Tulsi Gabbard

There's a whole long story we don't have time for right now about how the water was diverted away from a side of the island that used to be very lush and diverted away at the top of the mountain to irrigate the plantation fields on a different side of the island.

And so...

land that used to be very lush is now very, very, very dry.

Every single summer there are brush fires that break out.

Firefighters are very busy often.

They're able to put them out in time, but the convergence of the brush fires with these hurricane speed winds funneling through the valley essentially turned this situation into what they described as a horizontal blowtorch

that then went directly across that side of the island and within minutes, raising everything that was in its path.

I haven't been following it too closely.

I saw the video they put out about how they donated $10 million and then they were asking everybody else to give money.

I'll just let that speak for itself.

Let me first just say that I've never thought of politics as a career, period.

My constant assessment and reflection for myself and my life is where and how can I best be of service.

We talked about how I was elected to the state legislature.

I was campaigning for reelection after my first term, which was two years when I was in the National Guard, enlisted because of 9-11, like a lot of people.

Our brigade combat team was activated for deployment to Iraq.

It was going to be an 18-month-long deployment.

I was in a headquarters medical unit and was not on the mandatory deployment roster.

I called my commander and said, there's no way you guys are going without me.

There's no way I'm staying home.

It took some work to make him know that I meant what I said.