[0:28] And I welcome everyone here.

[0:29] First of all, before I start,

[0:30] I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

[0:32] On behalf of all of our fellow Commissioners,

[0:35] our administration, and all of our County employees

[0:37] here in Monmouth County.

[0:39] Welcome. What a great night.

[0:40] What a great crowd.

[0:41] Again, bringing anoter great year here in Monmouth County.

[0:45] This is a special day where we continue to swear

[0:49] in elected officials

[0:51] that truly care and want to do the right thing

[0:54] for the people here in Monmouth County.

[0:56] And hopefully it shows

[0:57] in the quality of life

[0:58] that we all enjoy here in Monmouth County.

[1:01] Here today I'm joined with my fellow Commissioners

[1:04] here, and I'm also joined

[1:06] by our County Clerk, Christine Hanlon,

[1:08] our sheriff, Sean Golden,

[1:10] our Prosecutor, Raymond Santiago,

[1:12] and our Constitutional Officer Surrogate, Maureen

[1:16] Raisch right there.

[1:18] We also have many, many, many elected officials here today.

[1:22] I will now read the statement

[1:23] of certification of election of Christine Gordon O'Hanlon

[1:26] as Monmouth County Clerk.

[1:28] The following is a statement

[1:29] of determination of the Board of County Canvassers.

[1:32] Relative to an election held in the County of Monmouth

[1:36] on the fourth day of November, in the year of the Lord, 2025

[1:41] for the election

[1:42] of a county clerk for a full term according to law.

[1:46] The results are as follows Christina

[1:48] Christine Giordano Hanlon, Republican,

[1:52] 156,121 votes.

[1:57] Alison DeNoia, Democrat, 113,840 votes

[2:03] Joshua Lyons, for 4893 votes.

[2:10] The said board does determine that at the said election.

[2:13] Christine Gordon O'Hanlon was duly elected.

[2:17] County clerk of Monmouth County.

[2:20] Ms. Hanlon,

[2:20] please come forward and be sworn in office by the honorable

[2:24] Mark Lemieux, assignment judge of the Superior Court.

[2:28] I Christine Giordano Hanlon.

[2:30] I Christine Giordano Hanlon, do solemnly swear.

[2:33] Do solemnly swear that I will support

[2:35] the Constitution of the United States,

[2:37] that I will support the Constitution

[2:39] of the United States

[2:40] and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey

[2:42] and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey.

[2:45] That I will bear true faith,

[2:47] that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same,

[2:49] and allegiance to the same, and to the government

[2:52] and to the government established

[2:53] in the United States, established in the United States

[2:56] and in this state

[2:57] and in this state

[2:58] under the authority of the people,

[2:59] under the authority of the people.

[3:01] And that I will faithfully

[3:02] and I will faithfully, impartially,

[3:04] impartially, and justly perform and justly perform

[3:07] all the duties of the duties of the office of the Office of

[3:11] County Clerk, County Clerk,

[3:13] according to the best of my ability,

[3:15] according to the best of my ability.

[3:16] So help me God, so help me God. Congratulations.

[3:21] I'm very proud of the work that we have done

[3:24] over my last term in the county clerk's office,

[3:27] from protecting residents with our property fraud alert service

[3:32] to bringing our mobile County Connection Initiative

[3:35] to Monmouth communities to make our services more accessible,

[3:39] to providing the state's only enhanced ballot tracking system.

[3:44] We have continued to provide innovative

[3:47] and top tier services to the public.

[3:50] None of this would be possible

[3:53] without the support of a truly

[3:55] dedicated and hardworking staff, including my Deputy Clerk,

[4:00] Felicia Santaniello, Chief Clerk Veronica Dwyer,

[4:06] Director of Outreach and Communication Rochelle Miller.

[4:09] My dedicated front office staff, including Lori Abernathy

[4:14] and all of the wonderful

[4:15] supervisors and employees of the County Clerk's office.

[4:19] The following is a statement of the determination

[4:22] of the board of County Canvassers

[4:24] relative to an election held in the County of Monmouth,

[4:27] on the fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord 2025.

[4:32] For the election of Sheriff for a full term according to law.

[4:37] Sean Golden, Republican,

[4:39] 156,286 votes.

[4:44] Michael Warren, Democrat, 119,050 votes.

[4:49] The said board does determine that at said election.

[4:52] Sean Golden was duly elected sheriff of Monmouth County.

[4:57] Sheriff Golden, please come in, come up and be sworn

[5:00] into office by the honorable Mark Lemieux.

[5:03] I Sean Golden I, Sean Golden do solemnly swear.

[5:07] Do solemnly swear

[5:08] that I will support the Constitution

[5:09] of the United States,

[5:10] that I will support the Constitution

[5:12] of the United States

[5:13] and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey

[5:14] and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey.

[5:17] That I will bear true faith,

[5:18] that I will bear true faith

[5:19] and allegiance to the same, and allegiance to the same,

[5:22] and to the government and to the governments

[5:24] established in the United States,

[5:25] established in the United States,

[5:27] and in this state and in this state

[5:29] under the authority of the people,

[5:30] under the authority of the people.

[5:31] And that I will faithfully

[5:33] and that I will faithfully,

[5:34] impartially, impartially, and justly perform, perform

[5:37] all the duties

[5:38] of all the duties of county sheriff, county sheriff,

[5:40] according to the best of my ability,

[5:42] according to the best of my ability.

[5:43] So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations.

[5:46] All I can think

[5:47] about is, the entrust that the public has placed

[5:51] in us as elected officials, but myself as sheriff,

[5:54] because when it comes to public safety,

[5:56] as the prosecutor and our team know,

[5:58] there is no further calling than protecting,

[6:02] those that particularly can't protect themselves.

[6:05] And so for the public to entrust that into myself

[6:09] and our office,

[6:11] in the sheriff's office, I do want to thank our residents

[6:14] of Monmouth County again for that great honor.

[6:17] And it is a debt of gratitude that I serve another term

[6:20] as sheriff.

[6:21] Now, I saved the last or EMS division.

[6:24] Tim Sidley,

[6:25] who has done a remarkable job as our director of MedStar EMS.

[6:30] When you think about in just our two year anniversary coming up

[6:34] just two years ago, commissioners,

[6:36] we launched and with your support

[6:38] and your recognition in the fact

[6:40] that we need to serve our better or better

[6:43] our service of our EMS response in the county,

[6:47] along with our volunteers, to assist them and fill gaps

[6:51] where they are needed.

[6:52] When we had a response time

[6:53] countywide of over 18 minutes and 10s statewide,

[6:58] 19 out of 21 counties, we have driven that down

[7:02] to under 15 now in 21 counties, and we will continue to do so.

[7:07] The stat this year is telling over 10,000 calls for service,

[7:13] five minute and 22 second response time.

[7:16] There is no better.

[7:21] To me, there is no better investment

[7:24] that the county could have made than into what I'll say 911,

[7:28] but into our MedStar program for our EMS.

[7:32] They are saving lives week in and week out,

[7:35] and we have the response times and the data to prove it.

[7:38] So we are really proud and more to come on that.

[7:41] We are looking at the expansion of MedStar

[7:44] into 2026 and 2027.

[7:47] We will continue, to equip our first responders

[7:50] with the best communication systems, radios and technology.

[7:55] The following is a statement

[7:56] of determination of the Board of County Canvassers

[8:00] relative to an election held in the County of Monmouth

[8:03] on the fourth day of November in the year of our Lord 2025.

[8:08] For the election of a Commissioner

[8:10] of the Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners

[8:13] for a full term according to law.

[8:16] Dominic “Nick” DiRocco, Republican,

[8:19] 150,430 votes.

[8:23] Jacqueline Wenzel, Democrat,

[8:25] 121,625 votes.

[8:30] The said board does determine that at said election.

[8:34] Dominic “Nick” DiRocco was duly elected as Commissioner

[8:38] of the Monmouth County Board of County Canvassers. Mr.

[8:41] DiRocco, Commissioner

[8:42] DiRocco, please come forward to be sworn into office.

[8:47] I Dominic “Nick” DiRocco, I Dominic “Nick” DiRocco

[8:50] do solemnly swear.

[8:51] Do solemnly swear that I will support

[8:53] the Constitution of the United States,

[8:55] that I will support the Constitution

[8:56] of the United States

[8:57] and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey

[8:59] and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey.

[9:01] That I will bear true faith,

[9:03] that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same,

[9:05] and allegiance to the same, and to the government

[9:08] and to the governments

[9:09] established in the United States,

[9:10] established in the United States,

[9:12] and in this state

[9:13] and in the state

[9:14] under the authority of the people,

[9:15] under the authority of the people.

[9:17] And that I will faithfully

[9:18] and that I will faithfully, impartially,

[9:19] impartially, and justly perform and justly perform

[9:22] all the duties of all the duties of the office of the office

[9:26] of County

[9:27] Commissioner, County Commissioner,

[9:28] according to the best of my ability,

[9:29] according to the best of my ability.

[9:31] So help me God, so help me God. Congratulations!

[9:34] I am truly honored and grateful

[9:36] to take the oath of office today for another term

[9:38] on the Monmouth County Board of Commissioners,

[9:40] and I know that I speak for my fellow

[9:42] elected officials were assembled here today on the dais.

[9:44] When I tell you that we do not take

[9:46] our responsibilities as public servants lightly,

[9:48] we are keenly aware of the trust that our fellow citizens

[9:51] have placed in us to manage their tax dollars

[9:54] and control the levers of county government,

[9:57] and we also have a very deep appreciation for the fact that

[10:00] the decisions we make as public officials have a direct impact

[10:05] on the daily lives of our nearly

[10:06] 650,000 residents across our great county.

[10:10] And it is for this reason that we reorganize

[10:12] our government today in a very public

[10:14] and formal proceeding, because, in truth,

[10:16] we could simply sign our oaths privately

[10:19] and dispense with any formalities.

[10:20] But it's important we believe, that we appear before you today

[10:24] and publicly, publicly commit to everyone assembled

[10:26] and all the residents across our county

[10:28] that the oath we take today

[10:30] have a meaning and are of great importance.

[10:34] So today, as a member of the elected, Monmouth

[10:36] County Board of Commissioners,

[10:38] I reaffirm my commitment to serving each

[10:40] and every resident of this county

[10:41] with fairness and compassion.

[10:44] And today, I rededicate myself to continuing

[10:46] to build a government for our over 600,000 residents.

[10:49] That is ethical, just, and principled.

[10:53] And most importantly,

[10:54] today, I take this opportunity to recommit myself

[10:58] to promoting and effectuating all the values that we hold dear

[11:01] in Monmouth County responsible and responsive government,

[11:05] prudent fiscal management,

[11:08] the delivery of high quality services in a cost

[11:10] effective manner, safe streets and neighborhoods,

[11:14] and respect for law enforcement.

[11:15] Our first responders and our veterans.

[11:18] The following is a statement of the determination

[11:20] of the Board of County Canvassers

[11:22] relative to an election held in the County of Monmouth,

[11:26] on the fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord 2025

[11:30] for the election of a member.

[11:33] Excuse me for the election of a Commissioner of the Monmouth

[11:36] County Board of County Commissioners for a full term.

[11:40] According to law.

[11:41] Thomas A.

[11:42] Arnone Republican, 154,697 votes.

[11:49] Vincent Colasurdo Democrat,

[11:51] 118,305 votes.

[11:56] The said board does determine that at said election, Thomas A.

[12:00] Arnone, was duly elected as a commissioner of the Monmouth

[12:04] County Board of County Commissioners.

[12:07] Commissioner Arnone please come forward

[12:09] to be sworn into office.

[12:11] I Thomas A. Arnone, I Thomas A.

[12:14] Arnone do solemnly swear.

[12:15] Do solemnly swear that I will support

[12:17] the Constitution of the United States, that

[12:19] I will support the Constitution of the United States

[12:21] and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey,

[12:23] and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey.

[12:25] That I will bear true faith,

[12:27] that I will bear true faith and allegiance

[12:29] to the same, and allegiance to the same,

[12:30] and to the government and to the government

[12:32] established in the United States,

[12:34] established in the United States

[12:35] and in this state and in this state.

[12:41] Under the authority of the people,

[12:42] under the authority of the people.

[12:44] And that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully,

[12:47] impartially, impartially, and justly perform

[12:50] and justly perform all the duties of all the duties

[12:53] of office, of office of county

[12:55] commissioner, County commissioner,

[12:56] according to the best of my ability,

[12:58] according to the best of my ability.

[12:59] So help me God, so help me God. Congratulations.

[13:01] With that being said, we

[13:02] we implemented something new the last few years,

[13:06] and what that was was a state of the county

[13:09] because we have so much information to convey.

[13:13] And we were on February 5th at 8:30 in the morning

[13:16] at Harmony Hill.

[13:17] We will have a state of the county

[13:19] where we detail everything the Sheriff, our County Clerk,

[13:22] our Commissioners, our Prosecutor, our Surrogate

[13:25] and all our department heads will be able to.

[13:28] We can convey to everybody in detail all the great things.

[13:33] We have to make sure we grow smartly.

[13:35] Here in Monmouth County. Growth is great.

[13:38] Growth is good.

[13:39] We're continuing to grow our values are rising,

[13:43] but we got to make sure we have smart growth.

[13:45] As we're doing that, we're going to continue

[13:47] our infrastructure improvements. Roads and bridges.

[13:52] But we're not going to do that on the backs of the taxpayers.

[13:55] We're going to do that

[13:56] reaching out to get that funding from other sources

[14:00] in the state of new Jersey, whether it's the Dot,

[14:02] whether it's the new Jersey Transportation Authority,

[14:06] we're going to work with our our workforce.

[14:08] I know we got representatives from our union trades here.

[14:11] I want to thank you for working with us on a daily basis,

[14:14] making sure that you give us a good workmanship,

[14:18] the reliable workmanship,

[14:20] and make sure that we can count on a finished product.

[14:22] Thank you.

[14:24] I want to thank the residents for Monmouth County

[14:27] for voting the Open Space Tax.

[14:31] Nobody wants to hear about a tax, but this is a smart tax.

[14:36] And our

[14:37] towns voted yes to continue to do that.

[14:41] So as the five of us sit there, we make sure that we're going

[14:45] to preserve the land of how Monmouth

[14:48] County was created and we'll move forward.

[14:51] Over 800 acres were secured

[14:54] this past year, with more to come.

[14:57] Now. Therefore, be it resolved

[14:59] by the Board of County Commissioners

[15:01] of the County of Monmouth, that Commissioner Thomas A.

[15:05] Arnone be and he is hereby chosen and elected

[15:08] director of the Board of County Commissioners

[15:11] of the County of Monmouth for the year 2026.

[15:14] May I have a motion?

[15:16] I'll make a motion.

[15:18] I'll second.

[15:20] Commissioner Licitra.

[15:21] Absolutely. Commissioner. Kiley.

[15:24] Yes, Commissioner.

[15:25] DiRocco. Yes,

[15:27] Commissioner Anderson. Yes,

[15:30] Commissioner Arnone. Yes.

[15:33] Please come forward and be sworn in as director.

[15:36] Whereas pursuant to N.J.S.A.

[15:39] 40:71, at each annual meeting, the Board of County Commissioner

[15:43] shell select one of its members to preside

[15:46] at any meeting in case of the absence

[15:48] or temporary disability of the director.

[15:51] And whereas the commissioners do hereby elect Commissioner

[15:55] Dominic “Nick” DiRocco to serve as Deputy Director

[15:58] for 2026, and now, therefore, be it resolved

[16:03] by the Board of County Commissioners

[16:04] of the County of Monmouth, that Commissioner Dominic DiRocco

[16:08] be and is hereby chosen and elected

[16:12] Deputy Director of the Board of County

[16:14] Commissioners of Monmouth County for the year 2026.

[16:17] May I have a motion?

[16:19] I offer that motion second.

[16:26] Commissioner.

[16:26] Licitra. Yes, Commissioner. Kiley.

[16:30] Yes, Commissioner.

[16:31] DiRocco. Abstain.

[16:34] Really? Abstain.

[16:36] Come on. Tom voted for himself.

[16:38] Yes, I did, and,

[16:40] did you not vote for yourself in the election?

[16:42] I wouldn't vote for me.

[16:46] Commissioner Anderson.

[16:47] No, no, I'm just joking.

[16:49] Yes, yes, yes,

[16:51] director or no?

[16:52] Absolutely.

[16:54] Please come forward and be sworn in as deputy.

[16:58] And in closing, on behalf of myself and the fellow,

[17:01] my fellow commissioners, I want to thank everyone.

[17:04] I want to thank you for all that you give us.

[17:07] The faith that you give us in the course of the year.

[17:09] I want to thank Pastor Vidal, Judge Lemieux

[17:13] and all the other team members that come in to help us in this.

[17:17] Thank you. Tammy. Job well done.

[17:19] And for the rest of the staff,

[17:20] buildings and grounds and everybody else

[17:22] that had a big, vital part of this.

[17:24] I want to thank everyone.

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[18:24] Welcome to the

[18:25] Veterans Corner segment of Monmouth in Focus,

[18:28] a program about the services and functions of Monmouth

[18:32] County government.

[18:33] I'm Sue Kiley, Deputy Director of the Monmouth County Board

[18:37] of County Commissioners and liaison to the Division

[18:41] of Aging, Disabilities and Veterans Services.

[18:45] Today, we will meet U.S.

[18:47] Army Vietnam War veteran Joe Casey.

[18:51] Welcome, Joe.

[18:53] I'm anxious to talk to you and thank you for your service.

[18:56] Good to see you. I have lots of questions.

[18:58] You were in West Point? Yes.

[19:01] And that's how you got involved in the military.

[19:04] For sure.

[19:04] Tell me. Tell me a little bit about that experience.

[19:06] What was it like at West Point?

[19:08] Well, you know, I was a 17.5 year old boy.

[19:12] Yeah.

[19:13] And then four years later, I became a man and an officer

[19:18] and, a soldier, with a lot of maturity.

[19:23] And I was fortunate at West Point

[19:24] to build a cadre of friends that I've maintained throughout

[19:28] life. That's great.

[19:29] Did you feel like you were ready when you graduated?

[19:32] Oh, absolutely.

[19:33] Did you really?

[19:34] Absolutely. So I'm guessing...

[19:35] Four years at West Point's plenty.

[19:37] I was just gonna say they must have put you

[19:39] through some pretty rigorous training.

[19:40] The first month was crazy.

[19:43] They call it beast barracks for a good reason.

[19:46] They treat you like a beast.

[19:47] Oh, and they wanted me out of the Corps Cadets.

[19:50] And they did their best to get me to quit.

[19:52] But I wouldn't quit. Good for you.

[19:54] You remind me of that movie.

[19:55] Which movie is that?

[19:57] It's the one where, Tom cruise says he's, he's not going to,

[20:00] you know...Tom

[20:01] Cruise and I have very little other than that in common.

[20:06] So you

[20:06] reported for duty in Alaska first

[20:09] and then volunteered to serve in the Vietnam War?

[20:13] Yeah, it's kind of a strange situation.

[20:16] I graduated June 7th, 1967,

[20:20] and after Ranger school and, infantry officers basic,

[20:25] I went up to Fairbanks, Alaska,

[20:27] which is in northern interior of Alaska,

[20:30] and it's the northern Warfare School up there.

[20:35] And we were, commissioned to make sure

[20:38] the Russians weren’t coming across the Bering Strait.

[20:41] They didn't do it when I was there.

[20:43] But it gets to be about 70 below zero.

[20:46] So extreme cold.

[20:48] But as I was there, you read the Army Times

[20:50] and you see your classmates being wounded

[20:52] or killed in action.

[20:54] And I knew my day would come soon.

[20:56] And I had just been married.

[20:59] The woman I am still married to, 56 years

[21:01] later, three children later, seven grandchildren later.

[21:04] We have a great legacy.

[21:06] And, she understood I needed to serve and move that forward.

[21:11] And I was fortunate

[21:12] to have a General on post who got me into Special Forces.

[21:16] Wow. So.

[21:17] That's, it's frightening to think about

[21:20] just because that going to war is frightening

[21:23] to think about in and of itself.

[21:25] Yeah, but you're prepared, through West Point and Ranger

[21:29] School and Airborne school.

[21:32] Okay.

[21:32] They set your mind right. Great.

[21:35] So, what, did you have specific

[21:38] responsibilities over the time you were, in Vietnam? Yes.

[21:42] When I landed in Vietnam, in Tan Son Nhut Air Base.

[21:47] It was the day they were landing on the moon.

[21:50] So that was July 20th, 1969.

[21:54] And as Apollo 11 was landing, I was landing in Vietnam.

[22:00] They had a little,

[22:01] more important mission

[22:02] than my end, but

[22:03] when I got on the ground there and they had me take over

[22:06] what's called a mobile advisory team, okay,

[22:09] which was a five man team that worked with the regional,

[22:13] popular force units of the Vietnam militia.

[22:16] And, so I worked directly with the Vietnamese.

[22:20] Wow. I just, what an amazing experience.

[22:23] You know, it's, I don't know if amazing is the right word, but.

[22:26] Well, I felt my service was very,

[22:30] resource resourceful and useful in the sense

[22:34] that I worked with the Vietnamese on medical

[22:37] situations, providing medical needs, agriculture,

[22:43] local economy, and everybody just thinks that

[22:47] everybody who served in Vietnam was in combat all the time.

[22:51] Combat was probably 5%.

[22:55] Really? Yeah.

[22:56] It's rare

[22:56] that you get into a firefight and those type of things,

[23:00] at least in the units that I was with the Vietnamese

[23:03] at that point, the popular force and regional force units

[23:07] were to defend the hamlets and villages, some local people.

[23:12] And that was part of the pacification project

[23:15] that, was evolving at that point in Vietnam.

[23:21] Great.

[23:22] I want to move to a different subject.

[23:24] I want to ask you about,

[23:26] whether or not you have any experience

[23:28] with Monmouth County’s services for veterans,

[23:32] and if so, you know, what's your feedback?

[23:34] What do you think? Are we doing a good job?

[23:37] Is there such a thing as a five star rating?

[23:40] Like a michelin rating like you would give a restaurant?

[23:44] I would give it five stars, plus I'd give it two thumbs up.

[23:47] Wow. I was fortunate that, in October of 2023,

[23:54] I had tried -

[23:55] and I'm relatively intelligent, but not technically sound

[23:58] - to try to do my VA disability compensation online.

[24:04] Okay.

[24:04] And I don't have much hair now, but I had a little

[24:08] more hair back then because I was pulling it out

[24:11] and I called the offices there and they assigned me.

[24:16] And can I mention his name? Sure.

[24:18] His name is Kenneth Frenzel,

[24:21] and he has been so valuable to me and my family because

[24:26] he's taken me step by step through the application process.

[24:30] And he's been what's called a Veteran Service Officer.

[24:34] Right.

[24:35] And if there's veterans out there

[24:36] that don't have a VSO, get yourself a VSO

[24:40] if you're interested in claiming

[24:42] some kind of disability benefits.

[24:44] We get, great feedback on Ken.

[24:47] You know, he's amazing. He loves his job.

[24:49] So it's thrilling to hear somebody

[24:51] that received the service agree.

[24:53] He's a professional.

[24:55] Yeah. He's he's just a great guy right there.

[24:59] Just another question

[25:00] about, going forward when you got home,

[25:03] what was your initial experience about being home

[25:07] and I want to ask you about advice that you would give

[25:10] to other some young men that are getting in the military

[25:13] today, based on your experience.

[25:15] Getting in the military?

[25:16] Yeah. Well, you know, being in the military.

[25:18] Yes.

[25:20] I grew up in Trenton, New Jersey,

[25:21] and I know a lot of people when they came home

[25:25] from Vietnam, they were,

[25:28] not not appreciated.

[25:33] Right.

[25:34] And some even had, words

[25:37] and, items thrown at them and all the rest.

[25:40] So that was never my situation.

[25:43] Thank God.

[25:44] I came home to people in a working class,

[25:48] blue collar neighborhood that considered me a hero.

[25:52] Actually, not that I was a hero, but I was glad to come home.

[25:57] And I had done my service for my country

[26:00] and for these people that like myself, like

[26:02] the fellow, fellows that you had on here,

[26:06] you put your life on the line for your country

[26:08] because you believe in your country

[26:10] and you believe in the things that you can do here

[26:15] freedom of religion, freedom of choice of the person

[26:19] you want to live the rest of your life with,

[26:21] freedom of education, freedom of religion, so on, so forth.

[26:25] So all those freedoms you fight for and they don't come easily.

[26:29] God that's great.

[26:30] I don't know who you think you are, but I think you're a hero.

[26:35] Well, I appreciate that.

[26:37] I really do.

[26:38] I mean, I, I think it's a huge commitment

[26:41] to want to serve your country that way.

[26:43] You know, it's not an easy thought.

[26:45] And,

[26:47] I just

[26:47] I really think you're a true

[26:48] hero for being willing to do it in the first place.

[26:51] It's really terrific. I appreciate it.

[26:53] I came home, so I was one of the lucky ones,

[26:55] 30 of my classmates did not come home.

[26:57] Oh, that's a shame.

[26:59] Oh that's sad.

[26:59] Yeah, out of the class of 580, 30 did not come home.

[27:03] Oh, man.

[27:04] Young, young wives, young children.

[27:07] And didn’t enjoy the things that I'm enjoying.

[27:10] Being married, raising a family, having a job.

[27:13] Watching your grandchildren.

[27:15] Yeah. It's the ultimate sacrifice.

[27:18] Absolutely.

[27:18] I thank you so much for being here.

[27:21] I really appreciated talking to you.

[27:23] Unfortunately, I think that's all the time we have for today.

[27:26] So we will be on next time.

[27:28] And I really appreciate you giving us your information.

[27:31] Very nice being with you. Nice to meet you too.

[27:32] Thank you for inviting me. Oh my pleasure.

Monmouth in Focus - February 2026 Edition: Organization Meeting and Veteran Joe Casey

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