 Chief Warrant Officer 2, Nicholas Lavery, N-I-C-H-O-L-A-S-L-A-V as in vector, E-R-Y. I am the company operations warrant for the advanced skills company within 5th Special Forces Group. So I was asked to come over as part of the Rescue Ops conference here in Spain to share some of my experiences and some of my lessons learned. Anytime we have the opportunity to engage with our allies and strategic partners, there's mutually beneficial value that exists. So to be asked to come over and be a part of something like this is incredibly humbling and it's an honor to be able to represent our regiment. Today's engagement, I'll focus on some of my experiences in Afghanistan being wounded in action multiple times and then some of that journey to earn my spot back onto the detachment. And then on the back end of that share some of the mentality aspects of the mindset in which I employed in order to do that. And while this is an event that has a lot of the same individuals and organizations, military, law enforcement first responders, there are some things that really transcend all industry and having that warrior mindset to enable goal accomplishment is one of those things. So there's already a lot of excitement about our time that I get to spend with these individuals. So I'm eager to be able to share some of that with this group. I'd say there's really three layers to the answer to the why question. On the periphery, I'm stubborn, I'm competitive. As much as I need to win, I really hate to lose more. So the idea of anybody dictating my future other than me just didn't sit well with me. Going a layer deeper than that in one word is passion. I love what I do. I consider it to be amongst the greatest honors a person can take on to pledge an allegiance to a society in which we will defend at all costs. The only is that something I take very seriously, I love it and I consider it an honor and a privilege. So I love what I do. At the core, you go a little deeper than that in one word is purpose. I have a deep sense of purpose behind what it is I do. And you can define purpose as doing something that creates an impact on others. I am fortunate to have found my calling relatively early in life. There's a meaning behind what I do. So the idea of doing something else really never crossed my mind because I know I was put on this planet to do something, to fulfill a purpose. And therefore there simply was not a plan B. As I said before, some things transcend industry, language, and culture. And being able to create that connection which then creates a following on impact with others has become quite addicting for me. It's an unusual place for me to be. I've lived this quiet professional mentality since even before I enlisted into the military. You come into the United States Army of Special Forces and that's part of who we are. It's a motto that we live by. One that I do believe in. So in a lot of ways it's wildly outside of my comfort zone. Outside of who I am, being on a stage with a spotlight on me, sometimes literally a microphone in my hand. It's an unusual place for me to be. And even though it's uncultable for me, having seen the value that it brings and the effect that it creates, that is something that I now feel the need to continue to do. So it's an honor. It's incredibly humbling. It will almost always be weird for me to be in that position. But it's one that I've seen the effect of and it's one that I think is worth continuing even though it's something that I don't particularly enjoy. The effect is something that I now need.