With only 3 weeks into the academy I'm already a bit overwhelmed with how demanding things are so far. It's nothing I can't handle, however the stress of maintaining focus and adjusting to a different lifestyle is much more difficult than I thought it would be. Getting up everyday at 4AM, looking professional for our daily inspections (finger nails, facial hair, haircuts, shined boots, creased shirts, gun, cleaning kit, magazines, holsters, duty belt, etc.) staying in superb shape, and studying more than a dozen courses for hours has now become a ritual.

Right now I'm sore from the Defensive Tactics classes we've had the past couple of days. I took my shirt off about an hour ago and noticed multiple bruises the size of my fist. These wounds are more than likely evident of the knee lunges, elbow strikes, and brutal wrist take downs we practice over and over.

My favorite drill we practice in Defensive Tactics is how to fall forward, or backwards when pushed. After a recruit falls to the ground another recruit is directed to come up and aggressively attack while the recruit has to kick and defend till they're able to get up and fight off the aggressive recruit. Besides the falling drills I love the techniques that teach us how to defend a punch. This is where the real hilarity comes into play. One side of the gym would strap on boxing gloves, while the other side of the gym would play defense. It's no fun getting punched and not being able to throw a punch back. You'll learn pretty quickly how to defend yourself by watching and listening to the instructors precise techniques. It's amazing what I've grasp so far, although the drills seem repetitive at times I'm sure they will come in handy one day.

The Drill Instructors don't allow us to go easy on each other while in class, if we're caught pretending to fall or not throwing a real impact strike, we will pay the ultimate price. We were even threaten to run outside in -10 Degree weather. That pushed me enough to bust the lip of this Asian guy I was boxing with. Poor guy, he's 40+ years old.....I'm sorry but I had to put the fear of God in him. Unfortunately things for me didn't remain as easy as my Asian counterpart when we switched partners. Talk about instant Karma.

Below is an example of what happened when a male recruit went soft on a female recruit in Defensive Tactics.

Drill Instructor N (female by the way): STOP! Everybody stop!
The entire classes stops fighting, listens carefully as they try to catch their breath from 2 hours or intense workouts and Defensive Tactics.
Drill Instructor N: I see a lot of the fellas going soft on these ladies. If I catch you going soft, YOU GONNA HAVE ME TO DEAL WIT!
All the male recruits look around in confusion.
Drill Instructor N: In the street if a female walks up to you aggressively, YOU KNOCK THAT BITCH OUT! POINT BLANK......KNOCK THAT BITCH OUT!

....After this dialogue (most of it edited for reasons that will go unmentioned) with a certain recruit everyone seems to turn up the volume on the impact on strikes (punches, stuns, kicks, etc.). It felt weird because some of these recruits are the same recruits I have to trust my life with, and now we're beating the crap out of each other.

Sidenote: Angelo hit this one female recruit in the stomach.....remind you the Defensive Tactics class was based on head shots. I think she hit him in the nose, then he flipped out and gave her a combo (2 to the head, and 1 to the body). Forgive me, but I thought this was hilarious. I'm not sure if he had a flashback of a prior relationship, or just flat out doesn't like this recruit; regardless he didn't take it easy on her. Needless to say he was congratulated by the instructors for his performance. The female recruit didn't take it personal, she even made a joke of it later in the day with me and him.

I gotta admit it's sorta fun beating the crap out of someone and vice versa while getting paid for it, but it's no fun when you return home and have to take a multiple combination of meds to reduce the pain.

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As intense as the physical aspect of the academy is, it has to be if not more but just as equally demanding academically. Any given day we have classes on community communications, patrol procedures, verbal Judo, and about 15 other subjects according to schedule. I'm sort of getting overwhelmed. I don't think I ever really expected such a work load. We have to maintain a certain GPA, or you are immediately kicked out. Some departments are held to a higher standard than others, so it's no clear cut GPA for all recruits.

My favorite classes are law. We dissect everything from criminal charges, to the state vehicle code. Although some of our law classes are 4 hours, it's fulfilling to obtain so much knowledge the general public isn't aware of. We are constantly given scenarios then asked by the instructors what would we do based on the law. I try to participate in class as much as possible. Now when I get home I like to watch the news and interpret the law and dissect the media's bullshit from reality. It's interesting when you know the charges of a crime and the basic elements based on a minor details provided by the news reports.

All of our classes we have to take notes in because we have about half a dozen exams not including our final State Exam. In fact our 1st exam was today, I received an 84%. That's 14 more points than my original goal of 70%. Remember this is me we're talking about. I have no absolutely no problem sliding right through the academy or any other aspect in life....as long as I reach the finish line I'm satisfied. I'm such a role model ;)

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There's a lot they teach us that I can't even talk about. I remember my friend's Grandfather (retired officer) telling me how my mindset would transform while in the academy, due to the instructors inbreeding a certain type of attitude. He was absolutely right, because 3 weeks in and I already look and see things differently than I did originally. I thought the the change in my attitude would be gradually, but boy was I wrong. Talk about a whole new prospective. Not only do I look a people I come across differently, but I assess my own decisions a hell of a lot thoroughly than I did prior to entering the academy. This is going to take some getting used to, because anyone who knows me personally knows I'm already a constant thinker - hopefully this makes me mentally tougher and doesn't aggravate my anxiety.

Final Thought: Stressed? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely. The fact is I never thought I would say I'm comfortable with stress, but I'am. Sounds like an oxymoron right? It's difficult to explain, but I look at my situation and I feel I'll be more than fine. After all at age 22 I'm the youngest recruit in the class and I don't have many issues going on in my personal life.

It's the other recruits I worry about. Some recruits have children, husbands, wives, and so much more going on at home. Therefore they have to find the balance between the two without breaking down. Surprisingly our instructor said stress at the academy is normal. Our instructor also said to come to him or other "peer counselors" provided by the academy if we're having reoccurring stress issues. Believe it or not a couple of recruits have committed suicide in relation to the stress at the academy. According to my instructor one of the recruits hung her self in the building over a year ago.

....Yikes, it's time to buckle down and man up. There's only 13 weeks to go.