I've had that line in my head for hours now. I still have many hours to go, and figured I should give all the advice I can while I'm waiting for the next shift to arrive. This is gonna be a bit of a ramble, and I don't know if any of this will be useful, but hopefully it is.

Everyone needs to prepare themselves for when they get out of the Army. Maybe you just don't like it, maybe something happens and you've gotta leave. Everyone leaves the Army some day, so you should be doing everything you can to prepare for life on the outside. Don't worry too much about the specifics if you're unsure of what you want to do. The great thing about the Army is that the job stability gives you a forgiving environment to fuck around and find out what you like and what you may be interested in on the outside. Use your TA/CA ASAP. That's free money that would otherwise go wasted if you don't use it. On the flip side, don't feel guilty if you aren't moving at the pace that others are moving at. Maybe you've gotta knock out some certifications or an Associate's before you move onto your Bachelor's or Master's. Whatever you do, just don't stop moving.

Value your time. The Army's gonna take as much of your time as it wants. A lot of it isn't gonna be up to you, but enjoy the time you get outside the Army. Go take a break, get out and do shit. Tune out of the Army and leave tomorrow's work for tomorrow. If you let the Army encroach on your personal time, then you're gonna burn out and hate life. It fucking sucks and I don't recommend it. I highly recommend getting out of the house and off post if possible, it really helps me to put the Army behind for a bit and not worry about stupid stuff. "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

While I'm thinking of worry, don't worry about things you can't control. I know it's not easy, but if you can forget about those things then life gets better. The way I see it is that if there's something bad coming up and you can't do anything about it, then why worry? Not only are you dealing with the bad thing, you're dealing with all the shitry worrying too. The worry isn't gonna make it any better, so try not to waste your time with it.

Take notes, and train up your peers as much as possible, especially if you're in a technical field. Sometimes people take leave, have appointments, have staff duty (hi), or PCS/ETS. Take notes and train up your peers so people can cover down when there's a vacancy. It'll make life so much better when everyone's equally capable and you're working without all your peeps.

Use failure as an opportunity for growth. You're gonna fail sometimes. Sometimes you'll know why, sometimes you won't. Either way, the best way to work with failure is to try something new. Some people are gonna be fucking dickheads when you fail. Ignore them. If they aren't being helpful, they aren't worth listening to. You just need to adjust fire and shoot again. If you're stuck, ask for help. Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign that you want to better yourself to do more for the people around you. If for whatever reason you can't get help from the people around you, try finding other communities nearby or online. There's lots of helpful people pit there, and we're stronger when we come together as a team.

Look out for eachother. Sometimes the best leadership isn't the people above you, it's the people right next to you. I forgot the person's name, but that soldier that brought their guy in for coffee and lunch is a great leader. The guy who suggested going into the barracks and hanging out with your close subordinates to get to know them more casually is a good leader. It can be really hard to get to know your people when you only see them at work. If they're willing, get to know eachother off duty, or in the field. Personally I'm really introverted, so I don't really talk to people outside of work, but I know that in the field I really connect with people. Enjoy the small moments where you can really connect with eachother not as coworkers but as humans.

Enjoy the small moments in general. Life can be stupid for no reason sometimes, but rarely is everything stupid all at the same time. Appreciate the little things like playing music in your car before PT or on the way to work. Appreciate the weather if it's nice. Enjoy the days that seem to fly by. They're easy to miss, but once you start to notice the little good things then I think you can get the ball rolling to make life a little better every day.

That's all I can really think of for now, hopefully y'all got something good out of it. Not to toot my own horn but it's helped me more than hunting icebergs or whatever they're trying to teach with MRT. Those classes beat work though, that's a little thing to enjoy.

I'll have 20 nuggies and a coke, thank you.