Wed Dec 6th

The past few days have gone by very quickly. Classes are now in full swing and they are keeping us very busy. Between going to class, having section meetings (they have us split up into 6 different sections), and committee meetings, I sometimes only have a few minutes for lunch.

On Tuesday evening, I had to attend a mandatory movie for my Media class. It wasn't too bad for an assignment. The classes that I am taking here at the FBI academy are:
- Leadership, Ethics, and Decision Making
- Contemporary issues in Police and Media Relations
- Terrorism: Mindset, methodologies, and government response
- Interviewing strategies through statement analysis
- Managing Death Investigations
- Fitness for Law Enforcement

The Terrorism class is a graduate level course, the others are all undergrad. I don't think I've taken that many college courses since my first few semesters as a teen.

I have been working on my homework quite a bit and try to keep up on my reading assignments. On Wednesdays, we don't have class, but they reserve the day for our Challenge Run as well as other meetings and events. Tonight we have an event with a lot of the new FBI agents going through their academy. They will have the opportunity to meet some of the officers from the states where they will be assigned. I found out that the FBI agents going into the academy do not even know where they will be assigned until about the 6th week or the 22 week academy. They leave their family to come out here, not even knowing where they will be at the end.....tough situation.

I mentioned our Challenge Run. Every Wednesday, all 270+ National Academy students gather to run ever increasing distances. Today was only 1.5 miles, but some of the guys were really stressing about it. It really wasn't hard at all. Next week it goes up to 2.something and by the end it will be over 6 miles. I'm not too worried since I went for a 9 mile run just the other day and it wasn't too bad.

The fitness class is challenging and they make us really push ourselves in a variety of ways. I definately have a lot of sore muscles.

On Saturday, I slept in just a little and then ate breakfast in the cafeteria. Then I took off to go see some sights in DC. I went alone because another group left earlier in the morning and also, I just wanted to go as fast as I could to see whatever came along. I parked at the southern most METRO station and rode the subway into DC. While it was probably a lot easier than driving, the Metro still was a long ride.

In DC I went straight toward the Capitol building. I have been to the other end of the Mall, but not I have never been to the Capitol. At first glance, it didnt appear that they were giving tours, but I soon found that the visitor center is hidden underground (really, it is). They then take you underneath and then up into the capitol. The tour was very interesting and it was awesome to see some of the areas inside the Capitol building. I traded patches with some officers out front.

From there, I went to the Library of Congress for a while and then went to the National Air and Space Museum (awesome). I then wandered around looking at some of the other museums, but by then I was getting pretty tired. I made my way through some neighborhoods and grabbed something to eat, then jumped back on the subway to make my way back to my car. There had been some kind of liberal protesting going on on the Mall and there were all kinds of people in their Labor Union shirts walking around and all over the subway. I have to admit that it was actually kind of comical watching them protest. I still don't know what they were protesting though.

On Sunday, I basically just hung out around the academy. I didn't do any other exercises on Saturday since I had walked so far so I went on a 9 mile run on the Marine base. It was neat to go site seeing while I was running. When I got back the cafeteria had closed early (I guess it does on Sundays) so I ate a couple of granola bars and then read school work for most of the day trying to get ahead in some of my classes.

While wandering around, I found a memorial that sits in the middle of the FBI academy for the Sept. 11 victims. I think it is extremely well done. The memorial has a base of the Pentagon with two towers and a map of Pennsylvania and the spot where flight 93 crashed marked. Then at the base, there are actual pieces of flight 93, the Pentagon, and the World Trade Center buildings. I was amazed to find out that the pieces are not even glued down, just set in place. This is definitely a place of trust.

Friday

We officially started classes yesterday so down time is now rare. I am amazed at the work experience of a lot of the guys I am going to classes with. I am attending a Death investigations class with the lead detective for the Detroit Homicide squad, a leadership class with the likes of the Chief of Police of the Boston Police Dept. and many, many more. It is great talking to them about all of their experiences.

Today, I ate dinner with a Capt. from Hilo, Hawaii a Baltimore County Capt. and an officer from Aman, Jordan. What a group of guys!!

The day started off with classes all day. I now have quite a bit of homework as well as tons of textbooks in my room. I made a quick run into Stafford, VA to Staples and bought some milk-crate type shelves to store them on....as well as a small fan because my room needs some ventilation.

After classes I went for a 7 mile run and then 1 mile on the eliptical and did some push ups and ab excersizes. Im going to regret it tomorrow, but I found that I have gone up two pounds since I arrived here (even though I am exercizing every day. I think it is all of the great caffeteria food. I have been eating pretty healthy, but I guess I'll have to cut back a bit. The cafeteria has actually a pretty good selection of food for us as well as frozen yogurt (yes, frozen yogurt). I have attached a few photos of the cafeteria.

Tomorrow I think I will run into DC and just run around on my own a bit to see as many sights as possible. I have talked to a bunch of the officers from DC metro and the Capitol Park Police. They are working on some 'inside' tours for us. On the 17th of October, Im going to run a 5k in DC for the law enforcement memorial. They will be shutting down the roads around the Capitol, library of congress, etc. for the runners. It should be great.