Back from the Dead

Done at last. After 10 weeks of studying, lots of physical training, firearms, defensive tactics, and emergency vehicle driving, I graduated. I report Monday for my first day on the job. Maddox was screaming throughout the whole graduation ceremony. That is why I have not posted very much of anything or commented on other stuff. But when you are waking up at 430 every morning and not getting home until 6 at night with studying and papers to write, you do not have time for anything else. I still have a fair amount of bruises from learning take downs and pain compliance techniques and that was Tuesday of last week.









In case you can't tell already from the other pictures, yes, I have shaved my head. And yes, Kerri absolutely hates it. She is making me sleep in the guest bedroom until it grows back. Marriage is great, other than that. Just kidding, but Kerri really does think I am ugly with a shaved head. She keeps muttering "nasty moles" and looking at my head.







I had a ton of fun at the Academy. There was a lot of yelling, in your face drill instructors for the first 4 or 5 weeks to weed out the losers but it was a great experience. I learned a great deal and I am ready as I will ever be to patrol the streets.












This was the most fun portion of the emergency driving course that we had to take. The others were braking and swerving, a skid pad that included a huge Teflon coated area with sprinklers to practice regaining control, and taking 2 and 4 wheels off the road(a six inch curb) and back on while going 45, 55, and 65 mph. All of these things were completed driving crown vics with roll cages and helmets but the one pictured was the cone course. 893 cones make up the straight lines the we have to drive through. These cones, when driving in the middle, were about 12 to 16 inches wider that the actual car. Where the lines are dashed, you are driving in reverse. The whole course is 1/4 mile long and you have to complete the course in a time between 2 minutes and 45 seconds and 3 minutes and 30 seconds without touching a cone. And right there in the beginning is parallel parking on both sides. It was a lot of fun driving like a maniac and trying to avoid cones. If you don't pass, you can't graduate. More later.