Its been a long time since I have posted or commented on a thread here at b&b, not that i haven't been lurking though. Its been since around May of last year I believe. While some of this will be shave related, a major portion will not be. Therefore I am posting it here. March of last year I was hired by Elba police department. One other guy and I left for the Alabama Criminal Justice Training Center in Selma, Alabama on May 6th 2012. Im sure some of you have wondered what it is like to go through a police academy. So I will go a little into detail about it. First though i do want to state that every academy in the United States is not the same. The one i went to is where our State Troopers go for there 24 weeks of training. The police academy is 12 weeks long and is ran by the troopers. Usually the ones with brass and Military experience. Selma I am told is similar to basic but easier on certain things. My class was known as "paradise", because we were given a privileged that none of the other student officers before us were granted. We were allowed to have our phones in our room and allowed to call home after 6:00pm til 9:00 pm, but we were told it was a privileged and could be lost.The only other difference is that they promised to never "smoke" us unless we deserved it. They held true to their promise. Our rooms were dorm rooms. Our sheets were not fitted had to have 45 degree angles and folded back 6 inches. Everything about the rooms were very specific. Nothing allowed on counter tops, sink drawers had to be organized the same as our roommate.All 39 of our armoirs had to look exactly the same 3" of space between each hanger, shoe laces tucked inside, underwear had to be rolled so that it was 3 " wide etc. Showers could never have a drop of water in it during inspection. Any deficiencies were wrote on our mirrors with a bar of soap.
Rules at the one we went to. Absolutely no tobacco until further notice. No alcohol period. Alcohol results in getting expelled and getting fired. Hair has to buzzed really short or completely shaved. Absolutely no facial hair( not a problem with that). Dressed in your uniform ( buttoned up polo with white under shirt, 5.11 tactical khaki pants, black boot socks, black 1.5 " wide belt with square silver buckle, black boots with highly polished toes. Also when we earned it a cap worn military style.
They were nice until after we passed our physical agility test monday morning. Alabama agility requirements 1.5 miles in 15 min 28 sec, 25 sit-ups 1 min, 22 push ups 1 min, obstacle course( push patrol car 15 feet, scale 6 foot fence, come back to start point, jump through a small window, walk on an elevated 4x4 without falling off run back to start, run to 160 lb dummy drag dummy 10 feet.) that in 90 seconds.
once we passed the yelling begins you get on the bus, go back to the campus run off the bus to foot prints. instantly front leaning rest position, while we were yelled at. Given 10 minutes for both room mates to shower , get dressed and come out side as a class.
we make it outside on time get in formation. total of 4 squads. We then march on asphalt for about and hour and a half, until everyone can stay in step, square corners , right/left face and about face.
chow- most horrible thing ever that occurs 3x daily. we march at a double time in formation, we earn our chow by doing push-ups, flutter kicks, pull-ups etc. We give the order of chow and march inside in that order, there is absolutely no eye contact with anyone, no looking around, no smiling, and dang sure no talking. square all corners, when you talk to any lunch lady you say mam potatoes mam and so on. There was a certain way to sit you waited for the last person at the 4 person table to arrive. That person yells trays and everyone sits there trays down at the exact same time, then that person yells chairs and everyone pulls there chairs out at the same time, then they yell seats and everyone sits at the same time. We are 1 class with no individuals. Once seated you keep your body straight, head straight, eyes forward and stay in this position until everyone is finished eating, then we would leave in the same order we came in.
schedule is as follows:
4:45 wake-up. everyone is to be out in the hall in 1 minute dressed in pts. If not then you get in the chair. We then count off. First day so many people screwed that up and every time we were put in the chair. They finally learned to wait for the command which was "move" i believe that day. Once counted we are given 5 minutes 2 be on the foot prints with our moon beams.
5:00-6:30 pt 30 minutes of "stretching" warm-up cardio. Formation run with cadence. shortest distance 1.5 miles first day. Fastest speed 8 min mile pace for 2.5 miles. longest run- "victory" 7-8 mile run with cadence and no one left behind if they fell out of formation we had to run circles around them til they fell back in. when were done running we stretch.
6:30-7:00 shower, shave, get dressed clean the dorm floor, your dorm room, and stair ways.
7:00-7:50 chow
8:00-12:00 school- you better be there before 8, its a more relaxed environment, no talking when there is teaching, normal talking to a certain degree when speaking to instructors, absolutely no sleeping. 10 min break every hour. hydrate regularly. If they didnt think you were drinking your water when told to they would make us go outside in formation open our water bottles and pour them over our heads and go back to class.
12:00 chow
1:00-5:00 school
5:00 chow
6:00 homework, cleaning, free time.
week 1. Tues someone got caught with dip, the second day. we learned what getting punished as a group felt like with flutter kicks, mountain climbers, front leaning rest, push -ups and our favorite the 39 people group sit-ups were you put your arms around your buddy.
Wed no pt. boxing at 10:00am 3 min rounds stop punching time stops. you actually must fight for 3 solid minutes. several black eyes and i think 3 broken noses. Thurs long pt reg day. Friday we left at 3:00pm. Saturday was your day of absolute freedom minus homework. Sunday you were to be back by 10:00pm.
Really not that bad.
So im sure some of you noticed that nothing was allowed on counter tops which meant that i was not going to ruin my shaving brush even if it was a bestshave cheap horse hair brush. So I used a merkur bakelite with red ips and gillette gel. First shave sucked so bad, smells like pure chemicals, I started adding water to it til I learned how to make it slick, I actually got really good dfs the whole time i was there. I know i went to the dark side but i had some good results. So when i came home i sadly continued the practice with canned foam, I even used a cart with some really good results. Then I saw the light, I shaved with a palmolive stick, merkur bakelite, blue lab, bestshave brush, and clubman a/s and I loved the bbs shave i got but more than that i found it to be peaceful, stress relieving even. I now remember one of the reasons i love wet shaving so much, not only for the nostalgic feel, but because when im wet shaving i think of nothing but shaving, plus im saving money right?
Rules at the one we went to. Absolutely no tobacco until further notice. No alcohol period. Alcohol results in getting expelled and getting fired. Hair has to buzzed really short or completely shaved. Absolutely no facial hair( not a problem with that). Dressed in your uniform ( buttoned up polo with white under shirt, 5.11 tactical khaki pants, black boot socks, black 1.5 " wide belt with square silver buckle, black boots with highly polished toes. Also when we earned it a cap worn military style.
They were nice until after we passed our physical agility test monday morning. Alabama agility requirements 1.5 miles in 15 min 28 sec, 25 sit-ups 1 min, 22 push ups 1 min, obstacle course( push patrol car 15 feet, scale 6 foot fence, come back to start point, jump through a small window, walk on an elevated 4x4 without falling off run back to start, run to 160 lb dummy drag dummy 10 feet.) that in 90 seconds.
once we passed the yelling begins you get on the bus, go back to the campus run off the bus to foot prints. instantly front leaning rest position, while we were yelled at. Given 10 minutes for both room mates to shower , get dressed and come out side as a class.
we make it outside on time get in formation. total of 4 squads. We then march on asphalt for about and hour and a half, until everyone can stay in step, square corners , right/left face and about face.
chow- most horrible thing ever that occurs 3x daily. we march at a double time in formation, we earn our chow by doing push-ups, flutter kicks, pull-ups etc. We give the order of chow and march inside in that order, there is absolutely no eye contact with anyone, no looking around, no smiling, and dang sure no talking. square all corners, when you talk to any lunch lady you say mam potatoes mam and so on. There was a certain way to sit you waited for the last person at the 4 person table to arrive. That person yells trays and everyone sits there trays down at the exact same time, then that person yells chairs and everyone pulls there chairs out at the same time, then they yell seats and everyone sits at the same time. We are 1 class with no individuals. Once seated you keep your body straight, head straight, eyes forward and stay in this position until everyone is finished eating, then we would leave in the same order we came in.
schedule is as follows:
4:45 wake-up. everyone is to be out in the hall in 1 minute dressed in pts. If not then you get in the chair. We then count off. First day so many people screwed that up and every time we were put in the chair. They finally learned to wait for the command which was "move" i believe that day. Once counted we are given 5 minutes 2 be on the foot prints with our moon beams.
5:00-6:30 pt 30 minutes of "stretching" warm-up cardio. Formation run with cadence. shortest distance 1.5 miles first day. Fastest speed 8 min mile pace for 2.5 miles. longest run- "victory" 7-8 mile run with cadence and no one left behind if they fell out of formation we had to run circles around them til they fell back in. when were done running we stretch.
6:30-7:00 shower, shave, get dressed clean the dorm floor, your dorm room, and stair ways.
7:00-7:50 chow
8:00-12:00 school- you better be there before 8, its a more relaxed environment, no talking when there is teaching, normal talking to a certain degree when speaking to instructors, absolutely no sleeping. 10 min break every hour. hydrate regularly. If they didnt think you were drinking your water when told to they would make us go outside in formation open our water bottles and pour them over our heads and go back to class.
12:00 chow
1:00-5:00 school
5:00 chow
6:00 homework, cleaning, free time.
week 1. Tues someone got caught with dip, the second day. we learned what getting punished as a group felt like with flutter kicks, mountain climbers, front leaning rest, push -ups and our favorite the 39 people group sit-ups were you put your arms around your buddy.
Wed no pt. boxing at 10:00am 3 min rounds stop punching time stops. you actually must fight for 3 solid minutes. several black eyes and i think 3 broken noses. Thurs long pt reg day. Friday we left at 3:00pm. Saturday was your day of absolute freedom minus homework. Sunday you were to be back by 10:00pm.
Really not that bad.
So im sure some of you noticed that nothing was allowed on counter tops which meant that i was not going to ruin my shaving brush even if it was a bestshave cheap horse hair brush. So I used a merkur bakelite with red ips and gillette gel. First shave sucked so bad, smells like pure chemicals, I started adding water to it til I learned how to make it slick, I actually got really good dfs the whole time i was there. I know i went to the dark side but i had some good results. So when i came home i sadly continued the practice with canned foam, I even used a cart with some really good results. Then I saw the light, I shaved with a palmolive stick, merkur bakelite, blue lab, bestshave brush, and clubman a/s and I loved the bbs shave i got but more than that i found it to be peaceful, stress relieving even. I now remember one of the reasons i love wet shaving so much, not only for the nostalgic feel, but because when im wet shaving i think of nothing but shaving, plus im saving money right?
