Wow, I can hardly believe we're almost a month down. I apologize for the lack of updates!
So R started break-in and it's been a whirlwind so far. He enjoys his office and he likes the officers he's met. He's well acquainted with his FTO (Field Training Officer) and he is learning A LOT. The academy was great preparation for learning at a quick pace but being out on the road entails a lot more than they could have taught in the classroom environment. The main areas R focuses on learning is knowing the beats his office is responsible for (the roads or freeway segments they drive) and filling out forms with speed and accuracy.
So far, R had written multiple tickets and answered numerous calls to accidents on the road. His schedule right now is 12 hour shifts and since he's paired with a senior officer, he's working weekdays. It's the best possible schedule right now but we know not to get comfortable since he will definitely be working graves and likely weekends once break-in is over. But we can enjoy it while it lasts!
For our office, break-in works in 4 phases. Each phases lasts approximately 15 working days and each phase is with a different FTO except the 1st and 4th phase, in which R will return to his initial FTO to determine if he's ready to handle the road on his own.
So those are the logistics but how is it really going?
Overall, it's going great! R loves what he's doing, he's learning a lot and I can already tell it's a career he's going to really enjoy. Having 3 day or 4 day weekends has been such a treat compared to our 48 hour weekends we had in the academy, plus he comes home every night for a home cooked meal and gets to sleep in our comfy bed. It is LIGHTYEARS better than academy life. For any of you wives or family members reading this with cadets who are starting the academy or are currently in it, I can tell you life after the academy has been much easier on the two of us so far. But then again, we haven't started graves yet so I'll update you when that time comes.
There were a lot of people that warned us about how stressful break-in would be and how it might be tougher than academy life. For us, that's not the case. R does come home with work at night but just being able to be at home to do it, is a vast improvement from academy living. If he has a hard day at work, knowing he can come home to decompress is a huge relief. And boy lemme tell ya, I'm so THANKFUL they taught these men to function on so little sleep at the academy, because on the days they work, they don't have much time to sleep. I know I rest easier knowing that he can function well on the job with only 5-6 hours of sleep, and I really appreciate the academy training for that.
Lastly, we love living in the East Bay! Our new apartment is worth every penny and we love being home because it has wonderful amenities. There's so many wonderful things to do in or around the Bay and R and I are so thankful to still be close to home if want to make a weekend trip.
So there's a little update for now, I'll try to be better about popping in here!
