 So often, we're told what we can't do, what we shouldn't do. Sitting in a classroom in first grade, my hand shot up when the teacher asked for five strong volunteers to stack chairs. When she saw my hand, she laughed and said it was a boy's job, not for girls. If we let others impose limits on us, we let ourselves be conquered by defeat, because defeat lies in the cracks of comfort and status quo. Growth is found only through pain and sacrifice. And we all have a point at which we stop, we back off. It could be a rainy day, getting out of bed in the morning, it could be pressure, fatigue. It doesn't matter how determined or what ambition or how much we want to get there, we will all break. What breeds strength is turning that break into a breakthrough, not a breakdown. Strength is about having weaknesses and making yourself vulnerable to them every day, delving deep into situations that exploit them, because your weaknesses will be screaming at you during your workouts. On a three hour ruck, you will have 10,800 seconds where your muscles ache, you have to strain to get air to your lungs, your heart is beating out of your chest, and it takes only one second to quit, only one. If you do not know how to be in pain, embrace it, you will quit every time. So why do I train this hard? It's in the creed. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. And I refuse to accept mediocrity. I am not afraid to shatter glass ceilings and see the doubt that shatters with it, because I dare to fail, I dare to sacrifice, I dare to do something great. My name is Corporal Kristen Ray.