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Trying to focus on the task at hand. Still wrestling with my Duke and Yale apps, but for the most part, I’m not worried too much. It is with that sense that I’m trying to avoid too much energy squandered there.

We had a saying before going outside the wire in-country. The [Platoon Sergeant] would remind us to

“get your mind right”

I have no idea what this entailed for the most part. I am finding value in it though, with a slight change. In the next several days before heading to Iraq, I’m hoping, instead, to “get my heart right,” by reflecting and decompressing. Got some good music lined up, a good reading list, and I’m focusing on maximizing this experience for the positive.

A view from the San Bernardino mountains, near where my dad lives, on January 5th.