Shotgun=Shotfun

Another week at the fire range! I laughed, I cried and I found that my strength lies in the shotgun. 

I never thought I would loathe the range. But, after 25 hours in two days, the range really takes a toll on you. The reason for the long hours was for our night shoots. The days were long, tiring, stressful and both mentally and physically demanding. The first day (monday) we spent practicing our pistols and shotguns, the night shoot was pistols only. For those of you that have been keeping up with my blog know I have a winking disability. This week at the range my winking was not an issue thanks to my experienced Grandpa Eltrich. My Grandpa told me that he shoots left handed with the shotgun and right handed with his pistol. He recommended I try the same. Well Grandpa, it worked! I was shooting the shotgun and rifle a whole lot better.

The difficult part about switching sides was to relearn the skills left handed. It was complicated and a bit frustrating switching everything around but turned out to work out for the best. 

Tuesday was the hardest day of the week. I had many moments of discouragement and patiently tried to work through the rough moments. All the cadets were exhausted and sore from monday. The day started off with handguns and then we spent a few hours on the shotgun and a few more with the rifles. We had a 30 minute lunch and dinner and only 2 five minute breaks the whole day. There were points during the day when my eyes filled up with tears. I was so mentally trained and tired from holding up the guns for hours at a time.  Just the smallest mistake would set me off. All I wanted to do was throw the gun down to the ground fall into a small little ball and cry. I mostly found myself tearing up when we had to shoot the rifle. The rifle (AR-15) sits in a spot on the shoulder that is brutally painful. I wish I had a mark on my shoulder to prove the pain I went through.

As awful as the first two days were, the instructors had some fun days planned for us for the remainder of the week. We had a fun ballistics demonstration with clay and played a lot of fun games to help improve our shooting.  

This was just a small part of the week. It was a busy week and it would be difficult to write and probably boring for you to read every detail. 

My total hours of shooting this week: About 50 hours

Morning in Moss Landing, afternoon wine tasting in great company and evening Sushi.

Reflection

I am finally at the half way mark. Fourteen more weeks! 

Sometimes it feels like it will never end. The days are long and the weeks seem to never end. I feel like I have been here longer than three months and I am overwhelmed with everything I have learned so far. It's amazing how much can be learned in 14 weeks and even more amazing what can be forgotten. I think the hardest part for me has been living in  constant fear of failure. I know I will be successful but the pressure of "what if I do fail?" haunts me daily. If I fail a test or a scenario I only have one more shot and if I don't pass I pack my bags. It would be awful to fail after coming so far. 

When I applied for the job I was not in it for the badge. I was in it to work on the beach and to help others. I have realized that there's a lot of honor in having a badge. The star is beginning to become more and more appealing. A badged officer of California was not what I ever had in mind for myself. The more I learn and the officers I meet just fuels the flame within. It's amazing what type of opportunities are out there in law enforcement and it all sounds so fun. If I ever get tired of working on the beach (doubtful, but possible) I could get involved in CSI, FBI, ABC, Fish & Game or work as an officer in some other city. Options are endless. 

Most fulfilling in the past 3 months is the new friends I have. Forty new friends that I will probable know for the rest of my life. We are all in this together, one big family pulling it together just to get through a week. A lot of the cadets here are married and have children. I don't know how they do it. I have no ties and it is still hard for me. The support of each other is what gets us all through the long weeks.  It is so easy to become self consumed here. I see some of the cadets get stuck in that state of mind. I find myself doing the same when times are tuff and stressful. I quickly force myself to change my attitude and try to help and encourage someone else. I find helping someone gets me out of the "poor me" attitude. 

The best part of the academy so far is the fire range! I go back to the range next week. It is so much fun to shoot that good ol' shotgun! 

It's been a fun and challenging 14 weeks. Only 14 more to go. I can't wait to be free of this long and  tedious adventure. At the end I will be working 4 ten hour days, have vacation time and get paid to watch sunsets. What a nice reward. 

"Bullet Proof Bra"

About six weeks ago all the cadets got fitted for our on-duty bullet proof vest. The men were simple to measure, the women however, were a bit more complicated. Every part of the upper chest area was measured, the waist, rib cage, bust, nipple to nipple (weird), cup size, length of torso and the back. It was exciting when the new vest were in. The old one I had was heavy and a little big. It was like Christmas when the instructors past out the new vests to everyone yesterday. Last night I excitedly put mine on and was a bit disappointed. My girlfriend came up while I was trying on the vest and she said, "hows the Bullet Proof Bra fit?" I laughed and complained about how unflattering it was. I understand that bullet proof vest are not made to look good but, I think vest companies could make a bullet proof corset for women. It makes so much more sense and it's much more appealing. It actually might help on some of the contacts we might have! I thought the new vest would at least have a built in bra with all the measurements that were taken.  Unfortunately it's just a flat piece of metal that might save my life one day. As you can see below, not to flattering and it is defiantly a boob smoosher. 

I know the hair is a mess, it was taken after a long day in class.

Exposed

For the last few days one of my instructors had been sick. Yesterday afternoon he came back. While in formation on the grinder, before our daily routine of push-ups, my instructor looks at and me and says aloud, 

"Miss Bray?"

"Yes?" I replied.

"What beach did you use to work at."

"Huntington Beach City."

"That's what I thought. While sick in bed yesterday I saw you on TV. I didn't know we had a movie star in our group."

I laughed shyly and asked "what episode was it?"

Smiling he said, "It was the one with the over caffeinated young girl."

I said, "Ohh yeah, that was the first season."

"There's more than one?" He asked.

 "Yes Sir." I replied. 

He added, "Well, I recorded it. I had to keep rewinding it to make sure it was you. Good job."

All the cadets giggled and we went ahead and completed our push ups.

How embarrassing. 

By Popular Demand...

Pirate Patch 

Defensive Tactics

Last week I...

Manipulated the movement of others by a twist of the wrist

Took people down to the ground

Was arrested over a hundred times

Arrested half of my classmates (more than once)

Had really sore wrist

Was reminded that I have absolutely no coordination 

Realized the idea of becoming a baton twirler probably won't happen  

Did a lot of cursory searches 

"Lightly" applied a carotid control hold on someone

Retained my gun when taken 

Couldn't believe all the skills, techniques and information thrown at me retained in this overloaded, wee-little brain

 

Morning Trail Run

Del Monte Forest Trials

My friend and I ran for about a hour and a half

We cut the trail and ran through Pebble Beach Golf Course

When we cut through the golf course there were no trespassing signs, we had no intent to damage the property and we would have left the premises if asked, so I was not in violation of Penal Code 602 Trespassing. 

Drugs and Guns

This week I learned how to shoot heroin, start a meth lab, hide my drugs and weapons, weapons that are legal/illegal and I had three scenario test.

Monday was scenario practice day. I was so nervous that I felt sick to my stomach. I had know idea what to expect. The day was real casual and it was the best time to make all the mistakes. The day ended up being a lot of fun and at the end I felt real confident about the scenario test.

Tuesday I was exposed to many different types of drugs. This was great planning on the instructors part because on Wednesday all the cadets had scenario testing. It was real beneficial to know what drugs we could get away with taking after the stressful day of testing.

Wednesday, the big day of testing, was long. All the cadets had to sit in a small room for eight hours without talking to each other. We were each slowly dispatched to our scenario. Thankfully, I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. The scenarios were Death Investigations, Felony Assault and Ethics. I walked away from my Death Investigation scenario thinking I failed. During the scenario my murder suspect ran away from me. The suspect ran when I went to check the victim, silly me, I didn't keep an eye on him. I ended up passing the scenario, I have know idea how, I must have done everything else perfectly. The other two test felt okay and I ended up passing. It was a big relieve when the day was over.

I can't believe I made it through Thursday without passing out. The instructor brought in about 50 syringes for all of us to practice with. I actually mixed up some heroin(simulated) on a spoon, loaded up a syringe and injected an orange. I fought the oozie feeling for a few hours. It was real hard, I felt like I was going to pass out. We also watched a few videos of people actively injecting drugs with needles. While watching the video the instructor asked, "Elisabeth, you okay?"

Today, we played with all types of weapons. We learned what was legal and what to watch out for. It was a lot of fun. I can't believe all the creative places people come up with to hide weapons and drugs.

Vulumpsious Lips

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I am never going out without my Mabelline Lip Plumper again. While out at a small pub in Monterey with one my friends we sat at a small table talking casually. When she got up to use the restroom I pulled out my lipstick and applied it to my lips. In the middle of putting on the lipstick a man walks up to me, stops, looks at me and says, "Mmmm. Wow! You just made my night. Im not trying to hit on you but that was nice. I don't normally buy drinks for anyone, but when you want a drink come find me and I would love to buy one for you." He went on saying that he was having a wonderful day because the Charges won and I had just made his day even better. When my friend came back from the restroom we chatted briefly and then he went back to join his friends. A little later in the evening he came back around and bought us both drinks and we chatted some more. At this point he seemed a bit liquored up and went on saying how great we were and said, "you are both my dream girls, I could marry you both." My friend said it would never work because we would never get along if we lived together. He then told us he was going to Belize and asked us to go. I couldn't help but to go along with his offer, I said, "really, when you going?" He said March. Unfortunately, I'm busy in March. This guy was pure entertainment. It's unfortunate that he wasn't my type or I may have taken him up on the Belize offer. The evening all ended on a bad discussion of politics. It was fun overall though. I have to say, thank you Mabeline for the entertaining night. My Mabelline Lip Plumber didn't only give me beautiful fully shaped, natural lips. It got me a flattering complement for my graceful application, a drink and a possible trip to Belize. 

New Year in Big Sur

I spent all day hiking in Big Sur. It was a great way to spend the first day of the year. Pictures on the right. 

Last night I went shopping and bought new shoes, a  sweater & hat from Banana Republic, and some stuff from Victoria's! After my shopping spree another cadet and I went to a restaurant across the street from Asilomar for some clam chowder and a glass of wine. The rest of the evening I watched a little TV and munched.