18. A device comprising: a memory to store a block of words that are generated as a result of an forward error correction operation, each word, of the block of words, including a plurality of samples, a particular one of the plurality of samples including encoded bits and reliability bits, the reliability bits identifying a level of reliability of the encoded bits; and one or more components to: obtain a word from the block of words within traffic, identify, in a random manner, a first segment of the word, the first segment including a first subset of samples of a plurality of samples associated with the word, select one or more first samples, from the first subset of samples, associated with one or more of first lowest reliability bits within the first subset of samples, identify a second segment associated with the word, the second segment including a second subset of samples of the plurality of samples associated with the word, select one or more second samples, from the second subset of samples, associated with one or more of second lowest reliability bits within the second subset of samples, identify a third segment associated with the word, the third segment including a third subset of samples of the plurality of samples associated with the word, select one or more third samples, from the third subset of samples, associated with one or more of third lowest reliability bits within the third subset of samples, identify lowest reliability bits within the one or more first lowest reliability bits, the one or more second lowest reliability bits, and the one or more third lowest reliability bits, create a merged subset of samples based on selected samples from the one or more first samples, the one or more second samples and the one or more third samples, the selected samples corresponding to the lowest reliability bits, select at least one sample from the merged subset, generate two or more candidate words based on the at least one sample, and process the word using the two or more candidate words.
19. The device of claim 18 , where, when identifying the first segment, the one or more components are to: identify a quantity of samples to be included within segments of words associated with the block of words, identify a plurality of segments, associated with the word, based on the identified quantity of samples, obtain a first random number, and select the first segment, of the identified plurality of segments, that corresponds to the first random number.