Put the pedel to the metal

Let me start by saying, I am having a hard time getting my act together for blogging! I blame Parker, he's hit the into everything stage!

OK, back to Blake. Last week he only worked four days and then had a FOUR day weekend! He was in driving school and the first two days they were at the Texas Motor Speedway, and then the following two days in Grand bury at Cresson track.


The first two days they just had to drive in and out of cones driving at different speeds. The way they make them drive makes it hard, and it looks re tarted. They tell them to drive that way because they have better control of the car when they are in high speed chases. On day two Blake actually broke a car and it had to towed off. He ran over a cone and it got stuck under the car, when he pulled it out the fuel line busted. way to go Blake!

Day three was a really long day for Blake. He had to work from 9am to 12 am. Blake was pretty vague on telling me all what they did, i guess he was so tired he didn't feel like elaborating. He did tell me they had to drive through courses at 40mph in and out of cones, talking on a radio, and saying what direction they were going and they had to dodge a few things. He said he had a blast and it was way more fun than the gun range.

IF you want to know more you definitely need to ask Blake about this experience. He has told me things and I don't really know how to write about it with out it sounding all wonky.

and THE COUNT DOWN BEGINS!!!

HIP HIP HOORAY, only one more month in the academy!

I haven't been keeping very good track of whats been going on in the academy, must not have been exciting or I would have remembered and posted about his experience.

This next month will be a very busy, Just this past week, on Monday he took his Academy mid-term and got a 97.3 on it.

On Tuesday, they did red man scenarios all day. They pretty much had to do fake call senerios. the instuctors would tell Blake what the call was and he would go into the room and have to handle it the best way he knew how. They had no clue what they would be walking into. The swat guys were acting as the other officer on the scene and the victims. They practiced drawing their guns and fighting with them if they resisted arrest. Blake did really well. The instuctors told him he has the fighting down, he just needs to remember to keep an eye out on his surroundings.

 On Wednesday he sent the day at the gun-range. They practiced tactical shooting and had to qualify again. He qualified with a 90.6. The month that he was in the gun range he qualified with a 97.1. He still did great and anything above 85 is GREAT! Good job Blake.

Thursday and Friday he learned about finger printing and patrol procedures. He even now has his own finger print kit. They put in all their prints into the system. friday all day they had a full day of what to do when you pull someone over.

Next week is driving school! They will actuallly be up at Texas Motor speedway. They give him a squad car and let him drive as fast as he wants. sounds fun. They have also been teaching him how to drive with his hands at the bottom of the stearing wheel. They say you have better control of the car when involved in high speed chases. If you ask me he seems to drive worse, I guess thats why cops are bad drivers! He's been practicing when he drives because he has to get use to it, or he will fail driving school.

He has some very crazy hours this next month. One day he will be working 9 am to midnight, and one week he only works nights. I will be sure to blog about the rest of this month since they are going to be learning some fun stuff!

Fight gone bad

The past few weeks Blake has been doing CIT (critical incident training). so pretty much weapon disarmament. Today he said I know how to take a gun away from someone if they are pointing it at me, and it's painful, for the other person. Well I sure hope so!

He passed off on his baton test last week. The instructors were dressed in the red man outfit and they had to go in fighting with their batons. I guess at one point the instructor took a hold of Blake's baton and they have to fight them off. Blake got him off by kicking the instructor in the balls. That will do it!

Today during lunch Blake called me like he always does and said they had to slap the crap out of each other. I guess the instructor wanted to make sure everyone wasn't afraid to slap someone. so they had everyone line up in two lines facing each other and take turns slapping each other. If the instructors saw someone give a wimpy slap they had to get slapped by the instructors. ouch. Blake had to get slapped twice since his guy gave a first wimpy slap and they made him redo it. So needless to say when it was Blake's turn to slap he said this is payback and gave the guy a nice slap. All my How I met your Mother Fans...Happy Slapsgiving!

I pretty much created this post so I could write about Blake getting slapped...I thought it was funny they had to do that.

Fight gone bad is a work out they had to do today. They say when your done with it is how you feel after a fight. Blake said he almost threw up. I won't be fighting with him anytime soon, I don't want to get thrown up on.

ONLY 2 MORE MONTHS!

Time to catch up on Blake's academy progress.

Lets see...He has completed a Spanish class. They only took Spanish for a week, a joke if you ask me. He pretty much learned the basics to service while he is on duty. He learned the alphabet,and numbers. They learned how to say things like shoot him, put your hands behind your back, slow down, and drivers license and insurance. He would come home and practice saying things to me and half the time I didn't understand what he was saying because it never sounded right. I definitely made him work on the accent part and rolling his r's. By the end of the week he was doing pretty well. I am a proud Hispanic wife! ha ha

He also completed a DAY, yes you read a day of sign language. The learned the basics, alphabet and how to sign do you need help, obey the law, and more stuff that I can't remember. I had already shown him a few things since I use sign language with Parker.

He had his 2nd mid-term and he got a 96. AWESOME! He is doing great on all his test and workouts. He truly is giving his all and that's whats going to make him such a great officer! I am lucky to have him as a husband and father to my children!

On December 3rd he ran with class 129 in the Jingle Bell run. They had to stay together as a class and sing cadences the whole time. Blake came home and said they were like celebrities. People would run up to them and give them high fives and bring them snacks and water after the race. He said a few people joined in while running to sing cadences. He had a great time!

Burr...It has officially gotten cold in Texas! temps have gotten into the low 20 recently and Blake has had to run 3 miles in it. Sucks and I know from experience...right Alycia. They were actually nice to them one day and didn't make them run when it was cold and rainy. Its the wind that's the crappy part. When the low would be in the 40's and 50's the guys all complained that it was cold and I keep telling Blake nope you don't know what cold is yet. Well the past week he got a nice taste of the cold! only 2 more months you can do it!

below you will see a video of the baton they gave Blake. It's lethal. I sure don't ever want to be hit by that.

He also has started wearing his bullet proof vest. They have them start wearing it now so it can form to their bodies.

speaking of body...He is turning into pure muscle! his body fat when he started out as 10% and now he has 6% body fat. That's really good. Woot Woot my hubby is hot stuff!

Don't Drink and Drive

Last week Blake was learning about dealing with DWI's (Driving while intoxicated). On Thursday and Friday they had to take a live test, meaning they actually had to perform the sobriety test on drunk people. Blake really wanted our cousin Jared to go but he had to work...boo for working. So instead one of my friends Matt offered to help Blake out. Free drinks, we had to really twist his arm to go! Thanks Matt for going!

The Fort Worth Police Academy is one of very few academy's that still does this.  I think its a great way to better prepare our officers. Especially since drunk drivers are the leading cause of death, to bad they have to get several DWI's before serving any jail time.

The Academy provided about 400 dollars of good liquor for those drinking. They gave you two options, you could drink until you got to the limit, which is about 4 drinks or you could get completely wasted. Blake told me a few people were throwing up because they drank so much. He said it was pretty funny because they are stumbling all over the place. He told me one lady was so drunk every time they started the test on her she would try to act all serious then start laughing and couldn't get he to start. I kinda wish I was there to just watch, not drink. It would have been a very entertaining night.

Blake tried to practice the sobriety test on me one night but I failed sober! He said I lost interest to quickly. I was just drunk...from exhaustion that day!

Night shoot

November 3rd and 4th Blake worked from 1-11. They had to practice shooting at night. Blake had a blast. when he woke up the next morning he looked like a little boy on Christmas morning. He was so anxious to tell me all about it!

The first night he said they just practiced shooting at the targets. The second night was the fun night. He said they had them stand outside of the range for about 20 minutes and then they  had them come in in groups of 5. When they walked in they had barrels set up for the guys to hide behind and squad cars inside with the sirens and lights going off. They had to shoot at moving targets and maybe even moving from barrel to barrel. While they were concentrating on shooting they would shoot off fireworks and one of the trainers would come by with an AK ( I think that's what Blake said...I am no gun expert!) and would shoot it right by their head to try to distract them. Blake said they would also shoot off something that made the whole ground shake. He said it was AWESOME! I wish I could have experienced that. He has such a cool job, well until it get dangerous!

Half way done!

Last week was the half way mark for the academy! It feels like he has been in the academy forever. only three more months until graduation! How exciting!

They haven't been doing to much lately since they have been at the gun range. He qualified with the shotgun last week. Blake came home with a nice shotgun bruise. They had to shoot laying down and running too. Blake has surprised us all and has done such a GREAT job! I am so proud of him.

He also got CPR certified too.

well not much going on like I mentioned before. This coming up week should be fun they are having simunition rounds. They get to shoot each other like you do when you go shoot paint balls. More details to come after this week when I know what they really do.

Gun Range

This month Blake has been at the gun range. On October 12 they started shooting. This was Blake's first "REAL" time to shoot a gun. We shot guns about a two years ago in Arizona with Blake's best friend Burke, but that didn't count.

Blake practicing taking his gun out of the holster.

Only two people in Blake's class had never shot a gun before. Funny thing is the other guys last name is Jenkins too! On Wednesday, the first day of shooting they shot for 8 hours, long time! Then for the next 6 days he shot for 4 hours a day. On Thursday October 20th they had to qualify. When Blake told me they had to qualify I figured they had to do that every week to make sure they were progressing. Nope, they had to qualify after a week to be able to stay in the Academy. I guess that's why they shoot for so many hours. I am SUPER proud of Blake, he qualified with a 97 average! The state only requires you to qualify with a 75 average and the FWPA requires an 85 average. GREAT JOB BLAKE!

glock 40 calibur

Today they learn about the shotgun all day and then they will practice shooting it to qualify soon.

This month since they are at the fun range I have been Blake's workout buddy. It's been really nice to have someone to run with, except that now I am the one who can't keep up. I like it better when I was the better runner. Although something tells me I could still run more miles than him!

HELL WEEK

This is my first time to "Blog." I figured this would be the best experience to Blog about. I made it through what the Academy calls Hell Week. On Wednesday, October 5, 2011 I was exposed to OC Gas and Pepper Spray. The OC Gas wasn't too bad. It just causes your eyes, nose and chest to burn from the chemicals. It also causes your eyes to water and your nose to run like crazy, I had a snot string about a foot long. Nothing on earth can be worse than Pepper Spray. It feels like you stuck your eyes in a batch of french fries cooking at McDonald's. We had to cuff a person and deliver knee strikes while we were exposed. The bad burning feeling lasts for about an hour. My eyes were red and watery the rest of the day. On Thursday we were exposed to the Taser. It was probably the worst pain I've experienced in my life, but it only lasted for 5 seconds so I can't say it was worse than the Pepper Spray. I'm just glad its over with. We start the gun range next week. This is the best part of the Academy from what I here so I'm excited!

-Blake

Ok now I (Christine) will tell my side of the HELL WEEK story! He called me on his way home on Wednesday, they let them off early because they felt bad for them. Now Blake will never admit this but he is so dramatic. He told me that they had him step up and they sprayed his eyebrows, they asked him two questions. 1. Jenkins whats today date, and 2.Who is the president of the United States. They ask them those question to allow the pepper spray to take its full effect. Blake told me that as soon as they sprayed him he started coughing and it was already burning so his answer to the first question was October 5...eeehhh uggghhhh 2011. He said the trainer was saying come on Jenkins whats the date. Then he2 had to answer the second question and he got that more quickly. Then hes off to the knee strikes and the trainers are telling him OPEN YOUR EYES JENKINS, and then you have Blake huffing and puffing and yelling back YES SR. Blake said he could only keep his eyes open for a second because is burned so bad.  After the knee strikes they had to find the handcuffs on the ground, he said he would try to open his eyes but it burned so bad that he was just feeling around for them. He got the handcuffs on and then they take him to the water hose and just start spraying their face off. Blake said he was holding his eyes open and spraying his eyes. once they sprayed his face off good they had them go in and take a shower. Prior to hell week they said that baby shampoo and milk help with the burning. He said they go to take a shower and they just strip off their clothes and smother their face in shampoo and he said some guys were just dumping a gallon of milk in their eyes. He said the whole time he was showering he was running in place or jumping up and down because the burning pain was so bad. After all that it still hurt to open his eyes but compared to everyone else he recovered quickly.

NOW for Thursday, Taser day. Blake was one of the last guys to get tased so he had to watch everyone else endure 5 seconds of pain. Since he was one of the last guys he said by his turn he was so nervous. They had him lay down and the trainer said " Jenkins you ready?" he said he took a deep breath and said "yes Sr" then the instructor says "Taser, Taser" and tases him. Blake said in his head he was thinking I'm going to just try to lay here and take and not make a sound. he heard the taser and as soon as it hit him he stiffed up and yelled for 5 seconds straight. Then it was done.

MetCon work out

REDMAN

Well the past few weeks have been busy for Blake. He has had three test in the past week and a half. One was his first mid-term, which he passed! I am so proud of him! He studies hard and deserves every good grade he gets!

In Ct ( combat training ) they have been practicing take downs with the handcuffs. He came home with some pretty ugly bruises. On Friday they had RED MAN scenarios. They call it red man because their instructors dress in a red protective uniform and the guys have to go in and arrest them. The instructors are resisting arrest, and so Blake has to go in and use all the techniques and get them to obey. They told him he did good, and since he only had to do 3 scenarios and some had to do 7 or 8 that was a good sign.

This week is HELL week...tear gas, pepper spray, and tazed. Need I say more?! Tomorrow is the day he get the tear gas and pepper spray. He said hes more nervous about that because your eyes burn all day. They have special wipes and he heard milk helps. Thursday he gets tased and Friday they just learn how to use the tazer.

Then starting Monday he is at the gun range the rest of the month.

Freeze...put your hands where I can see them

Time for a long overdue Blake update. Sorry I have been busy being a mom!

Since the last post Blake has been learning Traffic for the past three weeks. They set up fake traffic scenarios and then had them write up a report on them. They did that for three days, and the reports take a really long time. Good thing they weren't practicing DWI reports, we hear those are the worst. I think he learns about that later in the Academy.

They also had to direct traffic one day this past week. He said that was easy. I never got a picture of him in his bright yellow vest. SAD

For CT (combat training) they are practicing handcuffing each other. Blake showed me the way they are suppose to handcuff someone, he looks goofy! The person training them showed them the goofy correct way and then explained no one really does it that way. They have two types of handcuffs, and they practice with both so they can decide which ones they like best.

TYPE 1



TYPE 2


For  PT (physical training) every Tuesday and Thursday they do a Met con workout. Blake tells me about these workouts and I would die. Very intense, but they have to workout this hard to get in shape as fast as they need to. A part of me is very jealous that he gets paid to workout, although I don't think I would want to workout that hard!

10 weeks down! 2 more weeks until HELL week...he gets tased by the stun gun, pepper sprayed, and tear gassed. On top of that he has a mid-term.

I will keep you posted. Thanks for following!



Recruit Jenkins...looking fine!

 Well Blake finally gets to wear his uniform. He has a hat but I haven't gotten a  picture with him wearing it yet. It's so strange to see him in a uniform. What a handsome officer he will make!

He is progressing just fine in the Academy. He got a 81 on his last test which is awesome since the highest grade was a 89. This was one very hard test that no one has ever gotten a 100 on. It was over search and seizure. Blake got every single drug question right. He is really good at measurments so that really helped. 9 years working in the cabinet shop really paid off.

Family update

Blake: The Academy is going well! Right now they are learning search and seizure. It sounds so complicated. The week prior they were learning about abuse. I think that really stressed Blake out. They showed them some pretty horrible pictures, movies, and talked about some really sad cases. They mean well when they show them that stuff, they are just trying to prepare them for the stuff they will be seeing everyday.

This week they are going to practice how to properly search a car and house. They are also bringing in drugs from off the street they find to show them what they look like. I have learned some interesting stuff about whats goes on out on the streets.

Blake got his police belt. He doesn't have his whole uniform yet so they only wear it when they are practicing CT...combat training. I think! Hopefully soon he will get his whole uniform, part of the reason he isn't wearing it is because they are being punished. They get in trouble for every little thing and that's part of their punishment.

Sternum injury is still a problem but he is just fighting through the pain. If he could get a week of rest in it would probably heal but that's not happening until he graduates.

His grades are great...He got a 99 on his last test. He missed one question, so close too. He is doing great on his workout times too.

Christine: I am staying committed to my 40 day yoga challenge. going on my second week and haven't missed a day. SO proud of myself!!! Some days I only get 10 minutes in but hey its 10 minutes! I still go walking with my friend in the mornings so its not like I am not doing anything else :)

When I first started by day three I was so sore, and wanted to give up so badly. Now it feels wonderful, still hard but wonderful!

No more pictures of me doing yoga, so these will do!

Cadence call...

The Academy is like the military...so Blake comes home singing cadence calls all the time. for example: wooha What? I gotta yo yo, and They say at the Academy the pay is mighty fine,they pay you $100 and they take back $99, and the cadences could go on.

Blake has had 5 test now and he has gotten one C, majority of the class got a C though. Very hard test. His next test is going to be hard too. He is always studying...sucks for me b.c I don't have much help.

He has survived his first month in the Academy!! Even with his injury, which is fine by the way. He is toughing it out and doing all of his workouts. hopefully the pain goes away soon.

Not much to report...well nothing exciting that is!

Suck it up!

Blake Finally had a doctors appointment this morning, thank goodness its only a strain!!! The doctor told him he can still do everything its just going to hurt. They ended up giving him a steroid shot and said that hopefully in a week he should be feeling better. In the meantime I plan on getting him adjusted to help speed up the process.

I feel bad for him right now because he has a cold and it hurts to sneeze or cough. I tried to get him to use the Netti pot before he got the cold to try and prevent it...but he never listens to me until its to late!

I am so THANKFUL its nothing serious. It would have really sucked for him to get pushed back to the next class.

Blake moves forward with Class 129!

129! FEELIN' FINE!

Someone has some fight in them!

Today was a big day for Blake in the Academy...they had to box each other. I know your thinking whats the big deal?! They start them out with a really hard workout until they are so tired. Then they throw them on the mats with the Swat team and wrestle them. Blake told me it that was the hardest part of the day, because they pretty much hold them down and cover their faces so they can't breath. Just imagine not being able to breath and at the same time trying to get some riped swat guy off you. After they wrestle the Swat team they fight each other. Blake was matched up with a guy in his class with the last name Magneto, yes like from x-men. He has 10 years wrestling experience, so Blake just knew he was going to get his butt kicked. Now most of you know Blake and he is definitely not your fighting type. Well he has proved us wrong. Even when he was super exhausted he still managed to knock Magneto out. I am pretty sure he said he got one upper cut shot and he fell to the ground. Only bad thing about that is then Blake had to fight his trainers for two rounds. He said they wailed on him and he didn't have a chance against them. Blake did manage to get a left hook on one of his trainers, and his mouth piece flew out. Once Blake realized what he did he said " Oh CRAP", and then came the upper cut to his chin from his trainer that sent Blake to the ground. I laughed when Blake was telling me about this because about a week or two ago one of his class mates told him whatever you do DON'T hit the trainers in the face. They get really mad.  Blake said he was just throwing punches and was so tired he didn't realize what he did until it was over and he was on the ground.

Blake did survive all the fighting and said his back, chest, jaw and nose hurts. and he might have a broken pinky toe. He has no clue how that happened or when it happened. Way to go Blake! I had no clue he was a fighter. I am so proud of him and all his hard work!

Academy update

I guess I should have waited to publish my post the other day. Blake walks in yesterday after "work" aka Police Academy and said " I lied today was the hardest day...I thought I was going to die". I shouldn't smile when he says that right! He originally said day 1 was hard but I guess day 4 beat it out. I wonder what he will say today when he gets home!

They had a very INTENSE 20 minute workout. Has anyone heard of cross fit...I think that's the name. I have heard of it and have always heard how hard it was...well Blake got to experience it. Resting for them was plank 4 inches above the ground and on their backs with feet six inches off the ground and he had to keep his head up.

I  was exhausted just listening to him.