Yes, it sounds real fun, but it isn't what you might think. After Monday, the rest of the week was mainly classroom stuff. Pretty boring. I kind of like the PT at the end of the day because it give me energy for the evening. If we don't PT, I just want to go home and crash after 8 hours in the classroom. So, Friday, they took us out the the WPD SGSO (sheriff) range out at Lake Afton. This is where SWAT does all their PT training. Most people driving by have probably never seen it, but there is a huge obstacle course behind the shooting burm. It has about 10 obstacles. First, me and my partner (I picked one of the bulky guys), had to go over a privacy fence high gate. Then, you have to jump a chain link fence; climb 3 rungs to a window, go thru and climb down the other side; run thru a cement culvert; then there was a 4 ft wall; then was the worst thing on the course, it's hard to explain but the top level you had to jump to was about 8ft off the ground. Doesn't sound too high, but when you are jumping horizontally to the next rung...it's high. I got a nice abrasion from that obstacle. Then we had 3 low step logs to go over, they are about knee high. I did pretty well with those because I have long legs, so I was able to just bounce right thru them. Then was the dreaded monkey bars. I couldn't do them in middle school and I can't do them now. Next was a couple long balance beams at a couple different heights. Not too easy with 25 MPH winds. Then we had to climb up about 4 rungs that were about 10-15 ft high. Get over and climb down. The last obstacle was about 6 stumps at different heights that we had to bound over. Then we went for a jog around the lake to the south end where the dam was. We did some sprints up and down the dam. Then we jogged back around to the swimming area on the west side of the lake. We got in 2-row formation in the water. I formed up in the back row first. Then, they went along pushing the person in the front row and we had to catch them. I got a skinny guy and I only dipped him in the water once. Then when I got on the front row, they never pushed me. So, he never had to catch me. Then we did some push-ups. In the water, they aren't that bad. Then we had to run out and around some of our fellow recruits that were out further in the water. Then we had a nice easy, soggy run back to the range. At the range, we had to do some push-ups, flutter kicks, and pull ups (I can't do pull ups). Then we had to lunge about 50 yds. That was it. I personally didn't think it was too bad. I had a good time. They talked it up like it was going to be hell. We have our first test Monday. We have study groups set up today and tomorrow for everyone. Hopefully with some teamwork everyone will do good on the test Monday. At the study group today, we are not only going to study, but we are also going to learn how to polish our shoes and iron nice lines in our uniforms. We get to wear our blues on Monday. I'll make sure I get a picture so I can post it up. The blues aren't too exciting. They will be more interesting looking when we have our vests and duty belts strapped on.
On another note, Friday got police radios to take home for the duration of the academy. I listened to mine most of the night Friday. I turned it off at about 11:15 to go to bed. Andy called me at 1:30 a.m. to see if I had been listening when the Officer Down call came out at 11:30 p.m. He wanted to let me know it wasn't one of our friends from the West side. I missed it by 15 min. I guess a west side WPD officer was checking a suspicious character and the guy pulled a gun and shot him. Luckily, he only got shot in the leg and he is going to recover. The suspect however, ran a ways down the street then turned the gun on himself. He died early this morning. Andy said it took 9 seconds for it to go from a suspicious character call to an officer down call. I am sure this is something that will be discussed in length on Monday in class.
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