Notes from Bastion Ross and Sheri Update

Dear Bastion,

My sympathies to anyone doing the clinic tonight. Running at the track against the wind was like climbing Kenwell with someone on your back. It was insane!
A good day at Mill Bay on Sunday. 28 runners beat the rain and enjoyed a good day and a lot of top ten finishes. There were 660 runners overall. Now we know why they have such a long, long line at the start. They're training us for the food table.
This is the time we start to gear up for the Cedar 12 K. I could use some people at Registration. This is a good job if you want to run the race. If you would like to volunteer in any capacity, email Darrell Orosz at janddorosz@shaw.ca . Let's get a lot of runners out and make it one to remember.
Sherri is working like a dog these days. She's is doing it all. Residents of Regina are advised to vacate the roads while Sherri is learning to drive.

Thanks,
Ross

Hello all :-)

We are heading into week 4! Last week went by very quickly and the four
girls are definitely setting into a routine. We have gone out for dinner the
last two Fridays to debrief and laugh. We laugh a lot and I am hoping that we
are still laughing in 5 months. We spend a fair bit of time together but
everyone is good at doing things on their own as well so that's great.
Having our own rooms makes it so much easier to go to bed when you want to.
Last week I did three of my runs in the mornings so getting up at 4:45 is
easier when I can be in bed by 10pm; the boys don't have that option and are
operating on 5-6 hours of sleep a night.

We had our first patrol drive this week with an instructor. I was sorta
nervous about it because it's been a looong time since anyone (other than
Adam ;-) has critiqued my driving. We also had a lot of information to learn
ie: Regina by-laws and the names of the one way streets down town, before we
went out on the drive. Our instructor was very good and quite calm. I made a
few mistakes(did a 360 turn instead of a u turn) and got flustered when we
got down town. I was hard to remember what I was doing, as well as look for
traffic infractions, and try to drive aggressively and answer questions
from the instructor at the same time. Most of the members of my troop were
told to drive twice a week (each troop has a "charlie car" assigned to them)
and we have a schedule of drives each week. I am going on a second drive
today to get in my two drives this week.

Drill is going well. We were allowed to bring our ankle boots (polished and
spit shined) to the drill hall for class. We are not allowed to wear them on
the base yet but it's a good sign that we are using them in drill. Kim and I
are in the choir and are allowed to wear them to choir on Sunday's as well.

Choir is pretty fun. It's a bit hectic getting there for the two lunch time
practices a week but I have found that by buying a sandwich in the morning
at breakfast, that cuts down on trying to get to the mess for lunch and then
choir. We sing each Sunday morning for the graduating class service and that
has been really inspiration and feels like a battery re charge. I sang a
small duet this morning and I practiced last night at the chapel so I think
it went fine. OH I forgot my belt however and I was standing in the front
row of the choir! I realized before we walked up to the front of the chapel
and joining the rest of the choir so I tried to puff out my shirt a bit. Then
I realized that the C.O was sitting right in the front and so I made sure I
always had my choir binder in front of me and then when we had to stand at
attention and sing O'Canada, I bent my knees so that I could hide behind the
alter. We'll wait and see if I get an L.A (learning assistance because of
it.) I felt like there was a neon sign at my waist saying "No belt! No
belt!".

Firearms is quite hectic but I think when I learn to relax and focus on the
front sight of the gun it will get better. I shot a 46 out of 60 so that's
about average. One girl, Rhondelle, has no prior experience and shot 59 out
of 60!

We had our first Police Defensive Tactics class this week as well. We learnt
how to handcuff people and we worked in pairs. I picked a big guy because I
want to get comfortable working with and being handled by people bigger than
me. We (the girls) just came from practicing because you are supposed to
practice 30 mins a week there too.

It's hard to explain how busy we are. The working day is 6:15 am to 4:30pm.
And then from 4:30 to bedtime you usually have a troop practice for drill
(one hour) and physical fitness competency to do ( 3 cardios, 2 weight
workouts / week), boots to polish, laundry to do, homework to do, maybe a
drive with a partner and dinner somewhere in there. This is the main reason
that I am running in the morning. That way if something comes up throughout
the day (last Wednesday we were given a group presentation assignment at
4:00pm due for 8:00 the next day), I don't feel antsy about not getting a
workout in.

On the whole, I am enjoying myself most of the time. I do miss hugs! 90% of
the troop is married so we may start a "hug day" as we are all missing that
contact. And sometimes I feel very far away from my other life. I think
that's probably normal when you are so immersed in learning new things and
there is seldom time to be bored. I find Friday nights hard and find I miss
Adam a lot on those evenings and I do miss running with the group on
Saturdays and the Cambie breakfast. So the Friday night dinners have been
great and I am really enjoying my IPOD. Thanks Drew :-)

I was able to log 21.5 miles this week (which I thought was great until I
realized it was only 32 km!)
because it feels like I am always running! But I think my mileage will
probably be around 24-25 miles because there are very few days that I can run
twice in a day. It was definitely an advantage coming in fit however as
that's one less thing I have to learn.

Well I think that's all. My apologies to Andrea for not getting a hold of
you this week. And for not answering people's individual emails. It is not
uncommon for me to go three or four days without being able to check my
emails. Crazy I know! I love email!

But thank you to everyone for writing. Though I may not respond right away
or at all, I do love to read them and find out how you are doing.

Happy end of January! (and fingers crossed for a mild Feb!) OH I saw a bird
today!! First one! Hopefully they know something we don't.

Love,
Cadet Sherri :-)