Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Challenge #2

Today was the "Not in Kansas Anymore" challenge event.  280+ people met at 0900 on the track and were split up into 3 groups.  Each group would do one of three activities and rotate to the next over the course of 30 minutes.  The first event for our group was a sprint on the field with a band around your waist pulled back by a partner behind you...easier described than done.  A 50 yard sprint with resistance followed by a "pay it back" run the other way by your partner for ten solid minutes was exhausting to say the least.  IMMEDIATELY after the resistance run our group ran to the parking structure and ran ten stairways up and down throughout the parking garage for another ten minutes.  Having ran parking garage steps in Lincoln to get to tailgates in the Embassy Suites garage, it was dissapointing to reach the top here only to find cars and an instructor directing you to the other side of the garage to go back down.  The third and final event was then an up hill sprint of approximately 20 yards, approximately 10 times.  Thirty minites of hard charging left 280 people winded but ready for more.  Since it was snowing in Nebraska today and 70 degrees at 0900 during this event, it was nice to be "Not anywhere near Kansas".
The 5.11 company hosted a luncheon.  Steak that could best be described as delicious was served and devoured by all.  This was a welcome meal as the cafeteria food has become increasingly bad.
After dinner, which most people looked liked they skipped since lunch was sooo good, a mandatory meeting was called again in the Boardroom.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Picking up brass

Leadership can be described in a number of ways.  Some "lead by example" while some do things behind the scenes.  In any event, police officers know when the people they work for are genuine.  Take for example a leader, from command officer to especially a chief, who goes to the range to participate in firearms training.  The command officer/chief show up and goes through the training.  All the troops think "cool, the guy/gal is still one of us".  However, the command officer/chief leaves the training and goes back to the station to clean their weapon.  What didn't they do?  Why are the cops ticked off?  They left their brass (shell casings) for the officers to pick up.  That's a social felony in this profession.  If you go to the trenches, you are expected to carry your own weight.  You catch it, you clean it.  Too many times leaders live in the limelight but fail to take care of the little things that come after.  Don't forget to clean up after you're done.

The past two physical training classes have taken torture to a new level.  I sometimes wonder if the PT instructors conspire to attack muscles, tendons and willpower of every NA student.  Game of Thrones has nothing on the techniques these guys employ.  We've yet to do any "conventional" type of exercise.  Again, the expectation is to challenge yourself to do what you haven't done before...the journey continues on...

Wednesday was to be the trip to the police memorial in DC. Due to expected bad weather, this will be rescheduled.  Paying tribute to those that have given the ultimate sacrifice is a must. 

Tuesday saw the first day of pretty much all day sunlight since I've been here...long time coming.  
Lesson of the week:  The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking  we were at when they were created...Albert Einstein

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Brrrrrr...Challenge Run


Wednesday was the first “Challenge” event.  The Challenge events are full class participation (270+ people) physical fitness encompassing eight different events, once a week, leading up the “Yellow Brick Road” finale, which the 6.1 Marine Corps obstacle course.  The challenge events are nicknamed after the Wizard of Oz for traditional reasons.  Event one was entitled “Tin Man Trot”, which was a 1.5+ mile run around the base.  1.5+ miles isn’t so bad, but combine that with the coldest day in Quantico in five years when we began the run, 12 degrees, and it makes for a chilly run.  Even being from Nebraska it is still cold.  I learned a long time ago it is better to be too warm than cold, layers make the difference.  I wasn’t cold.  Florida guy, he was cold.  Having 270+ people taking off at the sound of a bell maked it seem like a flash mob.  The “Not in Kansas Anymore” event is next week.  After talking to the guy who drove from Utah, he’s already glad he’s not in Kansas anymore!

Wednesday night was “Flag Night” where patches and other trinkets were exchanged between everyone and the new FBI agents in training.  The cafeteria has flags of the 50 states plus some other countries and people hung around their state flag until their giveaway stuff was gone then mingled.  After the event wrapped up there was a mandatory meeting in the Boardroom. 

Interesting tidbit from the Officer Involved Shooting class today on memory recall.  The instructor showed a picture from “Logan’s Run”, the movie from 1976.  He asked if anyone remembered it or parts of the movie.  Only about three of us had a clue, sucks to be old.

I mentioned there are some top drawer people here.  One case in point is the guy from Bosnia.  During his flight over he helped save a life on the aircraft when one of the passengers fell out.  He performed CPR on the passenger and brought him back.  Well done. I’m limited on the ability to post pictures.  Some areas and people are off limits for security reasons. I did have a good picture taken with the guys from Wisconsin; however, since they are all Badger fans, I refuse to give Wisky any more pub.  The 70-31 is still too fresh, and they keep reminding me of it (LOL).
PT class today was another installment in medieval torture, this time sandbags, rubber bands, tire chains, and kettlebells.  It is actually kind of fun if you are into pain and sweat.  The Blessed Sacrament gym classes at the Miller Park Y were just a tad different.  Fitness doesn’t come easy.  Three days of it next week….can‘t wait.  On a serious note, the PT is what it should be…challenging mixed with great people to work out with.  Our section has an awesome instructor. Thanks for the motivation EJ!!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Week 2 gets started

Weekends at Quantico are whatever you make of them. Much like being in college, many students return home for the weekend.  Since this was a holiday weekend, most NA students within a 6 hr drive headed home and returned sometime on Monday. Those of us that stayed either ventured out to sightsee, work on papers, or basically hang out.  I was fortunate enough to get up to Alexandria and meet up with eight cops from Sarpy County (a La Vista and Bellevue officer and 6 Sarpy deputies) who are part of our Metro Honor Guard and were marching in the Inaugural parade yesterday. 
The NA course work is more demanding than the normal police seminars. Since the courses are University of Virginia sanctioned, several require research and term papers, most classes have several papers due.  I was able to knock out about 75% of my term papers by banging away on the computer yesterday.  I also discovered I have been to the library on site more times than I did at Sam Houston in four years of college. It is enjoyable, however. 

The weekend also gave me legs time to recover from the demonic stretching they experienced in PT Thursday and Friday. It probably didn't help attempting to do a crossfit style workout on Saturday. Texas Jeff put together a simple 6 stage workout that you are suppossed to do five times. I barely made it three. 

Our first challange run is tomorrow. Rumor is Lester Holt from the Today Show is filming a segment on the FBI Academy tomorrow which we understand will be shown on Saturday morning.  He'll be doing a piece about the Academy, highlighting the resources here. Word is he may participate in our run tomorrow...I hope he dresses warm, temps should be in the teens when the starting gun goes off. 
Good news on the health front as the two class members taken to the hospital last week were treated and released and back in class. 
As many before us have experienced, the cafeteria food isn't bad, it's just repetitive. There are only so many ways to cook skinless chicked and fish. What they call an "angus" steak was more like a hamburger to me.  Washington may know politics but they do not know beef. Here's to red meat! 

Friday, January 18, 2013

Week 1 in the books

Week one ended at 3:30 pm today.  It has been a busy week with the administrative things that needed to be taken care of combined with course work and physical training. I can say that the five classes I have are all interesting and worthwhile.  I posted earlier about stopping at the Flight 93 crash site. Today in Forensics we were shown photos of the crash scene and an explanation of how the FBI Evidence Recovery Team worked the scene...quite impressive and having stopped there on the way to Quantico made it make more sense. Looking forward to explanations of the JonBenet Ramsey case (yes, the parents did do it) and the OJ case.
The media course will include a debriefing by the spokesman from the Connecticut State Police who handled the media at the scene of the school shooting in Newtown. I'm taking an officer-involved shooting course which will probably result in some changes to our current policy. The FBI has an area called "Hogan's Alley" which is the gold standard for realistic firearms training and judgmental shooting. Very impressive facility. I wish we had something even remotely like this in the Midwest.
Another course is called Contemporary Issues in Law Enforcement which is a discussion based look at current topics effecting law enforcement both nationally and internationally. Funny how some personnel issues in Gibraltar (yes, the Rock) are not much different than in La Vista!
The physical training course is an eye opener. Not so much showing improvement needed, but the style of training and the best way to do it. The PT instructor has found a way to stretch every muscle in my lower body in ways unknown to my muscles. I took about 14 months to get in shape for this training and I'm glad I did, but if I would have known the correct way to train that journey would have been more efficient.  Sprints and stress-recovery-stress combined with a crossfit type workout is the new standard. A fifty year old should not be training like a 35 yr old. That being said, one classmate was carted off to the hospital by squad this afternoon with chest pains...we all hope he's ok!  That makes at least 2 classmates this week taken to the hospital. Word was 13 or more were in sick bay yesterday with flu-like symptoms...one went to the hospital dehydrated.
The FBI HRT (Hostage Rescue Team) is housed here. There has been alot of training activity (helicopters, explosions, etc) going on in preparation for the Inauguration. Very impressive stuff. We are well protected.
The sun did make an appearance today.  First time I've seen sunlight since last Thursday in Omaha. The weather experts here must have cut their teeth in Omaha ...we were suppossed to get Snowmageddon (4-8 inches) yesterday....ended up with light rain...no snow.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Main Entrance



Check in, Orientation, Class

Arrival in Quantico takes you through two checkpoints to get to the Academy, one through the Marine Corps initial checkpoint and the other about 5 miles into the base. As soon as I pulled into the Academy parking lot and got out of my car I was greeted with the sound of constant gunfire in the distance as the Academy is near one of the USMC ranges. Actually sounded kinda cool.  The explosion about 5 pm was a little different. Evidently the USMC routinely detonates unexploded ordinance that was found buried on the running trails about two years ago. The explosions usually rattle the windows. No big deal to the people assigned here.
FBI agents in training helped bring suitcases and other things up to the NA students assigned rooms.  There is a dorm under renovation so just about every available room at the NA is being assigned so no single rooms for NA students.  I ended up on the 7th and top floor at the end of the hall. Good location away from the sound of the elevator but not so good and "taking the stairs" to the 7th floor won't be happening too many times. Rooms are seperated by a bathroom, so that means four men share a bathroom...luckily, our suitemate has the only room where a second person is not assigned, so that makes sharing the bathroom and showers easier to manage
My roommate is a police Lieutenant from Virginia. Nice guy, and best of all he doesn't snore. Thank god. The guy directly across the hall is from Green Bay (in charge of security deployment at Lambeau Field) and was on suicide watch after the Packers lost on Saturday night (that would be a joke) to the 49 ers. There are four guys from Wisconsin, two from around Madison, so it's hard to talk Cornhusker smack after the beatdown in the B1G championship game.
There are 269 people in the class, with 29 international police officers from as far away as Cambodia, The Philippines, South Korea, the Ukraine, Aruba, and the Republic of Texas. It's a pretty impressive group.
Every student has to take 5 courses plus the Fitness course. Today was the first day of classes as well as the initial PT assessment. The classroom courses seem like they'll be interesting and educational. I have a Forensics class that looks like it will be awesome  The PT assesstment today included height/weight/blood pressure and other measurements.
We were timed in a one-mile run to set a fitness baseline. Since it was raining outside, obviously we ran outside. Running in 35 degree rain with shorts and a tee shirt isn't advisable. I figured Virginia
cold was't as bad as Nebraska cold...mistake.  Preparing physically a year in advance does have its benefits for us more experienced (ie: old guys) coppers. I was pleased with my mile time as I matched the 32 year old guy from Wisconsin by running a sub-nine minute mile (8:39 for me, 6:35 for him...both under 9 minutes right??).  
The cafeteria food is pretty good. There's a wide selection of choices available.  It's only week one and the food choices could get repetitive and old, but complaining about the food would be nit-picky. 
There won't be many pictures of NA activity posted on this blog  The FBI has rules about what can and can't be photographed. There are active agent recruit classes in training as well as some people in our class who have secret-squirrel jobs that could be compromised with photos. 
That's it for now..  Time to do laundry. Yes dear, I'll seperate the white clothes from the darks and use fabric softener! 

Friday, January 11, 2013

Flight 93 site pictures

I didn't know there were mountains in Pennsylvania!!!

It's a long drive from the Omaha metro to the east coast, especially in the rain.  After not seeng much rain at all in 2012, I have seen non-stop precip from 1400 hrs on Thursday to the present time (2100) Friday. It started at the Iowa-Illinois border and hasn't stopped.  Semi trucks on the Interstate make thing worse!  After finally getting out of the "land of Pelini" (Ohio), I rolled into Pennsylvania and treked down the PA Turnpike through the mountains.  I never knew there were mountains in PA. I-76 goes through the Alleghenys...combine that with rain and semi trucks makes for white-knuckle driving.  I did make a stop at the Flight 93 crash site. Amazing what those passengers did on that plane in giving their lives to save so many others!  I've been fortunate to have been to two of the three 9-11 sites, and I'll get to The WTC site n NYC next month.
When I made it into Maryland I saw the exedous of traffic northbound on I-70 out of DC. Alot of people must live in the north "suburbs" (50 miles out!!).
I'll check in to the "Q" tomorrow afternoon.  More then. 10-7 for the evening

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Last Day at Work...10-8 Tomorrow

Today was my last day in the office.  I cleaned out the in-basket and filtered the emails.  The department is in good hands...Capt Pokorny and Captain Barcal along with the great Sergeants we have will see to that.  Part of any succession plan involves delegating responsibility and giving your staff opportunities to develop their skill sets.  

Finished up packing and loading up the car.  One of the pieces of advice I have been given is to not over pack, as the uniform of the day, every day, is a green polo shirt and khaki TAC pants.  That being said, as fashion conscious as I am, I did pack about 10 different tee shirts and a couple pair of jeans, (and of course a suit and a couple dress shirts for the official things). My wife bought me a Keurig earlier this year.  That will definitely be making the trip.  

Looking at the normal winter weather in Northern Virginia, it looks like the average highs are around 45-50 in Jan-Feb, with lows in the upper 20s…that will feel like Florida weather to me!  I’m sure the actual Florida officers, along with the Californians and other sun-birds, will be packing newly purchased parkas and snow boots!

There's a great advantage to driving rather than flying to the NA. Trunk space and the back seat equal alot more room than two checked bags. I understand the dorm rooms at the NA are rather small so having the ability to keep some stuff in the car may come in handy. Also, if I get a roommate that snores uncontrollably, he may fit in the trunk.

Leaving at 0-dark-thirty tomorrow morning.  Looks like rain between Omaha and the east coast...that beats snow. 10-8 


Friday, January 4, 2013




Welcome to the "Blog". The first agenda item will be the experiences while attending the FBI National Academy Session #252 at the United States Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia. I will be leaving on January 10, 2013 and plan to graduate on March 22.


The application process takes anywhere from 2 to 3 years to complete. There's four sessions a year.  The FBI District of Nebraska encompasses Nebraska and Iowa and has 3 slots in each session NA session, so that equates to 6 slots for Nebraska candidates and 6 for Iowa every year.  Each session is comprised of approximately 250-275 officers who represent every state as well as approximately 20 foreign countries. Only 1/2 of one percent of US law enforcement officers are selected to attend the FBI NA.  LaVista Police Captains Kevin Pokorny and DJ Barcal are NA graduates.  

This is not a "just sign up for the course" training. There is a fitness and weight requirement, so advance preparation, much like preparing for the police recruit academy, is a must. I began my prep work over a year ago and have had countless trips to the gym and calorie cutting. As probably one of the older cops in the class (average age is about 41), I want to make sure I can hang, so I dropped about 30 lbs and am probably in the best shape I've been in for the past 20 years.  Hopefully that will help get me through the physical part!! 


Feel free to share this blog with anyone you feel may be interested. I hope to have some great experiences to share over the next several months.  It's great to have the support of my family, co-workers and most importantly the forward-thinking leaders in La Vista government.  


I hope to be at the "Q" by January 12, 2013. More to come then.