Josh's PSTC Graduation

On Monday Josh had his final test, final physical test, and he turned in his equipment. After 4 months of wearing a gun belt every single day, it felt kind of weird to not have it on! I took my mom shopping around Franklin all day. We hit up my favorite store..Goodwill! Before spending many hours in thrift stores and boutiques on main street. It was a wonderful change of pace for me after spending 4 months around law & nature fanatics :) We ended our "girls day" with pedicures so we would have the prettiest toes at the graduation!! When we got home, we ate dinner and then headed to a local bar to visit with a few of Josh's classmates. My Mom fit right in believe it or not! Everybody was giving Josh a hard time for asking if his wife and mother-in-law could come! By the end, I think they had more fun visiting with my mom than Josh! They truly are a great group of guys (and girls ;) that we will miss when we leave!

Tuesday was graduation day. Josh had to finish up a few last minute things at the school, and then my mom and I came just in time for the ceremony. It was a great ceremony, very inspirational! There were a few speakers, and then they all walked the line to receive there certifications. When they handed over their I.D.'s, they received a Challenge Coin signifying that they have "Been there, Done that". I am sure Josh will have a lot of fun with it in the coming future :) The culinary arts school provided a wonderful lunch spread. We stayed and visited, took lots of pictures, and said goodbye to a few of his classmates!

Class #92 Driving Range

This week Josh and his classmates have been at the driving range. It is basically a huge parking lot where they set up cones and use old cop cars to practice. They have learned how to use their cars, operate the lights and sirens while communicating on the radio, call for backup, and navigate the cones. The cones are in the shape of buildings, alleys, parking spots, and anything else you could imagine having to drive around. Some of the courses require the instructor to ride in the vehicle with the student driver and student passengers in the back. Other times they are in the cars by themselves while the teacher gives commands over the radio.

Monday: the first day was mostly a practice day for a few different courses. One of the courses is in the shape of a half circle. They have to drive into the course, get up to 25 mph, and make the circle without hitting any cones. It took most of them a few practice tries, but by the afternoon,  they were able to qualify on the courses. They have minimum speed requirements, and they are timed. Some of the hardest parts have been getting up to speed fast enough to still be able to make the coming maneuvers.

Tuesday: the second day was mostly practicing the precision course. At one point, they have a short stretch of road where they have to get up to 30 mph before making a sharp right or left turn! They have to back up through parts of the course when they cant see the cones behind them. There are a lot of sharp turns, and some tight parking spots. They don't have enough time to inch their way in. They had to learn to trust their instincts and just go for it. On this day, they also completed the serpentine course. They had to weave through a line of cones and then back up through the same line in a short amount of time. It was tough to learn when to turn your wheel in order to clear the cones, but this was one of the most fun courses for most of them :)

Wednesday: the third day started out with emergency response. They were responding to a call with backup following them. They just had to drive the 2 minute course as first the lead, and then as backup.  They also had to qualify on the precision course during daylight and at night. There were places they had to speed down an 8 ft. "alley" then back up, forward again before turning right or left. They have to complete the course without hitting more than 4 cones. This day they also had to drive in the skid car. It is a car with wheels on the outside. When they get up to speed and hit the button, the wheels drop down, lifting the car up. It simulates skidding on ice or snow. They had to retain control of the vehicle while "skidding". If they were going too fast, the car would end up spinning in 360's. This was definitely fun for them to play around in. Josh had a bit of an advantage having grown up with 9 months of winter most of his life :)

Thursday: the fourth day they had to qualify during daylight and at night again. For this course, there were some stretches that they had to get up to high speeds, trying to keep up with the suspect. They were in pursuit of a vehicle (being driven by the teacher in a newer/nicer car), and they had to stay on the radio with dispatch the whole time. Josh did really well! He loves driving anyways, so when he is allowed to go fast it makes it that much better :) The lights and sirens get your adrenaline rushing immediately. Even though there is no actual suspect, it is a very effective simulation.

By the end of the week, they had a few cars broken down. They were rough on transmissions, lost brakes, fried multiple headlights, and a few other things. I would say it was a successful week :)

Pizza & Bowling

$1.99 Margaritas

Well some of you may have guessed what we did this weekend from my Facebook page! You can't go wrong when you find a cute little pizza joint with a group of old men playing country music, and the special is $1.99 margaritas!

Josh was supposed to get out of school at 3pm on Saturday, so we had plans to head to Asheville (aka the closest "big" city) to do some shopping…. but the teachers decided not to tell them they had changed the schedule. They finally got out at 6:30! The alternative was to go for pizza and bowling with a few other students :) We had a great time chatting with everyone, listening to the band, having a few drinks, and eventually enjoying some awesome pizza! I was glad to finally put a few more faces to names, and it was nice to participate in the stories I hear about every night :)  Josh & I tried a new pizza called Mama Mia. It had cranberries, walnuts, white sauce, chicken, and a few other things I can't remember. It was awesome! I think it might be my new favorite :) We did some dancing with these super cute old people.


After the pizza place, we headed over to the Franklin Lanes for some cosmic bowling! We had no idea, but it was Saturday night :) I had on an awesome neon shirt, so that worked out nicely.
Also, there was a full bar there! Kinda pricey, but this was the first night out with friends we have had since we got here. (Actually since New Years!)

We played a couple rounds of bowling. Josh beat me the first round, and I was second to last. I beat him the second round, and barely ended up in second place (on my screen)! The boys started competing to see who could throw the ball the fastest! Josh won with nearly 30mph :) We were the last people to leave since it is county law for all minors to be home before midnight. All in all it was a fun night out! 

Mary, Yoder, Me

Meyers, Starkey, Josh, Deeds, Bond, Yoder, Mary

I am the bottom right - MrsC short for Mrs. Coffee :)

Class #92 Hell Week: Day 5 - Gun Qualifications

Sorry this post is a couple days late! Friday was the last day of Hell Week for Class #92. They had their gun qualifications for daylight and lowlight (aka dark!). Since they would be in class late, they had a late start. Josh and I got to bum around for the morning before he had to head to school at 11:00. The shooting range is in Sylva, so it is about a 25 minute drive from the school. Therefore, Josh couldn't come home for dinner. I didn't get to see him again until about 10:30 Friday night! They have been practicing qualifications for a couple weeks now. They have to properly draw their guns and shoot before the target turns in a short amount of time. Then they assess the situation and replace their guns. Their holsters have a double lock on them, so it took some practice learning how to smoothly draw their weapon. For the qualifications, they shot at a human shadow for their target. (This sounds really bad, but I promise it's not! They are just like any other target just in the shape of a torso.) They have to hit within the inner shadow to unsure a valid shot. They shoot at 3 yards, 7 yards, 15 yards, and 25 yards. Some of the shots are with their non dominant hand, and the 15 and 25 yard shots are from behind cover. At one point they have to shoot twice, change their magazine, and shoot again. This is called Tactical Magazine Exchange. They have between 3 and 5 seconds to make either 2 or 3 shots depending on which distance they are shooting from. That means the have to draw their weapon and shoot up to 3 times in under 5 seconds! They are crazy fast!! There are a total of 30 shots. A 21 is passing. They had to "qualify" for 2/3 attempts in both daylight and lowlight. Josh has been shooting his entire life, so this was pretty easy for him. It took a little practice to learn how to properly draw and hold his gun, but he was able to have fun with it. A few of the others had never shot a gun before, so the qualification was very difficult for them. There are a few ex-military members in the class, so they did very well. Overall this was a less stressful, more fun way to end Hell Week! (For Josh at least!) 

Class #92 Hell Week: Day 4 - Written Tests & PT

Day 4 started out with test #1 for the day. This is their 4^th written test of the course thus far. They can fail and retake one test. If they fail anymore than that, they are out of the course. This test was on drugs, domestic violence, and crimes against property. There are about 300+ drugs. They have a Drug Bible that they use to classify any drugs they confiscate. Despite their worries, this test was their easiest test yet! That may have been because they studied extra hard for this one, but either way they all did well! After their test, they had The Big 21 for PT. This means they do 21 pushups, sprint to the end of the lot, do 21 sit-ups, sprint back, do 20 pushups, sprint to the end, do 20 sit-ups, so on and so forth till they reach 1 pushup, sprint, 1 sit-up, sprint, and they are finally done! Josh and Meyer's have partnered up for this particular workout so they can link legs for the sit-ups. This makes it a little easier, but it is still tough! It ends up being 249 pushups, 249 sit-ups, and about 2.5 miles of running. They do the workout in about 45 minutes, so they go home pretty sweaty :) After lunch, they returned to school for their Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) test. EMR and Wild Land Fire training are in addition to the 723 hours of the regular course. The second test was tougher, but it still went well. 2 tests after 3 tough days was tiring, so once again, Josh is glad this day is over :) 

He even got a haircut to top it all off!

Class #92 Hell Week: Day 3 - Ground Tactics Scenarios

Day 3 of Hell Week wasn’t so bad after all! Today was test day for ground tactics.  Last week was very physical. They learned how to properly defend themselves in a hand-to-hand combat situation (AKA wrestling!) In order to learn the proper way to get out of sticky situations and regain control of the suspect, the class wrestled with each other for about 10 hours a day on Friday and Saturday. Blood, sweat, and tears! (Bumps, bruises, and sore muscles - free of charge :) Today they were tested on their use of technique by wrestling each other. There was no way to know what the suspect (other classmate) was going to do next. Believe it or not this day was a lot more dreaded than you would think. They are trained to constantly assess their situation, be aware of their surroundings, protect their weapons, gain control of the suspect, and most importantly keep themselves safe! Side note… Josh is WAY more aware of absolutely everything since he started his training here! He can assess any situation with little to no evidence. 

Anyways, when they arrived at school today the teachers decided to do their “testing” a little differently this year. They have been very impressed with the class’s performances thus far; so they thought it would be fun to switch things up a bit. Rather than having each student wrestle the teacher (this is half the reason they were so worried), they had to complete an obstacle course that ended with wrestling their partner one on one. Each stage of the obstacle course was designed to simulate a fight so they would feel the exhaustion and mental strain of a real world scenario. The teacher kept saying, “I’m going to pull you into the deepest water and see if you can swim!” For the obstacle course, they both jogged back and forth on the road. For the second part, one partner fought a dummy with a baton while the other did pushups and sit-ups.  The third obstacle required first elbowing the punching bag while the other partner held it, and secondly kicking/kneeing the bag. Next one would flip a tractor tire while the other practiced moves on a dummy.  Finally, they jogged back to “the circle” and sat back to back on the mat. When the teacher would say, “Fight”, they would wrestle until one of them had contained the other. The teacher would say, “Back to back!” Then they would fight again. This went on for about 5 minutes straight – full force, all out, wrestling! The entire obstacle took them about 15 minutes to complete. It was very high intensity! “The circle” cheered on the group that was fighting; yelling commands, encouraging effort, and most of all, supporting their classmates :) In the end, they arrested a compliant suspect. They were out of breath and exhausted, but they were still required to give proper commands. Although they were being tested, the students had a blast! They said it was the most fun they had had yet! Since they put forth so much effort, they were sent home for a long lunch, and ultimately a short day! Class #92 has been a wonderful group of people, and I am so glad Josh is a part of them!

Class #92 Hell Week: Day 2 - Taser

Today was Taser Day! After what they went through yesterday, I think they all felt they could take anything :) They had their lecture in the morning, and they were scheduled to have “the exercise” in the afternoon. Well their teacher surprised them with a change of schedule! They had all been tased by noon. I was slightly disappointed that I couldn’t offer any more words of encouragement, but I was glad that Josh came home with a smile :) Typically the taser probes are shot at the suspect. However, every single shot costs $25, so they picked 5 names out of a hat to be “shot”. The other students were tased with a clip on attachment. They are like a fishhook, so they stick into the skin. (There was a lot of blood being shed today.) As long as there is a connection (aka 2 probes are attached to a person), there will be a jolt of energy causing temporary paralysis. Josh was hoping to be chosen out of that for the experience and the shock of the shot. Weird right! That’s what I thought, but I guess the instant shot is better than the suspense! Maybe??  Anyways Josh had one clip on his belt and one on his shirt/opposite shoulder. The clips generate the same amount of energy as the fishhook probes, but the teacher just chose the exact points to clip to the students. All of the muscles between the probes (in Josh’s case, his entire back) convulse for 5 seconds! Yikes! Two students held each of them as they were being shocked so they wouldn’t get hurt from falling to the ground. As Josh was being lowered, he yelled “Oh God, Oh God, Oh God”. Some of the other students yelled much worse things, and some of them were literally speechless! As soon as the 5 seconds was over, the pain stopped immediately! After yesterday, this was a walk in the park! Josh said, “I would be tased any day!” I am glad day 2 of Hell Week wasn’t so bad, but now he is resting up for his ground tactics scenarios tomorrow.

Class #92 Hell Week: Day 1 - Pepperspray

Today is day one of Hell Week. Class #92 meets pepper spray! The proper term is oleoresin capsicum (OC). They were told to close their eyes and mouth. The instructor sprayed across their eyes and down their nose and mouth with a concentration of about 1.65% pepper spray solution, the strongest you can get. The typical concentration is about .65%. They were then required to punch & knee a punching bag while yelling “Get Back, Get Back”. After completing multiple punches (side note: they say, “Throw your punches in bunches like you buy your grapes!”), they had to perform an “Arm-Bar Takedown”, a form of arrests in which the suspect resists arrests thus requiring use of physical force.  They started at the end of the alphabet, so Josh was second in line. After completing the requirements, he had to step in to hold the bag for others. A few of his quotes about the experience include…

“I would not wish that on my worst enemy.”

“That is like eating a ghost pepper (the hottest pepper known) times a thousand.”

“It was like a sunburn on steroids.”

"My face feels like a terrible sunburn being heated with a sun lamp, and someone rubbing sand all over it!"

“Unless I get pepper sprayed again, that WILL be the WORST pain I ever experience in my life.”

Another student said, “My tears are like fire.”

Every time their peppered skin comes in contact with water for the next 24 hours, the pepper is reactivated. Although Josh posted a “FunFact Sunday” about the history of pepper spray, I don’t think any of them expected such a bad experience.  They used baby shampoo to literally wash their eyes out. Many of them were drooling, spitting up, coughing, sneezing, burping, and anything else to attempt to find relief. Water was their best friend & worst enemy combined. They have to use it to get the solution off, but every time they use it, it reactivates the burn. It sounds like they did a good job helping each other get through the exercise. I saw Josh about an hour after the experience, and I felt so bad for him I couldn’t even laugh. I have no desire to EVER come in contact with pepper spray! Needless to say, we went for margaritas to celebrate the end of that journey!

Josh about 11/2 hours after being pepper sprayed

Margaritas make everything better!