Sunday, May 24, 2009

School's Out

Well, all is done and I am back home and getting ready to wind down my old job, hand it off and take up the reins of my new job as the ET RFMC. The graduation was a blast. We all had a huge sense of accomplishment when it was all done, and it was done quite well I must say.

The last day was pretty busy. We did our wellness assessment in the morning and it went pretty good. I did better in the sit-up and push up area, but my run was only a few seconds faster then the first run. I don't know if it was because of the 10K we ran two days before or if I was just tired. I do remember having trouble breathing as we started due to those darn allergies.

We did the final routine, packed up and headed to the hotel. We had a few hours to relax then the fun began. I got to sit at the head table and the conversation was rather pleasant. When it was my turn to make my speech, I was a little nervous, but quickly warmed up to my audience who I had just spent the last month with. We were like family and the laughs and applause were at the right places. It was all over before I knew it.

We all hung out around the various bars afterward, not wanting it to be over, but ready to get back to our lives. I hit the hay around 0100 and was up early the next day. I ate some breakfast and then caught the bus to the airport.

The flight back was OK. Slept a little, but mainly just watched the TV and read some. We got in a little before midnight and there was my darling waiting for me at the baggage area.

It was good to be home.

We hand a nice long weekend, where I got back into the groove. Did some working out with the wife and got the pool set up and filled.

Tuesday was back to work and it was good. I am finishing up this job, walking down two flights of steps and starting a whole new adventure.

Wish me luck,

ETCM Joe Harold
ET RFMC

p.s. I will post my speech next.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

One Day And A Wakeup

We are winding down. This afternoon we practice for graduation and then tomorrow it all happens.

Last week went pretty fast, but we still did a lot. We learned about Coaching and Counseling and we made our four Air Force classmates Honorary Chiefs. We had a VTC with the Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard and ran a 5K in preparation for an upcoming 10K. We performed our second presentation and learned about Diversity. On Thursday EPM-2 came and talked to us. Myself, the VP and the CPO who introduced him got to eat lunch with the CDR. Friday had us up in the woods doing the high ropes. It was a total blast.

On Saturday 14 of us went on a little short bus trip to the Sonoma wine country. It was interesting and we had a good time. Saturday evening we had our class social and there was plenty of food and drink and we all had fun.

So as we started our last week, we had our last presentation and then ran the 10K. You had a choice to run another 5K or the whole 10 and of course I had to do the whole thing. I finished in 56:44 which beat my goal of 60 minutes. It felt good and we all cheered the others as they made it to the finish.

Today we had our CLEP test. I'm not sure how I did. It was hard to do a lot of studying, but I tried. We will see in a couple weeks.

We have set up the classrooms for the next class and soon it will be time for graduation practice.

My speech is written, and I think it is ok. Hopefully I will be able to deliver it properly.

Here we go...

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Three weeks down. 1.5 to go

The weeks are starting to fly by, but we are still learning and having fun. This week we covered Ethical Leadership and had a fun game of History & Traditions Jeopardy. We all formed up on Tuesday by the command building and observed colors as a class. It was inspiring.

We all ran as a class to get ready for the 10K near the end of the class. We did 2 miles and everyone did very well. We continued during the week with a leadership seminar and some more writing workshops.

On Thursday night our team went over to our liaison's house for dinner. It was a pleasant time and our liaison's family is very nice and we really appreciated them opening their house to us.

We finished off the school week with two more Chief's Corners and on Friday we all did our Community Service Projects. Our team went to a Food Bank near Santa Rosa and packed almost 8 tons of food for elderly and needy families. It was hard work, but well worth it.

On Saturday I got a call from a group of students that went out on a bike ride. They were about 9 or 10 miles away and one of their bikes had two flats. I delivered a fresh bike to them and they continued on their outing.

One more full week then the last week will be here. I am looking forward to returning home and getting back to my normal routine. Then it will be the walk down two flights of steps and my next adventure will begin.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Week 3 is Starting - CPO Academy - Class 159

Wow, week 2 went much faster than week 1 and the weekend was a nice recharge, but I never found any time to post here. So here goes.

The assignments are getting done and the work continues. We are moving at a nice cruising speed and becoming a very efficient team. The work doesn't seem so overwhelming any more and we can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Week two started off in civies while we covered the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator process. I am an ISFJ. I figured on most of the types and think the description was pretty much on to my personality.

We also covered Facilitative Leadership, some more Wellness information and a writing workshop on award writing. We did the Fit Deck at the gym and another Step Aerobics session during the week. We went over Educational planning and did our first major presentation in the form of a "Chiefs Corner".

At the end of the week we were supposed to go out to Bodega Head and do a walk and mid-course feedback session, but the weather was pretty nasty so we walked on base in the pouring rain, (which I liked) then met in a large classroom to give a plus and a delta on the course. It went well and we were released for the weekend a little early.

The weekend was wet and nasty, and on Saturday I did a mini Adventure Race. I did some exercises at the gym, then ran around 3 miles then another 5 or so miles on the bike. Most of it in a Northern California misty rain. On Sunday, it stopped raining enough to do a good weekly 1.5 mile run. I came out really well. My goal while I am here is to finish in 11:30 and I did this one in 11:33. My halfway point was really good and the finish was pretty good too. I knocked off 11 seconds faster from last week's run and a total of 16 seconds faster from day 2.

This week will be a good one with some more presentations by the other teams and a visit from CG-9. We will also start preparing our Life Learning Essay and our next team presentation on two of our units within our team. My unit (CG-481) was one of the units picked, so I am gathering more information for a good presentation.

Onward to the end.