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an audio link to communicate with the 

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diver working below . Oh yeah , yeah . 

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I can see it pretty clearly how far out 

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ahead . Sonar map from october helps us 

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guide the divers to the right spot on 

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the bottom and a pump on the boat 

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pushes the jet of high powered water so 

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the divers can clear away sediments and 

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expose the wooden structures . They can 

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see them . No one has touched this in 

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at least 100 over 150 years . That wall 

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broke off and what we're seeing , What 

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we thought was planned . View like , 

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you know , we're seeing it as it was , 

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is actually it's fallen over 90 degrees . 

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When we're finished . The information 

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we have painstakingly collected for the 

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US Army Corps of Engineers will answer 

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questions about how the obstructions 

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were constructed and reveal new details 

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about this hidden aspect of savannah 

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Civil War history . 

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Mm hmm . From under the surface to the 

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gulf coast . We travel a little further 

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west to the great state of texas where 

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our Galveston's district is reusing 

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dredged sand from local navigation 

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channels and placing it along the beach 

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in Galveston's . 

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Yeah , so I've been with the core here 

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in Galveston district since 2018 . 

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Started off out of addicks and barker 

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as a natural resource specialist . And 

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he came over to our navigation branch 

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back in october . So I've been working 

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in our navigation business line since 

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october . It's actually a year later 

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this week 

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here 

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at Baby Beach . We're partnering with 

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the texas General land office , the 

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city of Galveston's and Babe's Beach to 

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bring the dredge material so that using 

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the beneficial use of dredge material 

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here on the beach . And so this is a 

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smaller part project of a larger you 

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safe dredging project . We're actually 

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dredging the Galveston's entrance 

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channel and also the Houston ship 

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channel to provide a safe , reliable , 

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efficient and um , environmentally 

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sustainable waterborne transportation 

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system for the movement of commerce , 

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uh , National security needs and 

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recreation . And so this project , it 

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allows us to use material that would 

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otherwise go offshore . We get to come 

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and place it right here on the beach , 

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uh , to provide for recreation for , 

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for the residents and the visitors of 

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Galveston island . Also for protection 

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of the seawall and recreation . 

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I would say my favorite part is is 

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really getting to work with our non 

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federal sponsors uh , and , and our 

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community members . It really shed 

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light to what we get to do and the 

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benefits that are projects bring to not 

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only the local communities , but also 

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to the nation . When you get to do 

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projects like this , you get to see 

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firsthand , get to walk , walk out . I 

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mean , the beach we're standing on 

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right now is dredged material from the 

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Galveston Interest channel in the 

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Houston ship channel . And with the 

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Houston ship channel being the number 

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one ports in the nation , you really 

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get to see the impacts of being able to 

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keep that channel clear and getting 

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industry coming in and out and being 

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able to provide that for the local 

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businesses and some of the big , you 

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know , um national organizations that 

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use that channel on a daily basis , 

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specific type of job . We use a 

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specific type of equipment , which is 

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what they call a hopper dredge . And so 

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that hopper dredge is equipped with a 

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trailing suction arm . And so it will 

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go to the section of the channel that 

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needs to be dredged . It has this 

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trailing suction arm kind of think of 

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like a vacuum attached to it , Um and 

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it will go and it will make swaths 

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across the channel , that material up . 

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And when it sucks that material up , it 

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actually holds it within the ship 

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itself within the whole . So the 

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process starts as it fills up , it gets 

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that dredge material and then it , 

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since it's a sailing vessel , it will 

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actually sail to the pump out location , 

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which is about 2-3 miles offshore . It 

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then hooks up to pipe the dredge 

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pipeline that you see in the background 

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and then takes that material . It ? Re 

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fluid eyes , is it with seawater and 

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actually pumps that material through 

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the pipe onto the beach . And so once 

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it gets onto the beach , the contractor 

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has earth moving equipment to be able 

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to move that pipeline around to place 

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the material in the locations that it 

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needs to . And then they also have 

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additional earth movement equipment 

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that once that materials landed onto 

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the beach , they can then use 

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bulldozers or other such um equipment 

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to move that material around and make 

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it to where it matches what the design 

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was for in the , in the plans and 

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specifications . This is our third 

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iteration of the beach nourishment 

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project . The first being in 2015 when 

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we placed somewhere around 600,000 

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cubic yards onto the beach . The next 

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project that was in 2019 , we were 

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around the 450,000 range . And right 

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now the project is still ongoing And we 

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placed just a little over 420,000 cubic 

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yards material onto the beach And we've 

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re nourished about 1.75 miles . Mhm mm 

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hmm . Yeah . 

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Moving from navigation and coastline 

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projects to how you say supports our 

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military , the new york district is 

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supporting the Army reserves with 

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renovating facilities at the cave in 

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point . Us Army Reserve Center in New 

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Jersey . 

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We're 

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at the corner of Caven Point Road 

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and Chapel Avenue , right right by 

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the New Jersey turnpike right across 

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the harbor from New york city and the 

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99th Army Reserve Unit . I decided that 

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this is a really critical area , 

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geographical area that they need to 

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maintain a reserve center in . And 

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that's why we're doing this project . 

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It's a full renovation , full 

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demolition and complete renovation of 

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the project . This is a Louisville 

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contract for starters . They they 

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designed it and awarded it and the new 

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york district is administering the 

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contract doing contract admin and 

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quality assurance . This facility for 

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the Army Reserve Unit . We'll have 

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administration facilities , it will 

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have a mess hall , it will have 

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training facility . It will also have 

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physical fitness facility which will 

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include showers and changing rooms 

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right now . And we're installing a 

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mechanical the heating system . We're 

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installing the plumbing system , we're 

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installing additional structures . 

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There are some small additions to the 

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project . We're installing an elevator . 

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Right now we're doing the foundation 

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for the elevator . We're also doing the 

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roof . Once the roof is on and we have 

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windows we can start doing the interior 

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finishes right now the contract is that 

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was awarded at 23.5 million 

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and we have a quarter of a million 

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dollars in change orders to the project 

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so far uses to support to our military 

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stretches far beyond our borders In the 

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United States are europe . District is 

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tasked with providing state of the art 

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facilities for service members and 

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their families in multiple nations 

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across europe . And they're hiring the 

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district's southern europe area office 

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gives us this overview on their wide 

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ranging 

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portfolio . 

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So 

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we're responsible for a massive amount 

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of construction across a large 

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geographic area spanning roughly about 

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2800 miles . So almost the width of the 

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United States . And we cover seven 

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different countries . And we have 12 

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offices located across that geographic 

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area . And we have a very diversified 

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uh , uh , mission to be able to deliver 

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construction to a variety of different 

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partners from Tbilisi , the Republic of 

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Georgia , um all the way to the United 

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States Air Force and the United States 

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Army across these different countries 

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to include also our host nation 

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partners . But I would say out of all 

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my experience over the last 25 years , 

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the work here in southern europe is , 

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is the most diverse . It's the most 

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diverse . Therefore it's the most 

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exciting . It's the most rewarding . We 

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definitely need people here . 

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This concludes another episode of core 

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connection . We hope 2022 treats you 

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well and we will be back next month to 

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deliver another update on what your use 

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cases doing . Until then . I'm Patrick 

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Bloodgood . And this has been core 

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connection . Mm hmm . 

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Mhm