Erincita

Saturday, November 30, 2002

Hopefully no one will mind if I write so soon again, I'm in a good writing mood. I've gotten into the habit of skipping lunch and just taking a bagel and bananas with me to class after breakfast. It gives me a chance to study when the material is still fresh in my mind or to come to the lab and check my e-mail, etc. Last night Alvin taught/helped me to shine my shoes and my brass. I feel so silly. He even had to teach me how to iron properly. I've learned alot! It's pretty obvious to everyone that he's been looking out for me. I don't really understand why but it's simply in his nature to do so. He says he wishes he had someone do the same for him when he was in my situation. It's a selflessness I have to admire and hope to duplicate in the future. It makes me even more upset that I won't be staying for Spanish, because then I would be in a situation where I could really return the favor.
Tonight is my only night off and I have to hit the books tomorrow...what shall I do? The G-bar is closed and I'm not in the mood for it anyway. I'm going to try to work out again after class (we have PT and firearms), and I'm hoping Matt will call and take me off-campus for a bit. He's one of the lucky ones who got the whole weekend off and went to his sister's place in Virginia for Thanksgiving.

8:26 AM |

Friday, November 29, 2002

I normally write on Saturdays or Sundays, so this entry is a bit early. We had a much needed day off for Thanksgiving yesterday, but whereas other agencies were given 4 days of R&R, it's back to the grinding stone for us. No exams this week, but definitely alot to take in. We're deep into Operations (OPS), Immigration Law (M-law), and Customs cross training, and we have exams covering all three next week. It's not too daunting but t it's clear that we need to study. It's rumored that FOURTEEN people failed M-law 1 in the class ahead of us. Worst class in 10 years, I'm told. No team unity. I'm thankful for my class and definitely motivated to study after that news. I spent lots of yesterday sleeping and did a thorough review of OPS so tonight I'm going to go over M-law as heavy as I can. I'm not sure how to get started on Customs. It's open-book and open-note since we are not in training for Customs so the only thing I need to concentrate on is our time limit.
Alvin, who would be a personal trainer if his wife let him, urged me to work out today but after 10 minutes of cardio I was done. I'm still sick and felt way too dizzy and though I'm upset that I haven't been able to work out, I decided to listen to my body and give it a few more days of rest. It really sucks because my goal here is to improve and if I don't get better soon, even maintaining will be a feat. The first chance for qualification in firearms is in fifteen days so I want to put more pressure on myself but stay balanced and not burn out. It's been tough. I hate being sick! I did really well in firearms this week--mostly 4s and 5s at 25 yards, but since we were practicing barricade shooting we had a support to steady ourselves. Before going to sleep last night I practiced my trigger technique for almost an hour and I'm still feeling it. Hopefully I'll be rested enough tomorrow to do well in firearms. I want to qualify the first time around. Mr. Gross, our PT instructor, was very impressed with our class last time. Our handcuffing drill included full-body searches and we had a ball. Girls with girls and guys with guys, of course, and we didn't actually strip. The girls had to wear underwear OVER their shorts and T-shirts and under the uniform, so it wasn't too comfortable but I'm sure full-body searches are never comfortable. Needless to say, I'm learning alot. I want to study so I'm going to say goodbye for now. Be sure to post questions if you have any! Later.

2:09 PM |

Saturday, November 23, 2002

I've only got 20 minutes before the lab closes and I won't be here tomorrow, so I'll try to make this short and sweet. Things are starting to tighten up around here. Immigration Law, Customs cross training, handcuffing--all of these are going to need ample time outside of class to study and perfect. It's coming at us so fast that it's overwhelming so I'm trying to stay calm. It's a comfort that we're all in it together. Steph and I want to work with each other on the handcuffing: suspects are still compliant but may possess a weapon and if they have their hands in their pockets or behind their backs, or their arms are crossed, we have to think of the best way to handle the situation without getting killed--and it has to be fast, firm and strategic. I can't imagine how we're going to get from here to wrestling with suspects to arrest them with pepper spray in our eyes! Immigration Law is just tons of memorization, so I'm making flashcards. The only hard thing about that is motivating myself to study. Customs sucks. We're not with customs but we were similar uniforms and apparantly that's enough reason to make us study boring stuff like whether or not you should pay duty on German mug. We also started operations which talks about our information resources and how to write memorandums. After today I realize that I'm still a good writer. :-)
Magically, firearms is getting better (good timing with all the new stuff I have to worry about). We now have to shoot with the right hand alone and the left hand alone, and my scores are good as long as my fingers aren't tired. Yesterday I did major work on wrists, biceps, triceps and shoulders. I promise you all a noticeable difference in my arms when I get back.
Tomorrow I'm going with a group to Savannah. We'll get a bus tour and hit some hot spots so I'm pretty excited to get outta here. I still don't know what's up for Thanksgiving. Too bad I can't be home!! Tonights the usual: drinks and dancing at the G-bar. Laters. Hope you all enjoy your weekend and Happy Thanksgiving!!

1:52 PM |

Friday, November 15, 2002

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all well. It's Friday evening, which isn't anything to be excited about because we all have 6-day workweeks around here. I am, however, delighted to report that I scored 100% on both of my exams today! One was the first of two FLETC exams, dealing with constitutional law, office politics, how do deal with the public etc. It was common sense and thankfully we still have the class of 48 that we started with (meaning that we all passed), but only 5 people received a perfect score. It was a nice feeling after getting a lower-that-average score (88%) on my first Naturalization Law exam last week. The other test we had today was a written CPR test, the first step in CPR certification. It was easy and we literally had the test read to us immediately before the exam, so I am disappointed with anyone who did not get a perfect score. But like I said, the most important thing is that everyone passed and is still with us.
It has come time for us to pass ballots on who we think most represents the integrity and character of a law enforcement officer (LEO) in our class. I think that alot of people will be nominated, and I am deciding between Alan and Alvin. Alvin sits next to me in class everyday (we have assigned seats) and has really been my rock since we've gotten here. He's incredibly encouraging and works very hard, and our personalities just seem to "click" really well. I'm ashamed to admit that I was bawling this Wednesday after firearms training because my score was so disappointing (why did I have to cry!? I just couldn't stop!), and while most people just let me cry, Alvin told me that I was doing better and that he wasn't the type to just throw out compliments (I can attest to that), and said that we could talk or that he could just listen if I needed to talk to someone. By the end of the evening I was feeling better, and he still went out of his way to check on me to make sure I was okay. Unbelievable. So I've got obvious personal reasons for casting my vote for Alvin. I know Alan on a more impersonal level, but I have seen that he is very professional, knowledgable, responsible and helpful to anyone who asks for it. He actually trained at FLETC once before for Border Patrol, but failed because of the Spanish. I think that both he and Alvin will be exemplary officers, but I don't know if I should judge by what I've observed or what I've personally experienced. There are those available to help, and those who offer it without asking. I've needed emotional support and I've gotten that from Alvin and Steph, among others. Support isn't the kind of thing I will ask for. I have know problem asking for help with classwork. Any input from you is welcome. While I'm at it, I'd also appreciate advice you have to offer on what to eat or do in order to stay alert. I sleep 8 hours a night but I've discovered that I'm extremely sensitive to sugar and the low just kills me after breakfast and lunch. I have good days and bad days but I want all of them to be good.
I haven't yet told all of you that I went to Jacksonville, Floriday on Veteran's Day (or Sunday, really). It was a funny situation. I had decided to buckle down and study that night when Steph knocked on the door, collapsed on my bed and announced that her boredom would soon consume here if I didn't do something about it (well, at least that's my interpretation of what she said). She jokingly suggested that we call Jerry, one of the guys who had particularly caught her eye at the G-bar, and since I was feeling rather bold, I took the liberty of calling him and asking him if he could help us with our predicament. Within a half hour he was at our building with a friend who had a car to take us off-campus for a beer. Well, in the hell that is Brunswick, GA, everything had closed in town and they actually took me seriously when I said we should just go to Florida for some beers. We got to Jacksonville around 2am and by then everything had closed there too, so we bought a case of Coronas and rented a hotel room for the night. I only had two beers but was so tired that it was enough to let me pass out until morning. I'm guessing that the same happened to the rest of us. From what I remember, we had a pretty good time and were back at FLETC by about 3pm the next day to study and prepare for the week. :-) I'm thinking of joining some classmates to go to Savannah later on this month for a tour. So anyway, Jerry has been calling Steph and his friend, Matt, has been calling me. Steph calls me and briefs me on everything Jerry says to her and I do the same when Matt calls me. We may as well be in highschool. He invited me out to dinner on Saturday night but Steph says I have to decline because that's "Erin-goes-to-G-bar-with-Steph-night" and that if the guys want to see us they have to go there. I love the G-bar! One VERY good thing about FLETC, the majority of people here are young, good-looking guys in uniform and we have a pleasant ratio of roughly 15:1 when we go dancing. :-) For many women it's like a dream come true.
ANYWAY, I just worked out and should probably grab some dinner before chow hall closes. I might even study a little tonight, even though we had two exams today. Hope all is well and hope to hear from some of you. Chaito!!

3:05 PM |

Sunday, November 10, 2002

First off, a very big "thank you" to Lois for the comment. People, please comment! I keep this journal in place of writing separate e-mails to everyone and I was hoping that it would be more like a correspondence than just a page to read and leave. Comments would be very much appreciated. :)
So, it's been almost exactly a week since my last entry. Frist I have to answer Lois's question to the best of my ability. There are several programs here for different agencies including INS, Customs, Bearau of Prisons, Capitol Police, Secret Service and even Forestry. I can't remember all of them. There are so many agencies hiring right now that the Border Patrol (who think they are elite but are actually a part of the INS) has to train up in Charleston because there's no room for them here. As I already explained, we are pretty much stuck with our class for 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, so I'm blessed to have a group of people I like to work with. I sometimes meet people from other agencies by chance or during times when we're not in uniform (such as after 4:30pm, working out or at the bar on campus), but other than that people seem to "stay with their own" simply because it's easier. It makes sense since we're always discussing how classes are going, etc. All the agencies train for different amounts of time. It's 10 weeks for me (only because I won't be staying for Spanish--there's 5 weeks of immersion training for those who are staying), 9 weeks for Customs, and I don't know about the rest. I have spoken with people from the FBI and Secret Service and learned that after 3 whole months here at FLETC, there's even more training in Washington DC. Spanish isn't a requirement for all agencies, but it is the only foreign language taught here. I think that's a shame because I would love the opportunity to learn French or some Asian language which I could really put to use on the US-Canadian border.
On to classes....Firearms training is frustrating me more than anything else. I anticipate putting in alot of extra hours after classes learning to disassemble the weapon and practicing my form when it comes to target practice. I still need to develop alot more strength in my fingers, wrists and arms. I've been working out as often as I can and I loved the kickboxing class. I really "kicks your ass" and you know you get a good full-body workout. Academics is going pretty well. We had our first exam for Naturalization Law and although I didn't do as well as I hoped (86%), everybody in our class passed and that's what's most important. Teamwork is absolutely essential in this academy and it shows when one compares the classes that didn't work together with those like ours which is really tight. We're all looking after each other. There's almost always someone who doesn't pass all the courses (I often have doubts about my own ability), but I know that no one in our class will feel alone when they're struggling. We also had our Spanish oral interviews. I think about 15 people in our class tried to test out, and I was one of the only three who hadn't grown up speaking Spanish. It was easy and I know I passed, so afterwards when they asked if I had any questions my only request was that they let me stay. Fat chance, I think. I can't imagine how much money the govt. shells out for every individual here on a daily basis, and they really need INS agents out in the field ASAP. I could have simply forgone the interview but I would have felt guilty. Honesty is held in high esteem here--moreso than what I've experienced eslewhere. And anyway, my supervisor at my port is Puerto Rican and knows full well that my Spanish is up to par.
A bunch of us went to the G-bar again last night to let loose and have a good time. I've never been so happy to where jeans and a T-shirt without worrying about how well everything is ironed. I wear my hair down whenever possible because it always has to held back in a bun when I'm in uniform. I've finally gotten used to walking around with my utility belt so I don't hit my hands on the equipment when I swing my arms. The belt has handcuffs, a gun and two emergency magazines, at least 10 rounds each. Tomorrow is Veteran's Day so we actually get two days off! Tomorrow I'll probably study quite a bit, but there's talk of going out into town today so I might go see what lies outside the gates of FLETC.

11:00 AM |

Sunday, November 03, 2002

Dear Dad and Mom,
It's Sunday morning, today is my only day off but I guess I'll have to live with it for the next few months. On the upside, everyone else works the same schedule so we all try and go out together on Saturday night. Last night I got together with some girls in my class: Carmen, Paula, Stephanie, and Marisela. We met in the lobby of our building and decided to check out the on-campus pub called the G-Bar. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it had a huge dance floor and happy-hour priced drinks. Stephanie and I bought each other a few beers and starting cruising the place to find some good dancers. We also ran into some other guys from our class. We get along really well...but we'll see what happens after spending every waking hour with each other for the next 12 weeks! Anyway, I was dancing with my classmate Juan and later asked a tall, handsome guy leaning against the wall and looking like he was interested if he wanted to dance. His name's Kurtus and he's in the Diplomatic Security program (one of the lesser-known programs here). I detected a strong Bostonian accent and grabbed Steph to introduce her, since she's from Boston too. After she and Kurtus chatted for awhile, he went to find his friend so she could dance with him and we all a great time. Can you imagine such a attractive guy also being such a great dancer? We managed to talk over the music and told each other a bit about our history. He's been a Airborne Ranger for the last five years. Of course I thought of Phil.

Yesterday we had our first PT class and had our workout uniforms and lockers assigned. Somehow I managed to get up early this morning and decided to check out the gym since I had nothing better to do and hadn't worked out since Monday. It's not as nice as 24-hour fitness or even the IMA at UW, but it still has everything I like to use like the elliptical trainer and rooms for weightlifting and stretching. Our PT intstructor, Mr. Gross, took us on a tour and and said, "Make sure this isn't the only time you walk through the weight room." I did 30 minutes on the training, 15 on the stationary bike, some arm exercises with free weights and streching (such detail is for Dad to critique). I'm really excited for the weekday classes to start. There's "Bodypump", which a new aerobic class that includes barbells, kick boxing, power yoga, and some other classes I might want to check out. Hopefully by next week I'll get used to things enough to manage my time better and develop a schedule that lets me work out and study every day.

So that brings us to classes...so far we've had lecture in ethics, sexual harassment, communication, and naturalization law. As you may have guessed, the latter is by far the toughest. However, it's all very interesting and I think I'm getting the hang of it. There's so much information that I usually have to let it sink in overnight before I read the material and understand it better. We also had a Spanish placement test too and though I haven't had the oral interview yet, I'm fairly certain I'll pass. The most frustrating class in firearms, but everyone's been very encouraging and Allen showed me some exercises I can do to strengthen my forearms and wrists. When it comes to my physique, I'm really going to have to control myself in chow hall, where the food is really good (though I'm told it started to lose its appeal after a month or two) and you can eat as much of anything as you want for FREE. Our class of 48 was split into A and B groups and we both elected presidents. Stephanie is the president of A group
(I'm i B) and people keep mistaking us for each other. We get along well and have become good friends simply because we have to relay messages that weren't meant for us! We're both tall with dark hair and a similar face shape, but otherwise our resemblance is nonexistent. One of our workshops in communications was to chose someone that we didn't know and not from our group to interview and introduce in front of the class. Steph and I chose each other (so Friday was the first time we had a conversation) and I'm glad I did. Through the introductions, I disovered that there's a couple other people around 24 and 25, and Marisela is 23 so I'm not the alone in being the youngest anymore.

Have I given you my "typical day" rundown yet? Here it goes. I get up at 5:30 and get ready for the day. Getting dressed is no small feat. I have to iron everything the night before and after I put on my uniform and make sure my gig line is perfect, I have to stap on my leather belt, which weighs about 12 pounds with my handcuffs, gun and clips. We have belt keepers that attach it to the belt we wear underneath so it stays put. I can handle it fine but notice the extra weight when I walk up stairs. After putting up my hair and doing my makeup I usually run into some classmates in the hall and we head to chow hall for breakfast at 6:30 (it's a 10-minute walk). Whenever we are outside we have to wear these hideous ball caps, which has made keeping my hair neat more difficult because we take them on and off all the time. Our first class starts at 7:30. It lasts two hours and then we have another two-hour class. It gets tiring sitting for so long and sometimes I fight to stay awake, but the instructors are excellent and gracious to give us hourly breaks to get some coffee, go to the bathroom, strech and walk around etc. At 11:30 we have an hour break for lunch, which seems like awhile but really isn't when you add in the time you need to get to and from chow hall and standing in line for so long. Still, it's a very good time to bond with classmates. After that we have another 4 hours of classes, which may include two hours of PT and firearms. We're free to go our own way at 4:30pm and it's nice to dress down (it takes forever just to use the bathroom because of how complicated it is to take on and off my belt). For this week most people have been using the free time to go to the convenience store or off-campus to Wal-Mart to pick up things they need. A couple were nice enough to pick up some things for me so I've used to the time to study, use the internet and iron and still be able to get to bed at a descent hour (9:30 or 10pm) I'm going to start going to the gym right after classes next week.

It's a long letter, but a good recap of what's been going on. Hope you enjoy it. I miss you and hope to hear from you soon.

Love and Blessings, Erin

10:26 AM |