Terrible Day

Today was by far the worst day I have had in the Academy. To begin, I woke up 30 min late and didn't have time to take a shower. I got to work and the first 4 hours were on proper usage of a shotgun, a weapon I have used since I was 12. So, I was bored, and really didn't learn anything new, but I was excited because I absolutely love shooting shotguns, and was ready to get to the range.

Well, I get to the range and I violated a rule - I had a magazine in my handgun. It was unloaded, and I had checked that, but I didn't remove the magazine and Deputy Johnson caught me. He very politely reminded me to take the magazine out and I did. I thought it was no big deal. Next thing I know, Deputy Johnson is yelling at the class because our heads were not in the right place and we were violating range rules. The only one he mentioned was magazines in weapons. I think it was me and possibly another person. So, I got the class in trouble and our punishment was to stay in the "front leaning rest" push up position for a good period of time and then do 15 push ups. I took it personal because I don't like making others punished for my mistakes, and also the fact that he told me politely, like it wasn't a big deal, to remove my magazine and then flipped his lid on the whole class like we all did something wrong.

We began shooting and I was doing terrible. All my shots were high and left. I have a great grouping, but they weren't on target. I couldn't figure out what I was doing. I find out later, that my weapon was sighted in for 100 yards, so it shoots high at 25 and 50. That would have been good to know earlier.

Next, targets were ripping off the cardboard backing because they weren't stapled well enough. I was selected to add more staples. Deputy Johnson was angry that things were taking too long, so I was jogging to get the stapler. I got yelled at because I was holding my shotgun while jogging. I wasn't unsafe by any means, I was in control of my muzzle at all times, yet I get yelled at. Another thing to tick me off.

Well, we do a qualification course and I fail. I was one of 2 people to fail. I have always been a jack of all trades and very few things are hard for me to learn. The one thing I have always excelled at was shooting. It came naturally. And I fail. So I retake the course and fail again. So, now I am not qualified with a shotgun even though I can shoot my personal one with proficiency any day of the week. I was very ticked.

I spoke with Deputy Johnson about it, and he told me it was no big deal, and I tried to explain my frustration, and all he asked was, "Did you shave this morning?" I hadn't, because I woke up late and didn't have time to shave. He said I owed him a memo, again like it was no big deal. We are finishing up the day and once again he yells at the entire class because we are doing stupid things like, "Not shaving our faces."

It was one hit after another. I couldn't shoot a shotgun to safe my life today. We were able to shoot clay pigeons (10 rounds, 10 clays). I shot 6 out of 10. Apparently I can hit moving targets the size of pop cans, but can't hit a still target the size of a human being.

It was a terrible day, and I just needed to write this down and let it go.