"<strong>Oh, ha ha, I get it...make fun of the girl, sure! Fine, be pessimistic over there, see where that'll get ya. Me, I'm a realist and realistically, no mission is a suicide mission if I'm involved...except for the other side.</strong>" Anna replied with no shortage of ego, bravado and cockyness, lightening up a little bit. What Derrick said rang true, the only difference being her priorities were the mission and her teammates, not herself. Selflessness is a core pillar of SEAL training, easily the most intense in the world. It is impossible to pass without throwing your shoulder into every challenge like your life depended on it and carrying a teammate with you as you did so. The thing that set BUD/S apart was that the next day, it would be the man or woman you carried who was carrying you through when your body literally shut down. In Hell Week, Anna remembered clearly the 97 HOURS without sleep, constant physical and mental activity, and added with the December chill of the Pacific at 0200 in the morning, combined with screaming DI's and sore bones, muscles and everything else... the miracle laid not that she passed, but she lived through it.<br/><br/>A particularly painful moment flashed back in Anna's mind, where she'd been in the ocean for almost 4 hours, and her entire body was numb. Her mind was drifting and, to be honest, she was losing consciousness. She was locked arms with two of her fellow trainees and none of them were making much noise. The waves clashing on the rocks, and beach around them coupled by the drowning silence as the water rushed over their heads in vicious waves fell into a quiet rythem. Soon, Anna attached it to an old folk song she'd learned in Texas written during the Civil War to keep wounded men occupied, bloodied and broken, but their spirits high. Eventually she'd started singing it without noticing, and a few others picked it up. Soon, the entire class of 21 remaining recruits were singing along.<br/><br/>Just as Anna was about to offer another surely pointless response to the suicide mission talk, the doors opened yet again and Anna stiffled a quiet laugh as a young woman walked in. "<strong>Petty Officer Hackett</strong>" Anna nodded as she sat against her chair. "<strong>..pleasure to meet you.</strong>"