2.8.10

Hey Everyone,

The much anticipated report on Ryan's first EVOC experience is in! First, the instructors took 3 cadets at a time for a drive around the course. Ryan said that it was unreal! The driving instructors are amazing drivers and they blew their minds with what they could do in those cars and arrive back at the starting line in one piece. They showed them 2 ways to parallel park. First, they showed them the traditional way which of course they were familiar with. The second way was to take them all the way around the track at 100+ mph dodging cones and smoking the tires and eventually sliding sideways into the parking space perfectly parallel. They said, " Now, that's the other way to parallel park." Ryan eventually got to drive and practiced high-speed lane changes and backing, precision backing, as well as driving through a course of cones. He liked it and felt as though he did well for is first attempt. That is some very basic info from his experience - you will need to hear that story from Ryan yourself.

The instructors said that the brakes on the Crown Vics that they use get replaced every 100 miles.

Ryan should have his first attempt at skid pan this week. Skid pan is a driving course where they practice driving in wet conditions. Today a cadet from Ryan's class failed out on skid pan and went home. Some of the other cadets that are testing on skid pan are on their last attempt and are getting nervous...hopefully they pass.

Surprisingly there are still some cadets that don't seem to keeping up with the class during PT. There is a cadet that regularly is singled-out for not keeping up during PT in the gym. When they single him out he must sit on the floor Indian-style with his elbows on his knees and his face resting on his hands while the rest of the cadets do extra exercises and while they are doing the exercises they are chanting " Thank You Cadet Butler for strengthening my mind and body". How awful for that cadet, however he still is falling behind!

For the last few weeks Ryan has been attending extra Physical Methods of Arrest classes (30 min in the am and pm) to help him get ready for his Baton qualification in a couple of weeks. Today they got to do what I am calling a Baton Beat-Down! Their instructors were fully padded and the cadets had foam batons and head gear on. The cadets went up one at a time to face off with the instructors. They were given 15 seconds to draw their batons before the instructors yelled Engage! and attacked the cadets. Some of cadets ran the whole time, others lost their batons, some were fully mounted by the instructors and were punched in the face! One cadet may have a broken nose, one was singled-out and told that he should go home because he doesn't belong there and some were sent back to do it again. Ryan did not get punched or lose his baton and was not made to redo the excercise....so it sounds like our Cadet Muffin Top did well!

Ryan passed another uniform inspection last week without incident unlike many of the other cadets that are still getting gigged for uniform infractions. They are also verbally quizzed while leaving the chow hall. Ryan 's first few quizzes he recalls that he was like a dear in headlights. Last week he was able to respond quickly with the right answer. He is definitely getting more used to the Staff Officers and their teaching techniques.

Sorry the pictures aren't too varied, Ryan apparently wears the same shirt every weekend. The little girl in the pic is our friend's daughter Zoe. The other pic is just for fun. Seeing Ryan's stuff in the kitchen means he is home for the weekend - yeah!

Love,

Amy