Week Nine

The highlight of week nine was absolutely the physical challenge, the Yellow Brick Road (YBR). The YBR is a 6.2 mile or so run which includes about 2 1/2 miles of trails running through the Marine Corp Endurance Course (E Course).  We were divided into our normal sections (I'm in section 4) and driven by bus to the beginning of the E Course.  I had a blast as it was a lot of fun.  Several sections started around 9 am about 10 min apart.  This is done to keep people from having to wait too long in line for the obstacles.  My section was started dead last and it was almost 10 am before we began.  The E course is like a "goat trail" through the woods and was fun to run with section members.  The trail takes you up and down, across creeks and mud holes.  There are several obstacles set up along the way including a 12 foot wall, a couple of windows, and about six rope climbs. The cargo net that Jody Foster climbed in the opening scene of the movie "Silence of the Lambs" is near the end of the E course (parts of the movie were filmed there and on the FBI Academy Campus).  When you complete the E Course section of the run, you get back on Application Trail and run the 3 1/2 miles back to the FBI Academy.  There is one awful hill on the Application Trail that I have heard people refer to as "graduation hill". It is straight up and about 100 yards long. I heard a couple of people joke that we needed a rope to help get up that one too.  It wasn't quit that bad but I did walk most of the way up it to conserve my energy for the remaining 2 1/2 miles to the finish.  When I got to the finish line there were about 150 people standing in the road cheering me (and everyone else) on.  My main goals was to finish strong and not be the last person across the finish line.  I accomplished both goals.  The  coveted "Yellow Brick" is now mine for all times.  Yes, it was really that important to me.

Photo of me on one of the rope climbs, it was a lot steeper then it looks. 

My victory photo at the end!!!! 

There were several other things going on during week nine.  A group of about 30 of us attempted a trip to a Washington Nationals Baseball game.  We fought traffic, only to be informed that the game was officially rained out when we got there.  It rained sideways all the way there so it wasn't unexpected. I also signed up for a trip to see the Marine Corp Helicopter Unit responsible for flying the President around.  They were great, very hospitable. We got to look at the helicopters and even climb inside and look around.  

Classes are winding down now and a couple of mine are actually over.  Week Ten will only have two days of class work, Monday and Tuesday and the rest of the week we will be preparing for graduation which is at 10 am on Friday.  "Yellow Bricks" will be awarded on Wednesday morning (more about that later).  As far as course work goes, I have two tests left and one group presentation.  I still have one Fitness class left. We will do an exit test just like the one we did the first day of class.  We will be timed one last time on our mile run and the normal push-ups ect. I almost hate to see it end, but I am really ready to go home for good.    

Week Eight

I'm still behind on my blog. As of today week nine is over. Week eight was a blur. Most of my papers had already been turned in and I had a couple of presentations that week.  I really enjoyed my Violent Crime class.  Our instructor had sent us an email a couple of weeks before class began asking that we bring a case file from our agency with the intent that each student would present the case to the class.  I brought a homicide case that my agency investigated in 2007.  That is the only class that I took that required a personal presentation.  Most of my classes required some type of group presentation.  I only have one group presentation left.  My group in my Forensic class will be presenting another one of my cases to the class tomorrow. My Forensic class has been another good class.  I would recommend  it to anyone who oversees an Investigative unit.  Basically, we got an in-depth look at what forensic services are available by the FBI. The instructor was awesome, and really knows his stuff.    

Week Eight's physical challenge was a five mile run with a time limit.  The run started at the track, we ran down the street and out of the academy campus onto the Marine Corp base for about a mile then onto Application Trail.  It is a Marine trail / tank road. We ran onto another trail thru the woods and back onto the roadway for the last mile or so and ended up back at the track on the FBI Academy.  The time limit for the run was 80 minutes. You had to pass that to be eligible to run the Yellow Brick Road.  Everyone made it in the time limit.  Some were close but all made it in time.  My time was 63 minutes. Not really that fast but I was very happy with the time.  We have been blessed with comfortable weather during our time here but that day was very hot and absolutely the hottest day we have seen so far.  It was over 90 degrees which doesn't seem bad until you compare it to the 75 degree weather that we had become accustomed to.  I could really tell a difference in how the heat affected me.  

Our Wednesday afternoon enrichment speaker was Trooper Bobby Smith.  Trooper Smith is a retired Louisiana State Trooper who lost his sight when he was shot in the head by a suspect on a traffic stop in 1986.  Trooper Smith told his story and gave a very inspirational talk about overcoming obstacles and losses in life.  He was probably the best enrichment speaker that we had the entire time.

Trooper Bobby Smith

Week Seven

I am behind as usual on my blog! Week seven was a good week. Our classes were going well and there was a lot of last minute projects being finished up. The fitness challenge was called the winged Monkey Assault. 

It was a 30-minute circuit on the track where you ran from station to station and completed various exercises.  

Wednesday night was International night.  The International students set up tables with various items from their home countries.  There were various foods and drinks.  It was a great event and most everyone enjoyed themselves.  It was the beginning to an interesting night in the Boardroom. Several people participated in karaoke which a blast to watch.  

The next day was interesting as well.  It was easy to tell who participated more than others in the events of the night before.  My Leadership teacher taught a class on self relaxation. I enjoyed that and learned a lot. On to week eight. It is true that things start moving faster by week eight.

Sixth Week!!! and counting

The sixth week was National Police Memorial Week and was a blur!  I met my family in Roanoke VA which is half way on Sunday, Mother's Day!! I did not make it home that week end because of the DC 5K!  It was nice to spend time with my children and I am lucky that they wanted to meet me half way! They took me to the Olive Garden for lunch!  Courtney brought me some beautiful tulips which she knows is my favorite flowers!!!!

Whitney made me a cake and I took it back with me.  Britney and Ken were happy to see me and they all took me shopping!  It was hard to leave them but I was happy that they drove to meet me! 

Monday night, the entire NA class, (253) was put on a bus and driven to Washington DC for the National Police Memorial Candle Light Vigil. It was awesome and an experience that I will never forget! 

Notice the "Thin Blue Line" in the sky in the above photo!!!

I got cold and woke up the next morning with a head cold that kicked my rear end for about three days.  I wanted to nap all the time, during lunch, on class breaks, and any free time!  It made the week's PT challenge that much more difficult.  It was a cardio mixer. There was about two miles of running with different exercise stations mixed in (lunges, push-ups, etc). I found the down hill bear crawl the most challenging and lost most of my time on that event because my nose continually ran. I'm feeling much better now and my cold was no big deal compared to some others. Several people have been sick.  One classmate, Tony (from Knoxville, who is a friend) got pneumonia during week six and was in the hospital for a few days.  He has returned to class now.

The silent auction was Wednesday night! It was a lot of fun! The group raised over $11,000 for charity. Thursday was "Cop's Kids" Day! This is a great organization that offers support to children of fallen officers across the country.  A group of kids who had a law enforcement parent killed in the line of duty came to the FBI Academy for a day of fun!!! There were several activities for them and we spent the entire day spending time with them.  

Class has been going well. I have learned a lot.  I still have a few papers and projects to finish up but hope to stay on track with that.  I was given permission to miss class on Friday! My middle daughter, Whitney graduated from High School on Friday afternoon, so I drove home after the Cop's Kids event on Thursday.  I am at home now and enjoying a long weekend with my family.  It's hard to believe that Monday is the beginning of week seven.  There are only four weeks left to go and really only three weeks left of classes and PT.  We will wrap up the "Yellow Brick Road" challenge during week nine!

The Graduate: Whitney 

All three of my girls, Courtney, Whitney, and Britney!!!

Courtney the oldest, and Whitney!

Britney!

Fifth week

Everyone says that around the fifth week things start moving fast. As slow as things went the first two weeks, I really found that hard to believe. The fact is that it is now the beginning of the seventh week and I have been so busy that I am way behind with my updates.  During the fifth week we had a very interesting speaker, General Henry Hugh Shelton. He was one of the best so far.  

Our PT challenge during week five was a 5k run around the FBI Academy campus.  I was happy with my time, 35:27.  I know that is a little slow but it was my best time so far.  I did beat that time, however on that following Saturday when a group of us signed up and ran the National Police Week 5K in Washington DC. My time in that run was 34:07. It was awesome. We started at the Police Officer's Memorial and ran through the streets of DC. We ran in front of the Capital Building and it was a very fun event. 

This is a photo of the NA team:

This is a photo of me and my room mate prior to the run, she ran off and left me during the race by the way!  She is very fast.

This me right after the race. I had a lot of fun and would love to take my daughter, Whitney up there next year to run it again! She wanted to be there so bad! She is my running buddy and I missed her!

Fourth Week!!!

The fourth week is well on its way to being over! Yesterday was challenge day. The fourth week physical challenge was called "The Cyclone". It was a circuit challenge where all 218 people moved from station to station as the bell sounded. There were five stations in total. For example there was a push-up with knee touches station then a lunge station etc. We had to do each exercise for 45 sec and move to the next station. The challenge only lasted for 20 minutes but I was sweat soaked by the end of it. I would rather run!!!!

We had another enrichment speaker yesterday afternoon. The day flew by. Some of the other girls and I escaped for a couple of hours during our free time yesterday. We did some shopping and had some Chick Fil a!! It was a nice change of pace.

I am still working on a couple of major projects. Hope to have all of that finished soon. About 115 people are taking the New York City trip this week end. I did not sign up for it mostly because I have been to the city before and the trip was $600. I could not bring myself to spend that kind of money. I know that it will be a wonderful opportunity for those that are going.

Third Week

I am almost through the third week of training and things are starting to move smoothly. I am getting used to my class schedule and have gotten a lot of my papers turned in. I still have a couple of projects and a paper or two to finish. This week we saw the movie Black Hawk Down. It was the first time that I had watched it. It is based on a true story and we had a guest speaker, Mike Durant, on Wednesday. Mike was the real pilot who was captured. He gave a very good speech and told about his experiences.

Fitness is going well. I really like my Fitness teacher, he has really taken the time to teach each of us the right way to do things and you can tell he really cares. He still kicks our rear ends every class but he does it with a smile on his face.

I will be traveling home this week end and can't wait to see my girls. Whitney will be graduating high school soon and Courtney will have a birthday in May. It is difficult to believe she will be 20. Britney is enjoying soccer. She had TCAP tests this week and Ken made her bacon and eggs every morning. She is convinced that is the only way she can do good on the tests. I miss them all.

Tonight will be another girls night out here at the NA. Since there are so few of us, we try to get together and go to dinner about once a week. Last week we went to a nice pizza place.

End of second week

Most people say that the second week is better than the first. I have found that to be true. I am way less stressed now than before. There was a lot of activity the second week. We are all getting settled down into our class routine and most people are working very hard at completing the writing assignments. Myself included. One of the most difficult things was trying to organize what work was due when. I had a friend recommend an "app for that". I got the app on my phone and input all of my class information and it really helped me feel like I was more in control.

We had Flag Night last week (during week two). There were patches and pins being exchanged like crazy. I took advantage of having my photo taken with the of a UK International student. Thanks Gary from West Yorkshire.

I didn't make it all the way home this past weekend but my husband brought my girls to meet me half way. I really miss them all. We text a lot and do a lot of face time but it is still not as good as seeing them everyday.

We had our first fitness challenge last week, a 1.8 mile road run. I ran mine in18 min and I was very happy with that time. The second challenge is today. Some sort of station challenge. More about that later.

Second week

Well I made it through the first week and a weekend trip home. The first week was some what stressful. I think the main reason was I felt like I was not in control. It took a while to figure out where I needed to be. I am more settled now and starting to enjoy my classes.  I have several good classes and I like all of my instructors.  I am learning and will learn a lot of good information that will be useful to me when I return home and back to work.  So far I have enjoyed my fitness class. It is one of those things that your not sure of in the beginning. Fitness is comprised of both a classroom portion and gym workouts.  There is a lot of good information about nutrition that I am learning in the classroom and I'm getting my rear end kicked in gym.  I am so happy that I started running a year ago.  My fitness instructor made it clear that we have to focus on running outside of class to be successful.

My roommate is great. We get a lone well. She is a great runner and I have been taking advantage of running with her when I can.  It is difficult to keep up but I am working on it.  I loved getting to see my girls this past weekend.  I think that helped release my stress.  They keep in touch with me which helps as well.

Check-in Day!!!

Today has been a very long day.  I left home early and drove over 7 hours to the NA.  The check in was great.  There were plenty of FBI Agents in training to assist with getting our stuff from our vehicles to our rooms.  My room is small but nice.  I believe that it must have been updated in the last few years because it is much better than what I expected from what others have told me.  I have unpacked and bought my uniforms that will be required for the next 10 weeks.  I participated in a tour of the campus which is very large.  My room mate has not yet arrived so I am still wondering about that one.  The FBI National Academy (Law Enforcement) has four classes a year.  Most classes have approximately 250 students and averages about 30 to 50 females.  Class 253 has been cut back to about 210 or so not sure yet.  They are doing construction on one of the dorms and cut back the number as a result.  I also heard that there are less than 20 females.  I have met about 6 so far.  All are very nice and ready to talk.  There is one other lady from Tennessee.  Her name is Gracie and she is from Memphis. 

Two weeks to go before the beginning of FBI NA Session 253.  I have been preparing for over a year now and I am very excited. I have found the blogs from former students very helpful.  A lot of the questions that I had have been answered by those blogs.  One of the goals that I am setting for myself is to keep a blog of my experiences.  I think that it is a great way for my family and friends to keep up with what I'm doing while attending the NA.