Week 9 has come and gone. Most classes are wrapping up with final tests and presentations pretty much all that's left. Monday will be the final physical assessment in PT to determine what level of improvement resulted from the past 10 weeks. I have no doubt that most of the class improved in muscle mass. I won't be surprised if most gained weight, most likely good weight, however, a high concentration of barley hops may be present in many.
The Yellow Brick Road obstacle course was postponed from Tuesday to yesterday due to the Marines needing to use the course. Our section, 4, had PT on Thursday. Pain Master O'Malley didn't pass up the opportunity to put us through a final round of medieval torture as he had a 1:30 minute circuit with 6 stations. 1:30 full out, rest 15 seconds as you get to the next station, and there you go again. This was followed by leg stretching using a band. My legs have never been stretched in such a way. I woke up at midnight with leg cramps. The stretching was good stuff and something I'll do at home once my body recovers from the abuse it has taken over the past 10 weeks.
The YBR course began at 0900 with a temperature of 29 degrees. You get off the bus and off you go into the woods for 3 miles. It is best described as a military trail hike with obstacles. The biggest obstacle to me was trying to avoid the mud puddles and tree roots throughout the forest. One classmate was taken to the hospital after he split his elbow open on the jagged rock climb. Word on the street was he had to get 9 staples to close the wound and has some shoulder issues. One other guy tweaked a knee. Once you get out of the woods you pop out next to the Marine Corps officer training base. They had training going on and when we were in the woods the sound of explosions and gunfire really made for some good ambiance. Once off the trail, three of us made 3 mile the trek back to the finish line. One interesting fact...we have two Marines in our class, and since this is a USMC course, both are required to be in USMC gear whenever on the course so they had to run the course with Marine equipment on. Here's to them!!!! It was a fun and challenging finale to the PT program.
Dinner was with a great group of 10 or so guys at a steakhouse in Price William County followed by a dose of Advil for the sore legs.
Forensics class on Thursday had a presentation on the JonBenet Ramsey case. The presenter was a former Boulder detective assigned to the case. In my opinion, there was a terrible response by a couple Boulder cops that screwed the crime scene up, but the investigative work was outstanding. Based on the evidence and case work, there's no doubt in my mind who was involved with murdering the 6 year old girl. How John and Patsy Ramsey were not prosecuted is a mystery to me. After 16 years, you could still see how bitter and disgusted the detective feels about how justice was never served in this case. Patsy is dead, however, her millionaire husband still roams free. The evidence shows how they did it and how they staged the scene. The little girl deserved justice. One of the grand jurors spoke out in January of this year and said the grand jury voted to indict both of them but the Boulder District Attorney declined. Shame on him.
Families will begin to arrive on Wednesday in advance of the Friday graduation. Amazing how big of a deal this is here. The FBI had to have a guest list early on in order to do security checks on attendees. Tickets are needed for graduation admittance as seats are limited. They do run a tight ship here which to me is impressive.
I hope they start selling Yuengling in Omaha sometime soon!!!!