Avatar The Last Airbender S2 Episode 9 REACTION

This is super late but I just wanted to chime in as an Iroh stan.  I grew up watching this show, and I also grew up without a dad.  Iroh taught me what it meant to be not just a man, but a good man.  He taught me the value of hard work, of responsibility, and of standing up for those that cannot do so for themselves.  I know it sounds super corny to say this, I don't really care - Iroh will always be my dad.

I don't think Iroh studying the Water Benders was necessarily him training alongside them. Their nations have been at war for 100 years, started by his grandfather. There's no world where they casually trained together, more likely, those were his observations whilst at war. A lot of historical documentation comes from army officers of varying ranks describing their foreign allies and enemies.