Callus On My Feet, Bruised Back, Hurt Ego....AND WORTH EVERY BIT OF IT!
The first day of the Academy was hell. We were told to be in formation at 545AM, which means I had to get up at 445AM. Our homeroom instructor is brutal with the recruits. He says whatever is on his mind. I don't care how vulgar, how politically incorrect, or how rude it is - HE'LL SAY IT. Everything from how incompetent females (I'll talk about the female recruits a bit more later) are, to how certain recruits need to quote "shut the fuck up." He reminds me of a previous boss of mine; his tone is always very sarcastic but the minute you crack a smile he'll tear you apart for not taking him serious.
The fellow training staff & officers constantly remind us that our class is very unique within it self because we are suppose to be held to a "higher standard" we are supposedly the "cream of the crop." Obviously I can't go into detail as to why they look at us like this, but I will say I accept the challenge with open arms. After a quick scan of my fellow recruits it's obvious there aren't any slackers. The group is very diverse yet everyone has an individual area they seem to excel in. I believe I'm the youngest in the class yet we have recruits who are as old as 40+. For some recruits this is their first job out of college, while others including the guy who sat next to me took a paycut (he owns 2 houses and took a 50k+ paycut) just to become a cop. Before joining this recruit class everyone had to run several miles in 20 degree weather, perform a body weight bench press among several other exercises at registration last week. YES REGISTRATION.
We were given a couple of books and study guides that are probably gonna take my entire weekend to read. The law book itself looks to be at least several hundred pages. Although we weren't given a homework assignment today, I figure I should try to get a jump ahead of class. After all our first exam is less than 2 weeks away, failure in my mind is not acceptable. The training staff seems pretty serious about academics, we our expected to get atleast an 80% of every exam including the final state exam which is 200 questions.
Lunch time was definitely interesting, after a couple of hours of lecturing on verbal judo, nutrients and personal responsibility classes we were given a 45 minute break. This break was cut short when a drill instructor we never met before came into the cafeteria and told us quote "GET THE FUCK OUT MY CAFETERIA." Most recruits including myself had to throw away our lunches. Many which whom hadn't even taken a bite more less a sip of their beverage.
This drill instructor is by far my worst nightmare. He screamed at us in ways I thought were unimaginable. After lunch he popped up on us in class, and made us get out our seats and run into the hallway to perform an hour worth of pushups while listening to degrading comments. This was are quote unquote "introduction" with him. It was somewhat hard for me to hold my laughs in because he picked apart every individual recruit as we stood in attention. My favorite dialect was with this one harmless white guy.....
Drill Instructor: What's yo name and why do you want to be a police officer?!!
Recruit: Recruit **** sir! I want to be a police officer because I come from a family of cops. My Dad is a retired cop sir!
Drill Instructor: Yo Dad is a cop huh?
Recruit: Yes sir!
Drill Instructor: What's yo Daddy's name?
Recruit: John Doe sir!
Drill Instructor: I KNEW YO DADDY! HE WAS A PUNK AND I NEVER LIKED HIM! I GOT A FEELING IM PROBABLY NOT GONNA LIKE YOU EITHER! NOW GET IN LINE AND SHUT THE FUCK UP!
He (drill instructor) got in several guys faces and told them they were dismissed because he figured they weren't cut for the job. If one person did something such as didn't shave (i.e I've never shaved in my life, however I cut all my facial hair off - I look like a 12 year old) he made us all pay for it in an extreme workout. The females had it no easier. One particular female was called a dumbass so many times I think I'm immune to hearing it. During this whole session, there were other training staff and high ranking officers observing us. If for any reasons we cheated on a pushup, or didn't hold a position correctly - the whole entire class was punished severely. After 1 hour minutes, sweat was dripping from my forehead, as my arms were shaking. Several recruits flat out quit, while the remaining others screamed in response to the drill instructor's commands. Remind you all this was done while we were wearing business attire. At one point we were even told to lay flat on the filthy floor. I did it in a heart beat, but was somewhat bothered because of the extensive dry cleaning costs I've spent to get my business attire to look professional.
After we got the crap beat out of us doing push ups in the hallway while everyone in the building walked by and smirked. We then returned to the classroom to go over some more technical stuff. We did a quick overview of "verbal judo" and I already like it. It seems like something I'm going to use not only on the streets, but in my personal life as well.
I trust my training staff, although they are about to put us thru hell - I understand it's for a reason. We were constantly reminded of how dangerous the job is. How lack of personal responsibility on the job can lead to termination, or even worst - jail time. And my favorite, brief scenarios of how people are gonna push our buttons.
As for the female recruits. I really respect them. Ironically all of the female recruits seem feminine (no butch girls), yet they are held to the exact standard the male recruits are. They were constantly picked on by the instructors today yet all of them remained tough. It's so weird because I'm used to the complete opposite. I'm not used to females being degraded, called names, shouted at - and remaining in complete composure. I'm used to the ones who complain because the passenger side window is rolled down in 90 degree weather, and it's imperative to roll the windows up and cut the AC on. Or the females who panic in high stress situations and begin to cry. I mean it's nothing wrong with being girly, but it's somewhat impressive when a woman can handle her own weight and doesn't expect a man to do it for her. I mean this in the most professional way as possible, it has absolutely nothing to do with attraction. It's something that probably goes overlooked in law enforcement, but shouldn't.
It's hard to believe this is only day one. At least I have Angelo with me for support. Like we were told "a badge doesn't make the person, the person makes the badge." Speaking of badges I can't stop spit shining mine. It looks incredible. I can see myself really getting used to this.
I got tons of pictures from NYE and others from Jan 3'rd but they're gonna have to wait. I'm too tired and I have a shit load of stuff to do (shine shoes, shave, go over some guides, iron, get back up at 4AM etc.)
Final Thought: I've had my badge and credentials for a little over a week. While getting my uniform today (which took almost 3 hours) it was finally hitting me. Everything is going so fast paced that I haven't had enough to time to sit back and reflect on things. If I didn't learn anything else today I remember a Sgt telling us "this isn't a job, this isn't a career, this is a lifestyle." It's gonna be tough letting some old habits go, however the reward is worth it. 1 day down, 16 weeks to go!
