Matt's life in... HE Double Hockey Stick.

Here's a brief description of Matt's first four weeks in the CHP Academy. Only 24 more weeks to go!

*Each day they get yelled at. Called Losers, slobs, trash etc.
* They have to eat their meals within three minutes. When one cadet didn't
finish in time they had to hold full plank position on their knuckles on rocky
pavement for five minutes (Matt has scabs on his knuckles to prove it)
*Matt accidentally called his roommate a Sergent (instead of a cadet) when talking to a staff officer so had to do push ups until he couldn't do anymore. When the officer thought he saw a smile on Matt's face he called him "smiley" and made him face the other cadets and smile the whole time.
* Matt misspelled Santa Cruz on a form so had to re-fill out the paperwork and
get yelled at some more
* Did more push ups for bringing a key into Physical training when he wasn't
supposed to. After which he did more push ups in his testing. That day alone he thinks he did over 200 push ups.
* Ended the first week with sore shoulders which he had to ice all weekend long.
*Lost five pounds the first week.
*Failed a test on codes (Which I don't understand because I quizzed him and he
knew them all)
* Failed a test on the rules of the academy (missed one question too many to
pass)so he had to write an outline using a stencil. This took about 15 hours of
his weekend (which also happened to be his b.day) to complete
*Got put on the fat table (the table where anyone over a certain body fat percentage eats) Most of the class is on the fat table, I think over 90%
* Now he eats a lot of baked fish and fruit.
* Hurt his back doing exercises- so purchased a membership to massage envy
where he will enjoy a monthly massage when his body has had it.
*Kept having to re-write his last name on t shirts because the staff didn't like how he wrote on them. When they didn't like them they would just mark all over them with sharpies and make them redo them. Matt and his roommates would spend a few hours each night re-doing shirts
* Lost seven more pounds.
* Went to the wrong spot in line so got yelled at.
* Didn't' do mountain climbers high enough so got yelled at (sensing a theme?)
* Did a exercise where they would them dive on the wet grass and roll around on it while they yelled "what makes the grass grow?" and they would answer "sweat makes the grass grow."
* The last two days they have gotten up around 4:30 am and then they have not been excused until 9:00 pm. that is a 16 1/2 hour day (If I did my math right.)


Those are just a few of the highlights. If it sounds like Matt is doing nothing right, it's because that's how they are supposed to make them feel. He's handling it very well though and we look forward to the weekends where we get to see him. He is looking good! He is looking forward to tomorrow where they will begin driving and driving testing. I knew these six months would be hard, but I didn't think I would ever question Matt's passing the academy. But the first couple weeks it was so hard on him mentally and physically that it made me wonder. I now feel confident that he will make it through. But not without a lot of challenges, good stories and memories. I am so grateful to Matt for doing this and going through this for our family. He's a good guy.