A Week of Daze

To say the least the beginning of the ninth week was less than pleasurable. I flew home Monday evening after a Academy class day of non-traffic related deaths and fingerprinting. I tried to stay as focused as possible but it was difficult. My grandfather's funeral was Tuesday morning and it was hard to concentrate on anything else. After attending the funeral Tuesday morning, I flew back to Tulsa late that night.

On Wednesday I could be best described as the walking dead. I was tired and mentally not all there. The other side of it is "business is business" and personal issues had to be set aside. As tough as it was, I have a commitment to the academy. That commitment means everyday, not just when I am having good days.

The remainder of the week was filled with small blocks of classroom and geography. Thursday, of course, was a range day. This was my first day back to the range this particular week and I was behind the curve. The rest of the class qualified on Tuesday and I was the only one left. Let me say that isn't a good feeling. To make a long story short, while the class was off doing fun stuff I was working on qualifying. I was able to finally breath a sigh of relief when I shot my final course of fire for qualification and got it done. I think my classmates were as excited for me as I was for myself. I was really stressed out about being a day behind everyone else but the instructors and my classmates saw me through to the end.

APO Amy Hoehner