Zero Week
February 1, 2016 was the day I was due to enter the academy grounds as a California Highway Patrol Cadet. Being the person I was, I had my stuff packed and ready to go a week in advance. The night before leaving, I went through my bags with a check list in hand to ensure I had everything that was required. The nerves hadn't quite hit me yet.
It wasn't until I was saying bye to my husband and kids when it suddenly hit me. I would be leaving home for six months. I would be away from my family for the first time. At that moment, I went walking down the memory lane of 9 years ago, when I was leaving home as a fresh 18 year old for the military. The emotions were strong at that time, and even stronger now. I was fortunate though. Unlike the majority of cadets that would be in my class, I was about 30 minutes away from the academy.
I found myself really reconsidering my decision. Did I really want to embark on this new path? Would this be my life now? Ironically enough, I never pictured myself as becoming a law enforcement officer once I separated from active duty. I remember telling myself I didn't want to do anything that involved putting a uniform back on.
Yet, here I was, parked across the street from the academy, watching the clock and waiting. My heart was in my throat, my hands were shaky, my legs were like Jello. I watched as a line of cars began to form at the entrance and followed suit.
You could tell who the newbies were from the seasoned cadets (those who had gone through the process at least once before) once we were parked. I parked my car front end facing and was quickly corrected by a fellow cadet to back in to the space (backing into a parking space eliminates the amount of time needed to back out of a space if you were in a hurry to respond to a call). I parked, pulled out my bags and headed to the sidewalk, where a group of males were huddled, looking as nervous as I felt.
A seasoned cadet took the reins and told everyone to get into alphabetical order by last name. After the mess of figuring out last names and where you belonged, we waited. What we were waiting for, I wasn't entirely sure. Not until I heard voices heading in our direction.
Two officers showed up and directed us to start moving. The yelling had not started yet and wouldn't start until the following week (they were taking the academy in a new direction and we were the first class to be tested, AKA the guinea pig class).
This week felt like a blur to me. I felt like it was going by so fast but at the same time, it was dragging by. It was a week of paperwork and meeting with an ex-cop and present psychologist (or psychiatrist, not entirely sure) to help us throughout this stressful time (which explained the no yelling from the staff officers for our first week). During the day, we had classroom discussions on how to best handle stress and to focus on our why. Their purpose of this experiment was to eliminate the high drop out rate from the academy (which was more than 50%). They believed the reason people dropped out of the academy was because they felt stressed by their environment. They were yelled at and quizzed by staff officers throughout the day. You never knew when an officer would pop out (or from where) or what questions he might decide to ask you (he could ask you legit knowledge questions or something ridiculous that you might not even know about--I was told by another cadet that he was asked what the purpose of flies were). Then there was the classroom portion with tests you had to take and pass. There was PT before the sun even showed where you were yelled at from PT staff and driven to the point of passing out (for some), scenarios where you had to think on your toes and react instantly (and also pass), range and the hardest for most, EVOC (emergency vehicle operations course). This one was my downfall in the end. Every situation in the academy was stressful, and it was for a reason, considering the kind of job you were going into if you were so fortunate enough to survive the grueling 27 weeks and graduate.
We were told that the original schedule of the academy would change with us. We would go through POST for the first phase and agency for second phase. This change made a huge difference for those who passed all of POST and failed on the agency side. Before CTC I-16, if you failed a portion of the academy, you had to go through the entire academy again. It was okay if you failed during the first few weeks. But there were cases where cadets would make it to literally the last week and fail out on a scenario or EVOC. 20+ weeks in and they have to do it all over again.
Now, I'm not going to say the academy sucked while I was there, but it was not the easiest and it was really tempting to just walk away once you failed if you had another 27 weeks to look forward to. Not a lot of people were mentally strong enough to endure that amount of stress two times in a row. And not a lot were willing (there was a story about a cadet who went through 4 times before she graduated).
They were trying to make it easier for those who failed on agency to come back around the time they failed instead of starting from the beginning. Also, for the cadets that did come back and start from the beginning, the CHP would pay out big time. This way, they were also saving extra money.
So, by introducing zero week, it gave the new class an opportunity to adapt to the stressful life they were about to embark on.
As I went through zero week, I just waited for the other shoe to drop. I expected to be jumped at at any moment. I watched what I did because I knew the staff office was just lying in wait. They were observing us at all times despite their not being able to touch us yet. They were bidding their time until they could attack. And they would relish in it. While there were individuals that were becoming lax because of the low stress week we went through, there were others that waited along with me.
At the end of the week, we were given liberty, meaning we could leave the grounds for the weekend. I think that leaving for the weekend kind of made it tempting for people to not want to come back. Of course, we didn't go through hell yet, so there were no drop outs on zero week. It was coming though. It was only a matter of time.
Side note: We did have one no-show the first day of zero week. According to staff office, the cadet showed up to orientation on Sunday and, I guess after the short intimidation session in the cafeteria, he decided the academy life was not for him. Staff office had a good laugh about that. His spot was filled quickly by a re-instatee (one of my roommates).
It wasn't until I was saying bye to my husband and kids when it suddenly hit me. I would be leaving home for six months. I would be away from my family for the first time. At that moment, I went walking down the memory lane of 9 years ago, when I was leaving home as a fresh 18 year old for the military. The emotions were strong at that time, and even stronger now. I was fortunate though. Unlike the majority of cadets that would be in my class, I was about 30 minutes away from the academy.
I found myself really reconsidering my decision. Did I really want to embark on this new path? Would this be my life now? Ironically enough, I never pictured myself as becoming a law enforcement officer once I separated from active duty. I remember telling myself I didn't want to do anything that involved putting a uniform back on.
Yet, here I was, parked across the street from the academy, watching the clock and waiting. My heart was in my throat, my hands were shaky, my legs were like Jello. I watched as a line of cars began to form at the entrance and followed suit.
You could tell who the newbies were from the seasoned cadets (those who had gone through the process at least once before) once we were parked. I parked my car front end facing and was quickly corrected by a fellow cadet to back in to the space (backing into a parking space eliminates the amount of time needed to back out of a space if you were in a hurry to respond to a call). I parked, pulled out my bags and headed to the sidewalk, where a group of males were huddled, looking as nervous as I felt.
A seasoned cadet took the reins and told everyone to get into alphabetical order by last name. After the mess of figuring out last names and where you belonged, we waited. What we were waiting for, I wasn't entirely sure. Not until I heard voices heading in our direction.
Two officers showed up and directed us to start moving. The yelling had not started yet and wouldn't start until the following week (they were taking the academy in a new direction and we were the first class to be tested, AKA the guinea pig class).
This week felt like a blur to me. I felt like it was going by so fast but at the same time, it was dragging by. It was a week of paperwork and meeting with an ex-cop and present psychologist (or psychiatrist, not entirely sure) to help us throughout this stressful time (which explained the no yelling from the staff officers for our first week). During the day, we had classroom discussions on how to best handle stress and to focus on our why. Their purpose of this experiment was to eliminate the high drop out rate from the academy (which was more than 50%). They believed the reason people dropped out of the academy was because they felt stressed by their environment. They were yelled at and quizzed by staff officers throughout the day. You never knew when an officer would pop out (or from where) or what questions he might decide to ask you (he could ask you legit knowledge questions or something ridiculous that you might not even know about--I was told by another cadet that he was asked what the purpose of flies were). Then there was the classroom portion with tests you had to take and pass. There was PT before the sun even showed where you were yelled at from PT staff and driven to the point of passing out (for some), scenarios where you had to think on your toes and react instantly (and also pass), range and the hardest for most, EVOC (emergency vehicle operations course). This one was my downfall in the end. Every situation in the academy was stressful, and it was for a reason, considering the kind of job you were going into if you were so fortunate enough to survive the grueling 27 weeks and graduate.
We were told that the original schedule of the academy would change with us. We would go through POST for the first phase and agency for second phase. This change made a huge difference for those who passed all of POST and failed on the agency side. Before CTC I-16, if you failed a portion of the academy, you had to go through the entire academy again. It was okay if you failed during the first few weeks. But there were cases where cadets would make it to literally the last week and fail out on a scenario or EVOC. 20+ weeks in and they have to do it all over again.
Now, I'm not going to say the academy sucked while I was there, but it was not the easiest and it was really tempting to just walk away once you failed if you had another 27 weeks to look forward to. Not a lot of people were mentally strong enough to endure that amount of stress two times in a row. And not a lot were willing (there was a story about a cadet who went through 4 times before she graduated).
They were trying to make it easier for those who failed on agency to come back around the time they failed instead of starting from the beginning. Also, for the cadets that did come back and start from the beginning, the CHP would pay out big time. This way, they were also saving extra money.
So, by introducing zero week, it gave the new class an opportunity to adapt to the stressful life they were about to embark on.
As I went through zero week, I just waited for the other shoe to drop. I expected to be jumped at at any moment. I watched what I did because I knew the staff office was just lying in wait. They were observing us at all times despite their not being able to touch us yet. They were bidding their time until they could attack. And they would relish in it. While there were individuals that were becoming lax because of the low stress week we went through, there were others that waited along with me.
At the end of the week, we were given liberty, meaning we could leave the grounds for the weekend. I think that leaving for the weekend kind of made it tempting for people to not want to come back. Of course, we didn't go through hell yet, so there were no drop outs on zero week. It was coming though. It was only a matter of time.
Side note: We did have one no-show the first day of zero week. According to staff office, the cadet showed up to orientation on Sunday and, I guess after the short intimidation session in the cafeteria, he decided the academy life was not for him. Staff office had a good laugh about that. His spot was filled quickly by a re-instatee (one of my roommates).
Another great read. This blog was written so vividly I almost quit reading, because I'm quite familiar with the process and don't want to relive it in my head. lol. Great post.
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