Well today was a very long day for all of us FEMA TL's. Our day began with waking up before 5 am for our a little over 3 hour drive to Baton Rouge, LA. At 5:30 sharp-ish we departed for the FEMA Recovery Office to receive our 1-1-1 assignments. In other words we received our Blackberry Bold FEMA phones, our FEMA issued laptop (what a brick this thing is), and our encrypted key to access the FEMA DHS network for when we are working in the field.
Overall I think things went relatively smoothly especially for this being the first time this office has handled our issuance of equipment. There will be some things to learn from it however I'm sure the kinks will all be worked out for when we come back in a month to do the CM equipment issuing and ID card issuing. Today was the day I also got my official .gov email address! Movin' on up!
Today was the first of many long trips we'll be taking in the 15P vans. It was a lot of fun getting to chat with everyone and listen to some jams on our way down and back. I was also able to chat with Justin one of the awesome UL's we have on the way back. I was able to get a much better idea of what the different teams will be. I'm starting to hope that I am able to work hard and prove myself enough to be on one of the Fast Action teams that will go into disasters right away and provide Rapid Intervention. That would be awesome!
Today starts an interesting series of about seven days as the Traditional NCCC Corps began to arrive back to campus for their transition week (the week they have between SPIKES[deployments]). Campus is going to be packed! Also because we arrived back so late in the evening, the planned PT was cancelled and the UL's asked all of us to do some sort of PT between tonight and Thursday night to make up for it. A good crowd of us played basketball for a good hour to hour and 45 mins. Its great getting back to playing again and it's even better to be around a group of motivating people that get me back into the grove of things. Motivation is all many people need and this great group of people is what gives it to me!
The rest of the week should prove to be crucial training, as we're going to be receiving some training on supervisory skills and other skills that we'll have to apply on a daily basis. I'll update y'all when I have more time. I think it's time for early bed for me.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Early Morning Tomorrow
Well its the night before we ship off between 5:30 and 5:45 for a day long trip to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to the FEMA office to receive all of our government issued equipment (laptop computer and blackberry cell phone). This is going to be a long day as it's a 3 hour drive down there and then 3 hours back once we receive all of our equipment and briefings on said equipment while there.
The last two days were filled with peeing in a cup for the drug test and doing the rest of the health screening and other trainings. Yesterday and today we completed the driver's training regiment and I am not a certified 15P (15 passenger van) driver. Its important to listen to these trainings as everyone will be spending a lot of time on the road this year traveling to and from SPIKE locations.
It's also great to know that I'm getting in a lot better shape now from doing PT 3 times a week as well as doing various other physical activities with everyone on other days. For instance today a group of us played basketball in the gym (the 96 degree gym might I add). We played that for a good hour and a half and it felt great but we all looked pretty gross! Right after that we played a game of Ultimate Frisbee which is awesome. We were all beat from the basketball game so only managed a quick game. I'm excited to keep this up and get back into shape (or at least a shape other than round).
Checking out for now. More to come after I go through our travels tomorrow.
The last two days were filled with peeing in a cup for the drug test and doing the rest of the health screening and other trainings. Yesterday and today we completed the driver's training regiment and I am not a certified 15P (15 passenger van) driver. Its important to listen to these trainings as everyone will be spending a lot of time on the road this year traveling to and from SPIKE locations.
It's also great to know that I'm getting in a lot better shape now from doing PT 3 times a week as well as doing various other physical activities with everyone on other days. For instance today a group of us played basketball in the gym (the 96 degree gym might I add). We played that for a good hour and a half and it felt great but we all looked pretty gross! Right after that we played a game of Ultimate Frisbee which is awesome. We were all beat from the basketball game so only managed a quick game. I'm excited to keep this up and get back into shape (or at least a shape other than round).
Checking out for now. More to come after I go through our travels tomorrow.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Week 1 Done
Well I managed to survive the first week of NCCC FEMA Corps TLT (Team Leader Training). In FEMA fashion there are plenty of acronyms that everyone is going to have to get used to. Today's the first weekend of being on campus. The campus is rather quiet just being the TL's here. It's a great chance to relax and recharge batteries after a busy first few days here. I can only imagine what it's going to be like being here for full weeks at a time for the next few weeks.
Friday's 6 am PT baseline test did not go bad at all. I'm sore today from it but it's got me psyched to keep going and see what progress I can make over the course of the next 11 months. I was happy with what I finished with for the running, push-ups and sit-ups. It sure made the rest of the day seem much longer though. Despite that it was a great way to start the morning.
Today I've learned the importance of recharging your batteries and having a little personal time. We're going to be around our Teams and fellow TL's all the time during the week, so a little time to yourself feels great on the weekends. I was able to do the simple little things like do laundry and clean up my room and do the rest of the little bit of unpacking that I hadn't already completed. Eventually I'm going to have to make my way into town to WalMart to pick up a few items to make my living much more comfortable and grab some few little bits and pieces that I forgot to bring.
I already got my travel relocation bonus and then all of the reimbursements for mileage and my bag cost back. That came in the form of a government issued debit card. I'm really going to try not to spend that unless I have to. It's a pretty good chunk of money that I want to save up for emergencies. I should be receiving a pay check within the next week or two that will help to revive my bank account without having to use any of that debit card.
I'm really getting along well with everyone so far. Team Green is really going to be an important resource for one another and I think everyone's doing it right and bonding and getting to know each other. It's great to have such a tight group of people that are from such a diverse background. We have people from all over the country here. On a side note there's also a huge number of people here (both staff members and TL's) are from New York State!! That's pretty exciting. There's TL's from Rochester area and then Long Island and then New York City. Staff wise our region director is from Long Island and then one of the Assistant Directors lived in New York for a while and even lived in Watertown, NY working for the Watertown Daily Times! It's crazy to think about. Even crazier is the experience I had in one of the trainings yesterday. The woman in charge of that training session started off with asking if anyone was from NY. The 4 of us from NY raised our hands and it was my turn to share where I was from and I mentioned that I just graduated from SUNY Cortland. She came over gave me a big hug and said she graduated with my degree in teaching from Cortland back in '84. What a small world to know that little ole SUNY Cortland has such an outreach as far as Mississippi! Go Red Dragons!
Anyways everyone is trying to muster everyone together to go play a Softball game. Lets give it a try. I'll update y'all later when more happens.
Friday's 6 am PT baseline test did not go bad at all. I'm sore today from it but it's got me psyched to keep going and see what progress I can make over the course of the next 11 months. I was happy with what I finished with for the running, push-ups and sit-ups. It sure made the rest of the day seem much longer though. Despite that it was a great way to start the morning.
Today I've learned the importance of recharging your batteries and having a little personal time. We're going to be around our Teams and fellow TL's all the time during the week, so a little time to yourself feels great on the weekends. I was able to do the simple little things like do laundry and clean up my room and do the rest of the little bit of unpacking that I hadn't already completed. Eventually I'm going to have to make my way into town to WalMart to pick up a few items to make my living much more comfortable and grab some few little bits and pieces that I forgot to bring.
I already got my travel relocation bonus and then all of the reimbursements for mileage and my bag cost back. That came in the form of a government issued debit card. I'm really going to try not to spend that unless I have to. It's a pretty good chunk of money that I want to save up for emergencies. I should be receiving a pay check within the next week or two that will help to revive my bank account without having to use any of that debit card.
I'm really getting along well with everyone so far. Team Green is really going to be an important resource for one another and I think everyone's doing it right and bonding and getting to know each other. It's great to have such a tight group of people that are from such a diverse background. We have people from all over the country here. On a side note there's also a huge number of people here (both staff members and TL's) are from New York State!! That's pretty exciting. There's TL's from Rochester area and then Long Island and then New York City. Staff wise our region director is from Long Island and then one of the Assistant Directors lived in New York for a while and even lived in Watertown, NY working for the Watertown Daily Times! It's crazy to think about. Even crazier is the experience I had in one of the trainings yesterday. The woman in charge of that training session started off with asking if anyone was from NY. The 4 of us from NY raised our hands and it was my turn to share where I was from and I mentioned that I just graduated from SUNY Cortland. She came over gave me a big hug and said she graduated with my degree in teaching from Cortland back in '84. What a small world to know that little ole SUNY Cortland has such an outreach as far as Mississippi! Go Red Dragons!
Anyways everyone is trying to muster everyone together to go play a Softball game. Lets give it a try. I'll update y'all later when more happens.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Here Safe and Sound
Well everyone I got here to Vicksburg all safe and sound with only a few minor glitches. My traveling yesterday was an interesting experience for me. It's the first time that I'd ever had the misfortune of not getting to my connecting flight on time. I arrived to my connecting flight's gate and they wouldn't let me on my flight because they'd already given my seat away to someone else :(. But no worries I was able to get on the next flight about an hour later and I got to Jackson no problem and my luggage didn't even get lost! Winning!
My arrival to Vicksburg was quite interesting. I was met at the airport by an entourage of people all headed the same place and got to take my first ride on a 15 passenger van! (The first of what I am guessing are many more to come.) We took our just about an hour drive to Vicksburg in the van without a hitch. Got to meet some great people already! It's quite the diverse group of people that I met even on the van ride back with 6 TL's (short for Team Leader [be ready for a lot of acronyms because the Federal Government loves them]). The group in the van alone was myself with individuals from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Washington State, North Carolina, Michigan, and New Jersey. It's wonderful that I can meet so many people already!
When I got to campus it was quick in and drop off my stuff and have some dinner! FEMA Corps Style dinner of pasta and sauce self serve. As soon as I got done eating I was able to get my key to my room and bring all my stuff up and get unpacked and moved in. Below is an image of what I first saw arriving to campus. Can you say traditional Southern building!?
I started training today. It was the first of about a month of training. Luckily we have the weekends off to do as we please for the most part. Today was filled with in processing and getting uniforms that we have to wear every day while training or in the office and some training. We also began to learn some of the million acronyms that we will end up needing to know throughout the year. UL, STL, TL, CM, PCR, and many many more to come. Eventually I will update ya'll with a complete list of what they are. I am as expected inevitably going to pick up some of the southern accent.
I got to venture into downtown Vicksburg for the first time today and went for dinner at the Southern Mississippi River Museum and meet some locals. The Southern hospitality as they call it was clearly evident and I look forward to my time here in the city. It's very different from any of the cities i've ever been to. I look forward to going out and exploring this weekend and seeing a Jazz band perform (for free!!).
Well I've summed up most of what I've done the last few days and I need to get up early tomorrow. 5:45 a.m. comes very early! Tomorrow morning we are doing our Baseline PT to see where we start out at for the year and start to set goals for ourselves. We have to run 1.5 miles in the quickest time that we can and then also do as many push ups as we can within a minutes time and then as many sit-ups in a minutes time as we can. This ought to be interesting as I haven't run in a very long time. Everyone wish me luck. I'll update everyone more once I have time this weekend. I also learned an important term: FEMA Flexible. I'm going to come to really embody this term as things change all the time.
My arrival to Vicksburg was quite interesting. I was met at the airport by an entourage of people all headed the same place and got to take my first ride on a 15 passenger van! (The first of what I am guessing are many more to come.) We took our just about an hour drive to Vicksburg in the van without a hitch. Got to meet some great people already! It's quite the diverse group of people that I met even on the van ride back with 6 TL's (short for Team Leader [be ready for a lot of acronyms because the Federal Government loves them]). The group in the van alone was myself with individuals from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Washington State, North Carolina, Michigan, and New Jersey. It's wonderful that I can meet so many people already!
When I got to campus it was quick in and drop off my stuff and have some dinner! FEMA Corps Style dinner of pasta and sauce self serve. As soon as I got done eating I was able to get my key to my room and bring all my stuff up and get unpacked and moved in. Below is an image of what I first saw arriving to campus. Can you say traditional Southern building!?
I started training today. It was the first of about a month of training. Luckily we have the weekends off to do as we please for the most part. Today was filled with in processing and getting uniforms that we have to wear every day while training or in the office and some training. We also began to learn some of the million acronyms that we will end up needing to know throughout the year. UL, STL, TL, CM, PCR, and many many more to come. Eventually I will update ya'll with a complete list of what they are. I am as expected inevitably going to pick up some of the southern accent.
I got to venture into downtown Vicksburg for the first time today and went for dinner at the Southern Mississippi River Museum and meet some locals. The Southern hospitality as they call it was clearly evident and I look forward to my time here in the city. It's very different from any of the cities i've ever been to. I look forward to going out and exploring this weekend and seeing a Jazz band perform (for free!!).
Well I've summed up most of what I've done the last few days and I need to get up early tomorrow. 5:45 a.m. comes very early! Tomorrow morning we are doing our Baseline PT to see where we start out at for the year and start to set goals for ourselves. We have to run 1.5 miles in the quickest time that we can and then also do as many push ups as we can within a minutes time and then as many sit-ups in a minutes time as we can. This ought to be interesting as I haven't run in a very long time. Everyone wish me luck. I'll update everyone more once I have time this weekend. I also learned an important term: FEMA Flexible. I'm going to come to really embody this term as things change all the time.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Less than 24 Hours to go
Well I am on my final day at home. Its been an interesting last few days for me. Yesterday I put my vehicle into storage it was a sad sad day. It's going to be weird not having my own vehicle for the next 11 months. I'm really not going to miss having to pay for gas. (It's all the way up to $3.93 a gallon here!) I also spent a great deal of time with friends doing what typical 21+ year olds do. It was great to spend time with my best friends before I leave. I also got to go golfing a few times with my dad before I leave. He made sure to remind me to look for new golf clubs while down south.
I am all packed or well 99.9 percent packed with the exception of the last minute things I pack in the morning. I am getting excited. I cannot wait for this adventure to begin tomorrow. Today I'm picking up a few last minute things before leaving, and I have to turn in my pager for my EMS agency as it doesn't make any sense for me to have one when i'm going to be out of state for the next 5 months. I also am going to go out to lunch with my mom.
Back tracking a little, I worked my last EMS shift/call on Saturday. That was bittersweet. I am so very fortunate to have such a great group of people to work alongside of at LCSR. Continue to do great things guys! I'm certainly going to miss running EMS calls. I hope that I get the chance while traveling out of state to do some ride time on some different ambulances to keep my skills up.
As I sit here writing this my dog Homer (an English Springer Spaniel) is laying next to me on the floor. I'm really going to miss him just about as much as i'm going to miss friends and family. He's a good and faithful boy.
Anyways I have to head out now to shower and get ready to go to the store and to lunch with my mom. Except more posts in the coming days as I will be trying to keep everyone updated.
I am all packed or well 99.9 percent packed with the exception of the last minute things I pack in the morning. I am getting excited. I cannot wait for this adventure to begin tomorrow. Today I'm picking up a few last minute things before leaving, and I have to turn in my pager for my EMS agency as it doesn't make any sense for me to have one when i'm going to be out of state for the next 5 months. I also am going to go out to lunch with my mom.
Back tracking a little, I worked my last EMS shift/call on Saturday. That was bittersweet. I am so very fortunate to have such a great group of people to work alongside of at LCSR. Continue to do great things guys! I'm certainly going to miss running EMS calls. I hope that I get the chance while traveling out of state to do some ride time on some different ambulances to keep my skills up.
As I sit here writing this my dog Homer (an English Springer Spaniel) is laying next to me on the floor. I'm really going to miss him just about as much as i'm going to miss friends and family. He's a good and faithful boy.
Anyways I have to head out now to shower and get ready to go to the store and to lunch with my mom. Except more posts in the coming days as I will be trying to keep everyone updated.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
T-minus 14 days
Well everyone I'm only 14 days from beginning my big adventure. Right now i'm up at a summer camp working as an EMT. I was fortunate enough to pick up this gig till I leave making good money for being in the woods and relaxing. I've begun my packing process and today I learned that I have a very small space to keep my belongings when i go to Mississippi. I knew that when I'm on SPIKE (the deployments to the lay person) that I will only have a small red bag. One thing I did not realize was that I have more or less a trunk that's fairly small to keep the rest of my belongings in while away from main campus. I'm really going to have to rethink my packing process now. It's going to really be a challenge and I'm going to hope I get everything in place soon.
The next 14 days will be filled with seeing friends and family as well as relaxing and also working some last shifts as an EMT for quite some time. Its a very bitter sweet position I'm in. While I'm excited for the new experience, I'm also going to miss all my friends and family. I've already had my membership status changed from full member to associate member of my EMS agency while will allow me to remain a member despite being out of state.
These next 2 weeks are going to go very quickly and before I know it i'll be in Mississippi! Wooo!
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