P.O.S.T. and ATC

I've realized that I am WAY behind on blogging! I'm sure most of you know that Tagg has been hired to be a Trooper for Idaho State Police. It was a lengthy process, and it's a long training schedule, but it will be so very worth it in the end! Tagg began POST (it stands for Peace Officers Standards and Training, a.k.a. Police Academy) on July 19th in Meridian. He was there for 10 weeks. I must say, it really did go by quickly. He got to come home on the weekends, which of course flew by! He didn't get home on Friday night till about 9:30 and would have to leave on Sunday at 5p.m. Tagg was elected Class President, so he had to speak at graduation. He did a great job and we were so proud of him! Thank you, Jan and Jerry for coming and also to my mom and Grandma Sakota and Kris and Holly for driving there and back just for graduation! We really appreciate all of our families and friends support! Tagg was then able to come home and be with us for an entire week! We kept it very low key and just enjoyed having him home.

Now Tagg has started ATC, which is ISP's advanced training academy. It is BRUTAL!! They started with 9 officers for ISP, and before ATC even began on Monday, Oct. 4th, one quit that same morning!! Then, on Tuesday...Day Two, another one quit at noon!! Grr!! I know I have no clue how hard it really is, but quitting, really? I shouldn't judge, but considering the fact that Tagg almost didn't get hired really ticks me off. He was initially told no, they could only hire 8 and that he was #9 or 10 and they didn't have the budget for all of them. This is a long story, but I want to "journal" it. In addition to the 8 that they hired, they hired 4 laterals. Which means, these 4 were officers for different departments so they didn't have to go through POST, since they already had completed it. They just had to go through ATC. So, those 4 started ATC in March and two weeks into it, someone quit. Well, they called Tagg to see if he was still interested and he was hired! Good thing too! :o) They also decided to hire one more person, so that made 10 and 3 laterals. Well, the second week of POST, one of these 10 ISP guys also quit!! So, I'm just a little shocked that after such a grueling hiring process, someone would just drop out! I am just thankful that Tagg was hired and that he's doing so well. (And to think they almost passed him up) So, the upside to these last two that just quit, is that we may get to be in Region 5 instead of 4. That means, instead of Burley, we may be in Pocatello. (These two that quit were assigned to Poky.) And we could be assigned any city within the Pocatello Region, which could be as close as Shelley. So, that would be great...the closer to home, the better. Back to ATC, Tagg has said this is the hardest thing he's ever had to do! They yell at them and try and break them down. He's physically and mentally fatigued! He said the first day, they had to max out on Leg Presses. Then, the second day they had to do "Rabbit Runs." You start by all holding a rope, in a single file line and run. Then, the person in the back has to run to the front. They had to continue doing this for 2 miles. Ugh! They were up to a 6 mile run in POST and Tagg has heard that they'll finish ATC running 13 miles. ATC graduation will be Dec. 23rd, just in time for Christmas, YAY! Here's to hoping that these next 12 weeks fly by!