Military life can be a lot of things: rewarding, empowering, life-changing. It can also be shitty, exhausting, wet, dry, hot, cold, sticky, slimy, extremely dangerous, exhausting, filled with small paychecks, huge debt, brutal training, and a whole bunch of other crap — which is where phrases like “embrace the suck” get their true meaning. There’s a certain kind of pride that comes with always being able to win the “who has it worst” contest, which is what embracing the suck is all about.