One week down, 11 more to go...

Well, I have made it through one measly week of ALETA, and it was quite possibly the longest week of my life. It really wasn't that bad, though...they run the school kind of quasi-military style, which means doing stuff like wearing BDU pants and combat boots along with issued ALETA shirts, name badges, hats outdoors (and they are SEXY, let me tell you), and lining up for formation at the flag every morning and evening. Plus, morning PT. Morning PT sucks...we start at 5:15 in the gym for excercises and then running. The physical exertion itself isn't hard at all, but it the getting up at 4:45 am that's getting me. However, they say it's going to get tougher...we'll see. Right now I'm #2 in PT scores in the whole class. That's not saying much - I am in the 30+ age group now! I do hope to keep the spot, though. As far as the academic part, this week has been pretty darn easy. My biggest obstacle was staying awake in class...a problem I've never had before - not even in college. The problem is that even though it's new and good information, it's presented at about a 5th grade level. During the "Testifying in Court" class, I actually fell forward hit my forehead on my book and woke myself up...which means I got lucky by not getting caught sleeping. Classes should get more exciting as the weeks progress, though, since we'll be delving deeper into real cop work.

Park people are all doing extremely well. First, though, you have to consider that the qualifications for most police officers are to be 21 and have a high school education, while the quals for any park law enforcement position are not only a college degree but also a halfway decent level of competency and a high degree of professionalism. Those latter two seem to be lacking from a LOT of prospective officers at ALETA. I guess I have to look back at myself in my early 20's...I don't remember myself having ANY professionalism and very little in the way of common sense. :) So, I guess some of the behavior is pretty understandable.

Room accomodations are pretty much dorm-like, with the biggest downfall being that 8 women have to share TWO showers. And there's not much privacy as far as the showers go. Kendra and I lucked out - we're roomies! It makes it a LOT better when you're rooming with a good friend as opposed to a total stranger. On top of that, we're in the same squad along with Travis. I can't imagine going through this thing alone.

I can't believe I already have to report back tomorrow, but it does feel good to have one week out of the way. All of the anxiety of not knowing what to expect is gone, and now I'm much more relaxed and actually enjoying learning new stuff. Marden is doing pretty good on his own during the week taking care of the house and the dogs and cats. It stinks being away during the week, but we both know it's necessary and he's very supportive.

Starting Monday we are at the firing range all week, which I'm really looking forward to. We have to shoot 2 qualifying rounds in one day with our duty weapons to "qualify", which is necessary for graduation. But, we have 4 chances per day and until Friday to do it in.

Well, I hope by next weekend I will have qualified with flying colors. Also, I hope not to be quite as worn out, and I can talk about some of the really funny things happening down there. Like the farting during morning PT...the little romances that seem to be blooming between students...the food...the idiots making it pubically known that they are idiots. Speaking of idiots, the instuctors told us that it was optional to wear our bulletproof vests at the range. YOU'D BETTER BELIEVE I'M WEARING MINE!!!