So Many Wins

      I got some pretty big wins this week, and I needed them. Today was huge in this, but let's go in order. Oh, I must point out the terrifying moment on Monday when I realized that I had misplace my driver's license. I went grocery shopping on Monday morning like I normally do, but when I went to check out, I noticed my blue card where my license should be. My blue card is that temporary license for doing security work, which I had placed directly under my license. I started brain storming where my license could be, mind you that I needed that for the meeting I had on Tuesday with my new employer. I finally came to the conclusion that I had left it at the classroom where I did that baton/handcuff/OC spray certification. I called up the instructor and told him I would be up there when they took lunch. That meant a special trip to Maitland which is on the other side of Orlando. I made it there before lunch so I had to interrupt class. As I got to the door I heard the instructor saying that they were just about to break so I knocked and he came to the door. He greeted me with a smile and told me that my license was in fact there and invited me in. I said hi to the new glass and apologized for interrupting them and told them that I was where they were not too long ago. That's when the instructor came out with my license and asked me to address the glass and tell them about my experience and and pointers I could give them to help them out. I was more than happy to do that, so I took court and laid it all down for them. I told them about how they needed to take good notes, and keep slide notes separate from video notes, and how they really needed to listen to the instructor and trust what he had to say. Then I wrapped it up by confirming what he would have already told them about Thursday, which as I mentioned before is professional Thursday. I reiterated to them that there was no reason to leave that class without a job and how I had two offers that were waiting on Federal clearance. (more on that later). Then I mentioned how they really did need to dress nice for the day, and threw in the old saying, "Dress for the job you want, and not the job you have". That got some wide approval. Then I wished them good luck and apologized again for interrupting.

     With my license in hand, I was ready for Tuesday now. This was when I finally met the hiring manager and the site manager for the first time, so I could fill out the applications for that clearance. One problem though, I still didn't have my birth certificate. I had to apply for a certified copy and new that it would take about a week to 10 days before it arrived. Since I was in that stand still I mentioned I signed up for the G license course. Big problem there, I needed 3 magazines for the class, and although I had ordered 3 more for my gun, there was no guarantee that they would be here in time. I got the shipping notification Tuesday morning, so I saw that as a plus, but still tracking would take up to 24 hours. I still wasn't safe. I figured worst case scenario was that I ended up renting a gun from the instructor. I was going on to that class no matter what. Anyway, the meeting on Tuesday went well even though I'm in the holding pattern of remaining employed but jobless. I also got the news that I was getting another certification under my belt with them. CPR was on the list of things I planned on doing on my own, but now I didn't have to, the company was taking care of it and they could certify me at the office on Thursday. That's another win, because I got the certification and didn't have to pay for it. Double bonus on that one.

     Later on Tuesday I got the notification that my birth certificate was on the way, they still mentioned 5-10 days so it was going to take time and wouldn't interfere with taking the G course. Thursday came and went, got CPR certified and a level I hadn't anticipated. It wasn't just CPR and Heimlich, but also wound care, burn treatment, drug overdose care, and even more. It was pretty intense. I got home to find out that my magazines were going to show up that day, 2 days ahead of schedule. I was stoked. I only had to get ear and eye protection for the range. Ears were easy, just stopped at the gun shop and bought a compact pair, but they had no eyes, then I remembered that I had an old pair of Oakley's with interchangeable lenses, and one of those lenses is clear and ballistic tested. Score again with another win. I got those approved today.

     I'm just going to skip to today since Friday was really uneventful other than the first day of G class. Today was the first step in qualifying for my G license. We had to bring our guns so that we could do a lot of dry firing, learning proper technique in handling the gun, that meant the draw how to hold and point the gun in a safe manner as well as so so much more. The end of class was the written exam and the safety inspection. The failure on either of those meant you didn't make it to the range tomorrow to do the final qualifying which was shooting with live rounds. For the safety inspection you had to display proper technique in the draw, competency in fixing a jam in a quick and safe manner, single hand firing techniques with both hands, and speed and retention loading. I'm not going to go into what those are, but you can guess it has to do with putting the magazines in the gun. Now, if when I heard him reading off the scores for the written exam and the tests where in the order he received them, mine was the second to last on the bottom, since I was the second person to turn mine in. That test was 100%. I'm kind of really wanting that hundred percent. The two around that were 96 and 98, which aren't bad, but I feel like that 100 would be another big win. Tomorrow will be the first time I fire a gun since I was like 16. I have a story about why it's been that long, but let's finish out today first. There's more for this day.

     I got home checked the mail and there were two letters, well three letters in there for me. One was my pay stub for getting paid for doing the onboarding last week. Very small amount but it still counts as a paycheck. The other two were bigger, way bigger. The first was from the Florida Department of Agriculture. It was my D license. It came way sooner than I expected it to be here. When I left the appointment I had there last week, they told me that it would take 90 days and that after 5 weeks I could go to this site mentioned on my receipt to check on the status of my license. To say I was blown away is an understatement. The other letter was my birth certificate. It got here a few days early, but I'm going to wait until Monday to call it in, for two reason. The first is that I have the range tomorrow for final qualification, and Monday I have another appointment with FDoA to get my conceal carry license. Oh yeah, one more reason. For my G license I need to get my employer to sponsor me so that I may be able to get an active temporary license while I'm waiting for the real thing to arrive. I feel that I need to actually pass qualification first before I do that, but if I do, I can turn in the BC as well as get that paperwork signed at the same time. I did go ahead and make an appointment for the 3 of May for that application with the FDoA. I found out I need to get a physical as part of that whole thing, so I need to try to make an appointment for that this week to knock it out of the way. I know, I'm talking as if I'm confident I will pass qualification, but I really don't know if I will. It's not going to be easy but I'm going to give it my all.

    Ok, quickly to that story on shooting guns. When I was 16 or so, I had this friend that was a bit of a delinquent. He had a few guns and decided we needed to go out and shoot them. Of my friends at that time, I was the only one that had any prior experience actually shooting guns, so I laid a few rules down. We were in the middle of these woods where there was an old junk car, and I told everyone shoot at the doors, the windows the rear quarter panels, but don't aim for the front or the wheels. Those were two areas with very hard steel that would cause a ricochet. The engine less likely because of the front quarter panels, but still a possibility. My delinquent friend said," Hey watch this, I'm going to shoot the wheel." I screamed out, "NO!!!!!" right as he shot. You heard the gun fire, then the ping of the wheel and then the high speed whir of the bullet as it passed right between us at head level. Mind you, we were only a few feet apart. I sat his gun down and said I'm done and walked as far away from them as I could. I was done from that moment on. It's not that it was so traumatic that I couldn't pick a gun up, I just never had any desire what so ever to do it. I've just never been a gun guy. The only reason I'm doing this now is to help advance my new career. Do I think if the need arises could I fire on someone? I do, but my goal is to never draw my gun at all. I'm going to do everything I can possibly do to deescalate the situation to keep everyone safe. In the end of the day, when I go to work, I want everyone to go home safe, even if they aren't such great people. There is also the chance that I could get into executive security which is like bodyguard type stuff. I'm already hearing stories from instructors about that possibility.

     All of these wins will help me out in the long run, but the short term is still pretty much a disaster, but I'm going to ride this high of wins for the time being. There was no Friday night vinyl due to the G course, and I'm writing this of course on Saturday night since I will be half way across the state firing my pistol when I would normally write this. I really hope you have a great week. Peace in and goodnight.