May 30, 2008

It's Over.

Well my time at Salt Lake Fires recruit camp came to an end today. Five weeks into the course I was let go for accumulating to many points (see post below for explanation about points). What can I say I kept making mistakes, I think if I had more time I would have been able to overcome this, but that wasn't an option.
So I guess it's back to the ambulance for now, until I find something better. I always have good old Kaysville Fire to fall back on. It may be just a part-time department but it least I am a Firefighter there.

May 16, 2008

Recruit Camp

For those of you who have been wondering why I haven't put any thing new on my blog for the last month it's because I just haven't had time.
I'm currently in recruit camp for Salt Lake City Fire. I am there Monday through Thursday it goes from 7am to 6pm. I usually get there at 6:30 so I can have everything ready by 7am. This is more like a military boot camp. There's a lot of "Yes sir" and "Drop and give me 20 push ups,".
A typical day will go some thing like this. 7am we are lined up outside the training tower for physical training (PT). PT usually starts with a run, and then after that some kind of strength training. Our staff is very creative with this, one day they had us do 10 kinds of push ups, I didn't know there was that many kinds. After an hour of PT we have to get cleaned up. No we don't get to shower and stuff, we clean up the training building. Empty trashes, vacuum and clean bathrooms. We also have to get our Fire Engines check out. We usually get about 40 minutes for this.
After which we run and change into our uniforms and line up for uniform inspection. They have to be clean pressed, free of lint and tiny strings and boots shined.
The rest of the morning is class time. Followed by an hour lunch which usually ends up being extra study time and time to practice some skills.
The afternoons are spent out on the drill grounds practicing skills. If you mess up some thing you are given points between 1 and 5. If you accumulate 90 points you could be let got, if you get 120 points you will be let go.
Every week we have a test. If you don't get at least an 80% on the test you have to re-take it and pass with a 90%. If you fail that you are out. If you fail two tests your out. The tests consist of 100 multiple choice questions and 100 fill in the blank questions. Fill in the blank is the worst by far.
So my evenings and weekends are mostly spent studying. I don't have a lot of time for much else.
I just finished week three so only seven more to go.
Well I better get off this computer and go study some more.