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