Probably the major low point was last wednesday. The day began as any other. Showed up, unloaded my uniform, lunch, and backpack out of the car and headed to the locker room where i stowed my lunch and uniform in my locker because we had PT that morning, then headed up to put my backpack upstairs in the classroom (heres where i made my fatal mistake). Our "heavy" instructor is pretty big on uniformity, and up until this point minor inconsistencies in the classroom when we weren't in there weren't a problem. That all changed that wednesday, as myself and four other people in class returned to find all four of our books had been thrown across the room and all of our papers from inside them were in a crumpled pile sitting in the middle of the aisle. Only one word comes to mind once you realize you are one of the unfortunate few that will spend the next 6 hours agonizingly separating over 5000 pages of paper and ensuring that everyone has each individual piece in the right order and that it wasn't ruined beyond use, and that word is "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK". That was quite possibly, one of the most stressful days of my life because from 9am to 3pm i sat in the back of the classroom on the floor sifting through all of the pieces of paper and picking out what i needed, and finding the homework that was in the book, and finding the pages that belonged to me because i'd written notes on them, so on and so forth. I wasn't exactly mad about my book being messed up, but what really pissed me off is that i missed almost an ENTIRE DAY of instruction even though I was still sitting in the classroom. I can understand making me do push ups, or making me go crawl around in the mulch pit, or whatever physical punishment they wish to inflict on me, but for god sakes dont screw with my opportunity to learn and ask questions. If i fail the test or screw up something majorly in a criminal investigation i can at least say it wasn't my fault, because my training was comprimised. One of my other classmates who also fell victim went and had a meeting with one of the other members of the training staff who brought it up to the Sgt, and i think its safe to say that this type of incident wont be happening again, unfortunately that doesn't change anything for the misery i endured.
The next day had its pros and cons... We showed up and took a test, all the while my stomach was churning and growling. I finished the test and went downstairs to get do some stretching before PT started at the end of the testing period, stomach still hurting. We make a decision as a class that we are going to do our formal stretching outside in front of the PT table because the SWAT team was using the room we usual stretch in. So i'm standing out there in formation waiting for everyone else to come out and for our Sgt to come lead us in PT, and my stomach finally decided it had had enough of whatever its problem was, and it was time for me to double time to the bathroom and hug the porcelain throne... So i go running in, blow right by the Sgt and do my thing in the bathroom. I'm not even done vomiting when an instructor comes in and tells me to clean it up, and get my gear and get out of the building and go home. Well thats great, now i get to make up a PT session in the future and i'm missing my second successive day of class. Fucking wonderful... So i drove home, and spent the rest of the day sitting on the couch and working on the homework for the week which freed up the weekend for me to spend time with my wonderful wife, dogs, and motorcycle.
The major high points were that i finally finished two runs with the main formation for the first time in the academy!!! It only took two months, but i finally did it!!! My knee hated me afterwards, but it builds character (or at least thats what they keep telling me...). All of the off duty running is starting to pay off, and one of the instructors had a class with those of us who suck at running to help teach us how to breathe properly and recover even when we are still running which i didn't even think was possible until i tried it yesterday on the run. Life is soooooooo much easier when you push through all of the pain and inability to breathe and finish the run. You dont end up getting punished at the end of the run and have to crawl through the mud and mulch, or spend the rest of the day in pain, and its a great sense of accomplishment to finally after all of the pain make it to the end with your team. In total so far i've lost 24lbs since january 3rd, and i have no intention of stopping until i get back down to the weight i was when i left the Marines which with another 5 months of academy time i dont forsee a problem getting there, and maybe even better.
essentially when you fight the redman things can go really well, or they can go disastrously bad, it all depends on how well you can defuse a situation. sometimes no matter what you do, you're gonna have to go hands on and get dirty, but either way i'm really looking forward to it. On the other hand, i'm really NOT looking forward to getting pepper sprayed at some point. I'm gonna try and get videos of both my redman fights and me getting pepper sprayed for you all to enjoy. Thats all ive got for now, keep checking back the fun stuff is just starting to begin!!!
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