 I personally never heard of CIOR until I received an invite to try out, but I quickly learned in my first year that CIOR is more than just a competition. These events allowed me to create new relationships, work on leadership skills, train with our allies, and get a better understanding of international, political, military, economic, and even cultural issues in a very immersive international setting. You hear time and time again that iron sharpens iron, but when you get in the room with Team USA and other nations and you see the caliber of people you're amongst, it's an amazing feeling. I mean that starts day one entering training camp and just seeing the distinguished staff who dedicate their time and expertise to train and select the best to represent Team USA. You're training and you're competing alongside other countries and everyone's eager to share their best practices and cheer each other on. I won't ever forget the adrenaline rush. Getting up on the starting block to a swim and hearing the chants for USA just echo throughout the building. You're up on the starting block, heart-gracing, and then the whistle goes off and you hit the water. And for a split second, just complete silence. And then breaking out of the water, hitting that first obstacle and again just hearing the roar of USA being chanted by everyone is truly something I'll never forget and just awe-inspiring.