What a Week!

Well last week was quite a week for all of us down here! We started off the week with a bang and learned a great deal about the campus we call home.  Please take a look at my last post for that update.  Tuesday was an incredibly long day for all of us, however it was completely worth it and necessary.  We were able to really learn a lot more about what we're going to be doing over the course of the next 10 months.  The person in charge of training for FEMA was our guest speaker / trainer for the day.  She is one of the nicest and most down to earth people I've met so far.  She put our role in FEMA much more into perspective for all of us as a result of this training.  I now better understand where exactly we fit in now.  Who know that FEMA was really not that large of an agency.  I was able to really gain a better understanding of what it is we'll be doing and what positions I could aim for.  Different teams of FEMA Corps members will have different specialties that focus on different areas of Natural Disaster response, recovery, education, and mitigation.  I also understand my role as a Team Leader much more now.  I understand that as a TL I will have a much more hands off job.  I will be primarily responsible for maintaining administrative functions within my team and will not have a specific assigned FQS position as my members will have.  With that being said when I am not concentrating on administrative tasks, I really can focus on learning as much as I can and making the most out of the time I spend with FEMA. 

After the all day training on Tuesday with the FEMA contact, Wednesday was a little bit of a change in pace.  Wednesday we focused on learning the policies and procedures that govern our Southern Region Campus within the NCCC community.  Following that we learned about processes in place to help facilitate member development.  Small pieces of time were also spent on learning what happens during transition periods (the period of approx a week between spikes [deployments]) and what specialty roles can be assigned to CM's while serving.  After training, we spent about an hour getting ready to leave and then departed for Camp Shelby where we were to spend the night.  We drove down there and spent the night at the military installation.  It was certainly a new experience staying in military barracks. 

The following morning (Thursday) we woke up bright and early to begin the Leadership Reactionary Course at Camp Shelby.  The premise behind the Reactionary Course is to put leaders up to a challenge and test their leadership ability.  There are specific tasks that have a military objective (makes sense as they are on most military bases :-)).  Anyways I have linked here a YouTube video to show some examples of what the reactionary course is.  It is not the exact one at Camp Shelby, but it is one similar.  Reaction Course Link There is both a dry side and a wet side that tests one's leadership ability.  Each separate element a different member of the group is put in charge to be briefed and come up with a plan and then execute the plan to achieve the end result of completing the task.  It was a great learning experience and will help all of us in the future.  It was absolutely exhausting doing this in the 90+ degree heat of the day, but was completely worth it in the end. 

After the day out on the course was complete, we packed up in the 15p's and headed up to Jackson, MS for a traditional ropes course experience.  Friday would begin very early for us.  We were awake and started the course at a little after 7 am!  We were able to build a little bit off of what we learned the previous day.  Yay Fighting Mongooses, we Fight!  That was the team name of the group of fellow TL's I worked with that day on the Ropes course.  We even had our own chant we made.  I got to rock climb for the first time.  It felt great getting up to the top and looking down to see what I had just accomplished.  Plenty of firsts for a lot of us here throughout the experience.  We all opted to work right through lunch so that we could go out to lunch in Jackson!  Goodness it was worth it!  We went to a place called Two Sister's Kitchen for lunch.  It was an all you can eat buffet of real southern food that included a dessert!  Had some spectacular fried chicken, fried catfish, grits, mhmm so good!  Best part was that dessert came with it.  Got some wonderful bread pudding drizzled with chocolate and bourbon sauce! Best dessert I've had in a lot time.  Two Sisters Kitchen  We had the greatest view from our seats.  It was a great view of the Mississippi State Capitol. 

Following that we all finished up lunch and headed back home to Vicksburg.  We were all exhausted and needed to wind down after a long week.  I have really come to appreciate any down time we have.  Well the weekend went by swimmingly and its time to go eat.  Looking forward to what this next week has in store for us.  Thursday is going to be the best as we'll be going up in Blackhawk Helicopters!  I can not wait for this! It will be one of those experiences of a life time!  Till next time...