Academy Update

Reb Cpl wrote: USAF.....how are you making out?

Edited by usafpilot07 - 31 January 2013 at 6:18pm

impulse418 wrote: Are you guys required to ride the tazer? If so please take video for us. Oh and the OC exposure.

Tazer training is something that a department decides to send people to, and you don't get it in the academies. Our OC comes in April or May, I'm not sure.

Our 'slacker' seems to be completely oblivious to the fact that he's a screw up. He's really non-confrontational, and bounces along with everything with sort of a detached indifference that has me actually concerned for his mental capacities. Nobody in the class can picture this guy as a police officer, and there's not enough training in the world that can change it. 

I don't think we do it in the academy, but the agility tests for different counties or agencies may incorporate something like that.

usafpilot07 wrote: impulse418 wrote: Are you guys required to ride the tazer? If so please take video for us. Oh and the OC exposure. I won't ride the lightning until I get back to my hiring agency. The cartridges are $80 a pop + the cost for the instruction, so most melting pot academies don't offer it here.  I will get CS/OS certified in April though. I'll upload the video when I get it.

usafpilot07 wrote: StormyKnight wrote: usafpilot07 wrote: impulse418 wrote: Are you guys required to ride the tazer? If so please take video for us. Oh and the OC exposure. I won't ride the lightning until I get back to my hiring agency. The cartridges are $80 a pop + the cost for the instruction, so most melting pot academies don't offer it here.  I will get CS/OS certified in April though. I'll upload the video when I get it. They shouldn't have to actually hit you with it unless you want to.  Only one person was selected to take the barbs.  The rest of us had the alligator clips attached to the shoulder and hip for the ride. It's not required in NC either, but most everyone does for 2 reasons.(here, at least) 1. The DAs that teach a couple of our classes highly suggest it. They claim, whether correctly or not, that having experienced it first hand can be an extremely effective defense if we ever shoot someone that takes our taser/has one of their own. 2. No one wants to be "that guy" who didn't do it in front of their coworkers.

We started SCAT today. Or, yesterday really, but we started on the mats today. 8 hours of strikes/pressure points/stuns and then an hour of penalty PT and I'm about dead.

usafpilot07 wrote: We started SCAT today. Or, yesterday really, but we started on the mats today. 8 hours of strikes/pressure points/stuns and then an hour of penalty PT and I'm about dead. Also, I died in PT today to create additional weight during the last half mile(we were already rotating people through on a litter). I would have rather been suffering through the PT than having to be carried by people. That SUCKS. We lost another yesterday to tests. Still not the worthless girl though. Still time.

They sprung another benchmark PT test on us last night after 3 hours of Procedural law classroom stuff.

Whilst changing for the test, I came to a realization.

I turn 30 three months before graduation, which lowers the bar for me for the PT test a bit. I no longer have to make the run in 11:59, but 12:24.
This never dawned on me, but I still plan on training for the lower bracket- especially after I made it 11:02 last night....which sort of took me by surprise.

We're up to 4 people who are bringing us down. Two are academic, so we don't get a lot of punishment for that, but the other two STILL show up late, forget paperwork, and generally screw up, and we pay for that....damn near every night.
The one major screw up was called out the other day by the instructors right in front of the rest of the class.

"Recruit <Name>, who sucks at everything else he does, and is the weakest one here managed to pass the PT test."

He's killing us, and he has no idea. The academy directors told our platoon leader that he needs to convince this screw up to quit. There's nobody in the platoon that would feel safe having this guy show up as backup, and nobody wants to pair with him when we do the physical stuff.

Reb and USAF, I think you guys need to simply start refusing to use these sad-sacks names and start calling them what they are. "dead weight" "gold bricker" "flunkie" or simple start calling them "Sobel" and refer them to the mutiny that took place in E company 501st PIR over the man of that name.

usafpilot07 wrote: I'll take whatever PT beatings I need to if it means no officer will ever have his/her life on the line with this recruit as their backup.

That's one way to look at it.
Our guy was ordered to keep a small notebook in his pocket for some reason, I didn't hear what it was exactly- but nobody else has to. It may be for the DIs to keep track of his list of screw ups..

Anyway, he it it for ONE DAY....and washed it with his uniform.
Then came to inspection with the washed up notebook still in his pocket- having made no effort to replace it with a new one.

And a month in, one of our other clowns didn't have her boots TIED.

I got ripped yesterday for my cover, the inside of the lining was 'frayed' and I was told it was the most 'unsatisfactory' in the platoon, and  it was thrown on the floor. Then the DI moved to the guy next to me, found a real problem with his cover...and he came back and APOLOGIZED to me- saying that mine actually wasn't so bad.

We did manage to impress them with the results of our surprise PT exam monday night. 2/3 of the class passed all three components, and everyone improved their run time. They actually complimented us on it, and for one, the Director's address at the end of the night wasn't "Get your crap together you morons."

Progress is a wonderful thing, and I'm starting to enjoy it. All of it.