Official 2nd day-Wednesday 11/19

Spanish test outta the way... It was done on the phone with an automated person. Wild! Today is much of the same (more classroom studies). Tomorrow is the first day of PT (physical training). I am stressed! PT may be my downfall... We will see. At least I'm gonna get a good night's sleep tonight. :)

Official 1st day-Tuesday 11/18

More paperwork... AAARRRGGGHHH!!! Today we have classroom studies, we get checked out by the nurses (flu shots if we want them), and we get fitted for our rough duty and dress uniforms (more yelling!!!!). Another long day and I am already so sleep deprived. We still have another 3 to 4 hours of homework. I can't wait till the weekend to catch up! Got to bed at about 1AM and have to be in class by 6:30AM for a Spanish proficiency test. You would think that we could just tell them that we don't know it. But noooooo, the government has to evaluate us!

Off to the Academy

We get to the airport before 4AM... Two guys have already dropped out. I've been up since 2:30AM!!! It will be a long day. So many people are talking about how it's gonna be, what they are going to do to us when we get there, how much they are going to yell at us, we may have to run around with all of our luggage... I expect the worse and hope for the best. We first fly into Houston and have about a 3 hour layover. Some of us decide to get breakfast there (smart move!). From there, we then fly out to El Paso. When we get to El Paso, an agent is waiting and takes us to a big bus (luckily with a bathroom in it). We take a 3 hour bus ride to Artesia, New Mexico. Damn, I'm in the middle of no where! As we are driving along, there in nothing but dry land and weeds. Pretty much deserts, kinda like the movies. When we get to Artesia, I think it is about 4PM. We are all so nervous, you could cut the tension with a knife! We are hurried off the bus and are already being yelled at (not bad though). We hurry into a building, where they take our pictures for our badges that we have to wear all the time. We are then hurried back onto the bus, taken to another location in front of a motel looking area, and hurried off and instructed to get all of our luggage off of the bus. We are then filed into the registration office, where we do more paperwork and get the keys to our rooms. We then have to hurry to our rooms, put our bags away, get back outside, and go to another building. At that building, we are introduced to our law instructors, given our syllabus, given all our our books that we are going to need (a shitload!), and they discuss what the academy will be like. We finally get out right before chow hall closes, so we can eat dinner (about 6:45PM). We have a ton of homework right off the bat. Although we are exhausted, we are all up for about 3 or 4 more hours studying for the next day's assignments. We have to be in class at 6:30AM Tuesday (I may have gotten 5 hours of sleep).

We are combined with another group going to other areas. There are 50 in our class with only 2 girls. I am rooming with her. Her name is Nikki Petersen and she is from Texas. Hardcore, military chick that is the same age as me and has never been married (but she is engaged). She wasn't sure about me at first, she had to warm up to me. She has led a hard life and hasn't had much luck with girls as friends. We are getting along great! She keeps me in line and helps me with alot of the militaristic things that we are required to do. I never thought that I would be shining boots :-(~ .

Weekend in Laredo

Not much to do, since I don't have a car... Saturday I got up and ate breakfast. Then took a banana, yogurt, and boiled eggs to my room for lunch. That night some guys called and invited me to go eat with them. We went to Chili's. It was me, Langley, Steele, Casey, and Langley's wife Brooke. It was nice to have the break. Sunday was about the same. Breakfast, stolen food for lunch, and that night I walked back over to Hal's and ate a salad for dinner. Gotta go to bed early. We have to be at the airport at 4:ooAM to fly out!!!

Day 2 - Orientation

Today was business casual, so I wore black pants, a collared shirt, and slip on shoes with a slight heel. We had to be at Laredo North by 7:15AM (enough time to grab a bite to eat). We started out in the class room just having questions answered about any and everything. They continue to stress how dangerous and challenging this job can be. If we don't want to be here or we think that this job is not for us, we need to leave now! Then we leave and go to where we are going to be stationed (Laredo South). As we are walking in, one guy says to me, "Good, a girl, we need more girls." I respond, "Good sir, because I don't plan on going anywhere." We walk through and the first room we go into is the processing room. They have 3 aliens in there and 700 pounds of marijuana in green duffel bags. It was wild!!! They had got them that morning... We then go to a large room, where we get to meet some guys that will be our bosses. They give us a pep talk and ask us some questions about ourselves and then answer questions that we have. After that, we leave out and ride around town. We get to see some of the areas that we will be working, the river that the aliens cross, the rough downtown area (funny how projects are always reddish/brown brick where ever you go), and some other areas where they have cameras mounted. The areas that we patrol are very much like farm land. We go down rough, dirt roads that are grown up with weeds and brush. It is just like in the movies, rough and somewhat desolate (oh and hot). We eat lunch at a smokehouse place. I have brisket tacos. The food was amazing and they give you so much!!! If anyone comes to visit, I'll take you there. Back to more riding around and checking out some neighborhoods and apartment complexes where we may want to live. We end up back at Laredo North. More Q & A time, then they make us do push ups and various other exercises. Oh joy! In our dress clothes and everything... I am sweating like a pig and sucking wind. After that, we are dismissed. When I get back to the hotel, I change and walk over to a restaurant (about 3 blocks away) that is much like a Dave and Busters. It is very large with pool tables, a bar, an outside patio, a restaurant area, and an adult game room... Pretty cool! Another place for me to take visitors to. I had a panty dropper drink and a portabella mushroom sandwich with coleslaw (good stuff!). Off to bed early again...

Day 1 - Orientation

It's the first day and I have to be at the sector (this is where all the big wigs offices are) by 7:30 AM. While in the shower, I am feeling like I'm on vacation. Then it hits me... It is wild how your mind plays tricks on you! First day is business attire, so I wear a black short sleeved sweater and a long skirt with high heels. There are only 2 of us staying at this hotel, so we head out at about 7 (no time for breakfast). When our shuttle pulls up at the sector with the long line of guys, so far, I am the only female. Our morning consists of a whole lot of hurry up and waiting. We check in with the agents, then we wait till everyone else gets there. After that, we take vans to the Laredo North station. As we are walking in, they are making fun of some of us. Luckily not me! The day is filled with form after form to be filled out. If I die, Kelley is sure gonna be rich(don't give her any ideas)! We go eat lunch at the Golden Corral. They serve beer and wine and they have live entertainment at lunch!!! TOO FUNNY!!!! I'm definitely not in Chattanooga anymore... Lunch is over so it's back to more paperwork. At the end of the day, some agents come in and we can ask questions. Oh, we also got sworn in... That was cool! There was a class that came by that had just graduated and there was only 1 girl out of 23 (she was a little tiny thing). The day was done and I was back at the hotel. For dinner they had hard shells, chips, refried beans, melted cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream. Off to bed early again!

I'm outta here...

I left Chattanooga Wednesday around 12 and flew into Dallas, TX. The flight took about 3 hours. My layover in Dallas was about 3 hours (aarrgghh!). Very tired from getting less than 3 hours sleep the night before. Due to poor planning on my part, I was packing up until time to go. I still didn't get it all done. Thank God for Jeanette (aunt) and Lori (cousin), they were left to finish up... Now I know why I don't fly out of Chatt. Small plane and flight attendant (with way too strong of a perfume on) don't make for a great trip. Oh well! As soon as I walk off the plane in Dallas, there is a shop with "Texas" stuff in it. No time for that right now... Where can I get a drink?!?!?! TGIFridays is the first place I see. Good Jack Daniels steak and the best Long Island Tea I've had in a long time. This airport isn't like Atlanta's. I was wanting to find a nail salon and maybe a massage area, but no such luck. Boy this is going to be a long layover... Finally leaving Dallas, I did see a few big hats and tight pants, also lots of military people. I like to fly at night. The cabin is dimly lit, if you are going down you can't see what you're gonna hit, and the ground below looks like jewels (chocolate diamonds, to be exact). About an hour later I'm in Laredo!!! The airport is about the size of Chattanooga's and it is still quite warm outside. I get to the hotel and it is VERY NICE. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights, they have free food and FREE wine and beer, so I am in luck! I eat some chicken fingers and a salad. Off to bed early, it's been a long day!

The process...

I initially checked into Border Patrol around June (a recruiter came to Chattanooga). At that time, I signed up to take the test. I went to Nashville in June or July to take the written test (good time to bond with Kelley). It consisted of policies and procedures, an artificial language part (if you didn't know Spanish), and the last part was general questions about me. I passed!!! After that, I received a call about the fitness test and physical exam. Only 11 days to practice... Not enough time! You have to do 20 push ups in a minute, 25 sit ups in a minute, and step up on a 12inch bench very quickly for 5 minutes. Needless to say, I fell short on the sit ups and the fitness test ended (I failed). I was scheduled for my interview a couple of days later in Nashville and still went to that. The interview was a panel interview with 3 male agents who asked you 3 "what would you do" questions. They then excuse you, mill over your answers, then call you back in to discuss what you may or may not have said wrong. That went very well. It is a pass or fail interview and I passed!!! I immediately came back to Chattanooga and hired a personal trainer (Tari at Rush in Hixson, love him). Since I failed my fitness test, I had to withdraw and resubmit my application. It was a formality, but still a pain in the butt (the amount of paperwork is a trees' worth-I kid you not). They called and set up another fitness test. I passed!!! Letter was received saying that I had passed everything and that they would be doing a background and credit check and that it should take 3 or 4 months. Good, I thought... I will get to be with my family and friends for the holidays! No such luck :-(! They called me a few days later and offered me the job on my birthday, no less. The catch, I had 14 days to give notice at my jobs, pack up all my stuff, find a sitter for my dog, and say "goodbye" to everyone. It was an emotional roller coaster. I was happy, because it was what I have wanted and worked for. On the other hand, I was sad that I was going to be leaving everyone and everything that I knew. I have to do this. If not, I would always wonder "what if?".

How did I end up doing this???

When I graduated college in 2005, a professor mentioned U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (A Division of Homeland Security) as a job option. But at that time, I wasn't ready to leave all my family and friends. Well after three years, mounting school debt, and working two jobs... I decided to follow my dream of a career in law enforcement and this was the only job that started with a decent salary (most importantly one that would pay all my bills). As most of you know, I am not the most religious person. That being said, I DO pray. So I took it to God... I prayed about this job. Not that I would get it. But that if God wanted me there, to make it happen. I feel very confident in the fact that this is where I am suppose to be, that this is where God wants me to be.