They teach you.
They train you.
They prepare you in every way they know how.
Breath in.
Lower your heart rate.
Breath out.
Squeeze the trigger.
But nothing they do will ever prepare you for the aftermath of taking your first life.
Thoughts from the Front
My life is a battlefield and these are my thoughts.
Thoughts from the Front 
A chilling prospect and I’m sure you know from first hand experience. (May want to correct type-o in third line.)
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I really like the way this reads as instructional steps to take. There’s a lot of tension. I read “breath” as “breathe” the first time I read it and I thought your choice to make it a noun was interesting.
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As I wrote it, I had the choice of writing it as a sequence of events or as a quasi-memoir. It comes across more as a process, accentuating the training portion, versus breathe which would be more the internal way of thinking about it. Not sure if that clarified or made it more confusing.
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I gotcha, I think. You wanted a command (Take a breath in) as opposed to a meditation (Breathe! You are alive!). Really thoughtful choice, Todd!
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Yes, exactly.
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Very chilling. But does the first feel any different then the next?
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If you are lucky. The scary part is when you stop feeling at all.
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Wow. I like the way you laid this out, slowly but steadily leading us to where you wanted to leave us. Made me pause and think.
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WOW, that was chilling and utterly brilliant!
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Really chilling and thoughtful. Great take.
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Ironically, I was just thinking about this very thing yesterday (my dad was in vietnam). I can’t imagine they could ever prepare you for something like that. Chilling!
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Great contrast between punchy instructions and feeling. Such a true and clear message – no amount of physical or mental preparation can be enough.
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Very well done. I loved the choice of “breath” instead of “breathe.”
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