We had our first set of tests last Friday. The first was physical and tested us on a mile and a half run, as well as the number of push-ups and sit-ups we could do in a minute. I recommend to anyone who wants to attend this academy or another one to begin a physical training program now so your body will be prepared for this. It is a very important part of being a law enforcement officer because we never know what we will be called to do and must be able to endure physically longer than any criminals out there. One thing I have learned is to do everything as a team from start to finish. For example, those of us who finished our run first went back and ran beside those still finishing their run. This provides a tremendous amount of support and unity. I also want to clarify that I am not the Ryan referred to in Alan's blog that was the winner of the physical fitness test. I wish I could say I was, but I still have plenty of work to do. Deputy Joselyn has continually told us that physical fitness is mental as well. He said that we need to focus our minds on a different place while enduring physical fitness challenges in order to perform them well and keep going. To demonstrate this, we did several push-up-like exercises followed by some sprints up a hill, which really got our hearts pumping after we already did the test. I appreciate that we are being pushed and will appreciate it even more in the critical moments that will come in the line of duty.
After we got our hearts racing, we had to get our minds racing on the written test. It covered the vast amounts of information that has been covered over the first three weeks of the academy. We were able to find out our scores right away and did well as a class. We will take tests periodically throughout the academy to ensure that we are learning all of the information to become certified as law enforcement officers. We are given good notes and access to text books and other resources to help us. I must say that I find this much more interesting and of course applicable than anything I ever studied in college.
At the end of last week, the fact that our academy class needed more discipline was brought to our attention. As a class we had become a little too relaxed and needed to be brought back to reality. There is no room for complacency in this career. I know we all appreciated finding this out and I want to thank both the recruits and superiors who took charge and helped get us back on the right path. I'm relatively positive that we will not let this slide again. I will get some pictures up very soon because I know they are helpful.
