( Here is an UPDATED FAQ written from Week 20. The information below was written before the academy, although a lot of it is still true, there are some differences.)
What are the logistics?
R will be living at the West Sacramento facility Monday-Friday with some availability to go home on the weekends (and possibly Wednesday evenings, although that is always tentative). He will take multiple tests (academic, driving, shooting, etc) and if all goes well, he will graduate in late February 2015. After that, we are assigned to a division office anywhere in California.
What is the CHP academy like?
He will be up as early as 4:00 am to train physically, sit through multiple classes a day (Hours-wise, they get 2 years of college education compressed into 6 months), take numerous tests weekly, spend hours practicing skills and at the end of the night, they get their uniform ready for the next day. It's a full day (usually around 12-15 hours long) from start to finish.
The CHP academy is similar to having a full time job, taking a full load of college classes, living in a dorm without freedom to come/go during the week and training for a tough mudder nearly everyday for 6 months, all at the same time.
What will change with R being in the academy?
The biggest change is that he won't have his phone. He will be unavailable Monday-Friday. If we're lucky, he'll get a phone call occasionally at the end of the night. You can send him texts but he won't see them in real time and he's unlikely to respond during the work week (although they are good ways to encourage him to keep going!). So if you need information to reach R, I can pass info on to him via our short phone calls.
Secondly, even though he might have weekends off, our lives will be consumed with LOTS of studying, laundry and preparations for the following week at the academy. Any rare additional time will probably be spent seeing family and he'll want to catch up on sleep too. So there's a good chance we won't be free to make solid plans until graduation in February. Please don't take any of our declining of events personally, we just have to be careful about managing his time and keeping him focused.
How can we help R?
Support is the #1 thing he needs. It's been said by so many people that success only comes in the academy if they have the support of loved ones. Even though he likely won't be able to respond, the following are highly encouraged:
1. Sending him encouraging texts
2. Leaving him short voicemails
3. Sending letters or cards to him in the academy (Letters only, no packages. Also, these can be pre-screened by officers so just FYI. E-mail me for his address or pass them to me and I'll send them with my letters!)
Anything to give him motivation to keep pushing. The overarching message should always be to never give up. Although we would all love for R to come home (and no one understands this as much as I do), please try to keep your eye on big picture. This is his dream job and we need to do everything possible to keep him going. Don't hesitate to say that you miss him, but don't overdo it either.
R left this morning at 06:30 hours for the Academy, looking spiffy and excited. He kissed me and puppies goodbye, turned off his phone and away he went. Can't wait to hear from him so I can keep you all posted.
Sincerely,
E
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