After I stepped out of the simulator, the recruits no longer looked at the raven patch the same way. It had become a symbol of experience rather than mystery. Even Lieutenant Commander Thorne had little left to say. He didn’t offer an apology, but he stepped aside and allowed the truth to speak for itself. As I returned to my tablet and finished the maintenance report I had started earlier that morning, I remembered advice my father once gave me: never waste time trying to convince loud people of your worth. Let your work speak for you. That day, it did. And when the tower cleared “Raven” before everyone else, the lesson became impossible for anyone in that hangar to ignore.