Life Goes On/Second Spring

Just some thoughts:

*It's been 5 weeks since Hurricane Florence hit North Carolina.  The effects of it are still with us, as expected.

*FEMA is still very busy here, as well as Samaritan's Purse and many other ministries.

*Thank God for mosquito spraying!

*The tree that fell on my building 5 weeks ago was finally cut up and taken away yesterday.   There's still many areas still waiting for the huge haulers to come and pick up their fallen trees and their spoiled household items. Somewhere I read, it might take until December to complete the job.

*Housing is still an issue for many people who need to get into a safe home while theirs is being repaired.  Almost every day I hear of someone who's home was severely damaged and they are living elsewhere.  FEMA is bringing in trailers and RV type things.

*Elaina was in need of a new house due to some issues with her rental. It was quite a struggle to find a house she and her son could live in safely, until her chaplain at New River told her about some friends who wanted to offer her one of their new rentals.  She moves in this weekend!  

*As most of you know, I like to shop in thrift stores, which I did today. Usually you might see 1-3 people shopping in one, but today, at least two of the stores were "hopping" with people shopping for household goods, that presumably they lost during Florence. In one store, a whole family picking up things they need.

*We finally have cooler weather.  Our weather had been warm since the hurricane and tricked the trees that had lost leaves in Flo into budding out all over again. We're seeing Spring green in October.

*Onslow County schools have been out since Sept.11.  Six weeks! They finally start next week.  Some teachers have been creating "Pop up School" at different locations and inviting their classes to come spend a couple of hours together.

*Some festivals I wrote about before have had to be cancelled, but there's still some going on, and planned for this month and November.

*The Jacksonville Parks and Recreation Department have a Farewell to Flo event tomorrow.  Here's what their FB page says:

Farewell to Flo

Free & Open to the Public

Live music by Push Play

Rock Wall, Hay Rides, Life Sized Pac Man, Glow in the Dark Laser Tag and much more!

We are #JacksonvilleNCStrong

Eastern North Carolina will recover!  We are 

#jacksonvillencstrong 

   #onslowcountystrong

Post Hurricane Florence

Just sharing a few thoughts on the affects of the worst hurricane in Eastern North Carolina since 1954.

***It's hard to believe, but some people just got their power back on yesterday.  

*** This is a very common site even still. (Saw this house in person today)

If you look at the left side of this house, it has been caved in by that tree.

***There are huge black trucks with a crane, picking up fallen trees like the one above.  Seems like every time we turn a corner, there's one of these trucks. On some streets they need to stop at every house!

***This is where these trucks take the trees to be ground into sawdust    

Can't tell by this, but the mound is huge and growing.
It's spread over a large area.  Downtown Jacksonville

***ENC is so wooded, that in spring and summer it's very green and thick with leaves, so that in some places you can't see through the trees (ha ha).  But in the late fall and winter, so many leaves fall that the woods look more sparse and the trees are bare.  After this hurricane, the woods everywhere look like winter!  The kudzu is just bare vines and the trees are stripped.  Driving through Camp Lejeune today with Elaina, it looked like a giant had walked through each wooded area and grabbed handfuls of vegetation and dragged it along as he stormed through the woods.  I guess I should call the giant, Flo and not "a him."  There were 350 homes on base alone, that were damaged by Flo.

***There were reports of several tornadoes that hit during the storm.  We have seen so many fields of trees snapped in half, all facing the same direction.   I heard someone say that the principal at White Oak HS (had the most severe damage of our schools) was at the school during the hurricane and he believes it was hit by a tornado.

***Schools in Onslow County are still out next week.  There's so much damage and/or mold issues.  That's over three weeks that kids have missed out on school.  The state school authorities are making a decision on make-up weeks, or not.  Our church has two campuses; one location is one of the local high schools.  They can't meet there for church for a while, so central campus will be full!

***The Kentucky Baptist Disaster team has been continuing providing food for the Red Cross to take food out to different areas.  I helped serve lunch one day last week when people were still coming in droves through the parking lot to pick up hot food. My church continues to open their center for provisions for people who need it.  My plans is to volunteer there next weekend.

***The mosquitoes are relentless.  They are huge and vicious. I didn't have one bite all summer, until after the hurricane!  I'm also allergic to their saliva (according to google) and where they bite becomes a big, swollen welt that actually hurts. Why do they even exist?

***This has been a life-changing event for so many people.  I'm so grateful that we were safe and came home to our homes, safe and sound.

Hurricane Florence

This is one of the hardest things I've ever written about. You all know what you've seen on the news about Eastern North Carolina and Hurricane Florence, so I won't bore you with details on categories, and wind strength, etc. But this might be my longest post!

Elaina and I didn't leave for Hurricane Matthew, two years ago.  It wasn't much of a threat in our own area and there was no damage very locally to us (Our Lt Governor's home was destroyed by Matthew).  However, when we heard Florence was coming,  we paid attention.  Elaina sat in on meetings with her CO and a Marine meteorologist and got the "official" story on Florence.  She was told that Onslow County, where both Camp Lejeune and MCAS New River are located, will be an island.  That's when she decided for us, that we would leave.  (This was before the mandatory order for evacuation.)

We got a reservation at Twin Mountain Inn in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for 3 nights.  Pigeon Forge is not my favorite place.  It's like mountain/country version of Disneyland, with lots of traffic.  It's the city Dolly Parton built.  Literally, I think.  We did drive through Smoky Mountain National Park, which is a beautiful place and I would like to go back to someday. 

Smokey Mountain Nat. Park

Smokey Mountain National Park

We watched the weather channel constantly and saw what Florence was doing to our home state.  We sat and cried and prayed.  When it was obvious we weren't going home anytime soon, Elaina searched for another hotel.  She found a Hampton Inn in Virginia that was offering a discount to evacuees, so we drove another two hours into Abingdon,Virginia.  At the hotel there were several other North Carolina license plates in the parking lot.  Elaina met a few fellow ENC's at breakfast each morning, where they talked about what was happening back home, and their plans for returning.

Because we had a very rambunctious 7 year old with us, Elaina took him to Just Jump, a trampoline park in nearby Bristol, a couple of times.  Whoever thought up those places is a genius.  Your kid sitting in front of the tv or video games all day?  Take them to a trampoline park!  It will be hard getting them to leave.

We stayed in Virginia until Tuesday morning.  Because of all the road and highway closures, it was not a simple task figuring out how to go home.  But Elaina trusted what she heard from the base about how to get home.  A 7 hour trip took  about 10 or 11 hours to get home due to traffic and changes in roads.  The last highway we were on, highway 70 in NC, was starting to flood, but we were fine.  The bridge hadn't closed at the time we came through.  It has since flooded (The Neuse River) and the road was closed.  I read today it will continue to be closed for a while longer.

The bridge crossing the Neuse on our way home.
 You can see the water level
reaching almost to the bridge

One of hundreds of lineman come to help;
many from out of state

Highway 70 flooding beginning.
This is a mail box for a business
along side the road

This is how ENC's think of Lineman

The hard part now, is seeing all the devastation here that Florence brought.  Trees down in yards and in the woods everywhere. People's homes destroyed either by flood or downed trees. People clearing out their homes and putting their belongings out in front waiting for trash pick up.  Sometimes whole streets are lined with home "debris."  In Elaina's neighborhood there is a trailer park where one huge tree fell across two trailers and split them both in half.  (We're assuming no one was home, but?)

This scene can be seen all over

I can't express how hard this has been to watch happening.  We were fine and were inconvenienced for a while, but some people have lost everything they had.  There's no words for how we hurt for our Eastern North Carolina neighbors.

This is an upscale neighborhood but can you imagine what
the poor neighborhoods look like?

Once we got home we found that gas is not available everywhere, grocery stores only have minimal items, many, many people still don't have power.  ( With road closures, trucks can't get in to deliver.)  Stores like Walmart were letting people in 5-10 at a time to shop.  Meat and milk was scarce.  (Neither of us had any damage to our homes, and even though power was lost during the storm, we both had power when we got home. So, contents of refrigerator?  Out to the trash bin.)

One tree fell on my building

Minor damage to my building

Authorities had warned evacuees to come back with cash, groceries bought elsewhere, and a full tank of gas.  (My car was left here at home and I was very low on gas.  I haven't been able to fill up yet)

Now, the clean up has begun, and the handing out of supplies for those who have lost everything.  Our church, Catalyst, is hosting the Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief team, where they are feeding thousands of people each day, and also providing supplies like toiletries, cleaning supplies, diapers, etc.   Many many churches are doing the same and many businesses are also opening their doors to hand out free items that people need.  Some Walmarts are giving out free water and ice in the parking lot.  Just come and get what you need!  Restaurants are feeding residents and lineman and first responders for free.  It's amazing to see people stepping up to help their fellow Eastern Carolinians.

By the way, school has been out since the 11th, and still out another week.  So many schools were damaged, and staff have their own homes to deal with.  Elaina's 7 yr old's day care was damaged, but they will be open by Monday, thank goodness.

Yes, I love Eastern North Carolina, and maybe even more so now.  Thanks for reading.  I'm going to try and add some photos.  

Pray for Eastern North Carolina!

Catalyst Church Sunday the 23rd

This will be on-going probably for weeks.

NC and its Festivals

September is here and I am so ready for Fall!  We have had a very hot, humid summer with lots and lots of rain.  I know it will be a while before we actually feel FALL weather, but at least we know it's coming!

(I may have written about these things before, but I don't care!  It came up tonight...)

I couldn't find anything good to watch on TV tonight, so I settled on The Andy Griffith show.  The show was based on Andy's hometown of Mount Airy, NC.  This is from Mount Airy's website:

"MOUNTAINS. MUSIC. MAYBERRY. MERLOT. Mayberry RFD icon Andy Griffith grew up in Mount Airy, North Carolina, and it's no coincidence that a stroll down Mount Airy's Main Street reminds people of the town of Mayberry from The Andy Griffith Show. In addition to Mayberry RFD and Andy Griffith, visitors find that Mount Airy, North Carolina is a great jumping off point for exploring the Yadkin Valley wine region, the breathtaking Blue Ridge Parkway, the stunning pinnacle of Pilot Mountain, or the twangy sound of bluegrass and old-time music. Whatever your passion, we invite you to step back to a simpler time when you visit Andy Griffith's hometown of Mount Airy, North Carolina—affectionately known as Mayberry RFD."

The city has "Mayberry Days" when the whole town celebrates their Mayberry history, with parades, etc.  

                                   http://surryarts.org/mayberrydays/index.html

Collards

While watching the show tonight, there was an ad for another of North Carolina's festivals.  This one is in the town of Ayden.  Are you ready for it?  It's the Collard Festival!  There's even a mascot named Colleen Collard.  

It has started this week and continues through Sunday.   A whole week of celebrating collards and collard greens!    We won't be going to this.  It's about an hour and a half northwest of us.           

Colleen Collard

https://www.aydencollardfestival.com/

It makes me smile (and giggle), and I'm not making fun of it;  I love it.  There's so much agriculture here and people are proud of it and really enjoy celebrating it.  Any excuse for a parade and get-together with your neighbors for a party!

Elaina and I went to a strawberry festival in Burgaw once and someday I want to go to the Blueberry Festival.  If something is grown here, you can be sure there's a festival for it.  There's also none agriculture festivals:  Morehead City has a seafood festival, and a chocolate festival.  Swansboro has the Mullet festival (a fish) and Pirate Fest. There's Scotish festivals, Lumbee Indian festival, and so on.

I tried to find a single list of NC festivals and there are so many, all other the state, I couldn't find just one list.

Elaina and I have not attended the Jacksonville Christmas parade before, but since she has a 7 year old boy now, I think we'll probably go this year!

I know I've said it many times here, but I love North Carolina and the small town feel almost everywhere, even when the towns are not so small.

Thanks for reading my North Carolina journal!

July 10, 2018 Kajukenbo ( no, that's not a typo)

One of our residents here asked a friend of hers to come and give us a self defense class.  About seven of us met in the community room to listen, watch and learn techniques from this man.


Our instructor is a sixth degree black belt in Kajukenbo martial arts. It's a mixed martial arts system developed in the 1940's in Hawaii.  It's used all over the world now.  This instructor learned it in the Marine Corps, thirty years ago.

He said as a young Marine they were always told to run for their PT and Marines in his unit were always 'blowing out' knees from running and stepping in holes or tripping on branches, etc.  keeping their readiness level 'unsat' as my daughter would say.  He said their CO told them "I don't care if you play badminton for PT, but increase your readiness!!"  Anyway, they started this discipline of martial arts.

Here's a link to a Wikipedia page about Kajukenbo:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kajukenbo


He began like I expected him to: always be aware of your surroundings, notice what other vehicles are around you when you park, park under lights, check all the way around you when you get out of the car, etc.  which I already do.  The one thing I need to remember is: When leaving somewhere to get to your car, don't unlock your car when you're still at a distance from it.  Unlock the car when you get to the car to avoid someone getting into your car ahead of you.  And, don't stand in the middle of your trunk to load your things.  Stand to the side to load the trunk.  Or, you just might be in the trunk!!!

Today he taught us how to defend from a "punch" attack and also from a knife attack.  Since all of us here are over 55, he stressed that learning these defenses can work no matter how old you are or how weak or strong you are.  

One male resident in a wheelchair also learned what he could do from his position to defend himself from these same kind of attacks.  He recently had an episode where he felt threatened out on the street at night, so he needed this today as well.

Since I can't demonstrate the techniques for you (ha ha), you'll just have to look it up for yourself.  He may come back and do more classes in the future.  It was an interesting morning!  

There's lots of youtube videos showing Kajukenbo techniques if you're interested.

Summertime...

Well, it's summertime and that means HUMIDITY.    Temperatures in the high 80's with rain.  We have had some thunderstorms which is the typical summer weather.    We did go to the beach last Sunday before a thunderstorm started but it rained on our way home.  It was about 91 degrees on Sunday.  (The last time we went to the beach, I got burned, so this time I was basically covered!)

The humidity causes the salt in my shakers to harden and I have to break it up before using it.  The holes in the lids clog up!  The same for sugar in my sugar canister.  I have to break it up before measuring it.  I have a container of this product in my bathroom.  I think I will need one in the kitchen as well.  (The one in my bathroom has about an inch and a half of water in it that it has already taken out of the air!)

________________________________________________________________________________

The USO has a story time for moms and their kids every Tuesday morning all year long, but in the summer, they have special themed story times where they can dress up, hear the story and are served lunch.  I worked at these events last summer and yesterday worked at the first one for this summer.

Today's theme was "Camping" and they were encouraged to come dressed as if they were on a camp-out.  One staff member created a "campfire" for the story time and they were served chili and chips, fruit cups and of course cupcakes.  The cupcakes that volunteers brought were cutely decorated; some with s'more-like ingredients on top or toppings made to look like a campfire. 

I should have taken the photo before the little kiddie chairs were put away!There was probably twenty little chairs surrounding this fire and the story teller.
  It even had red lights flickering inside. Very impressive. 
Of course the un-decorated Christmas trees had to come out to resemble the forest!

I served sweet tea, yellow and pink lemonade to moms and kids.  Some moms herding two and three kids through the line, and maybe holding a baby at the same time.  As usual it was kind of "organized chaos."

Once the guests start leaving, we pick up all the chairs, wipe down high chairs and fold up the tables.  Chocolate cupcake crumbs and all.  

Overall it's a fun event to work at, but glad they only come once a month through the summer!

Memorial Day BBQ

We're having rain today from subtropical storm Alberto.  It has rained constantly all day long.  We are under flood watch, but there's no flooding near me.

I just got home from a community meal here at my building.  One of the residents, "Miss Bertha" (who I've never seen, nor met) has a son who owns and operates a BBQ restaurant and/or food truck called Dem Boyz BBQN.  He brought everything needed for everyone to have a nice meal!  He told me he does this every year on Memorial Day and on Labor Day.  I believe him, because he seemed to know all the residents who have been here for years, and he knew that a few of us are new!  He's a big gregarious guy who seems to love what he does.

And of course, we're in the South, so his Mama prayed for our meal before we started.

He brought BBQ, which in NC is pulled pork, beef brisket, ribs, sausage and a few hamburgers along with macaroni and cheese, baked beans, coleslaw, rice and beans, and potato salad.  And, of course the Southern official dessert: banana pudding!  His Mama made sure the banana pudding came!  😊

He told me he loves doing this more than we love having him come.  There was so much left and he insisted we take home a plate for later or tomorrow.  I've only had NC BBQ a couple of times, but this was by far the best I've had.  Will look forward to Labor Day!

Last Night of Citizens' Academy

Tonight was the last night of classes for the Jacksonville Public Safety Citizens' Academy.

The topic tonight was focused on the emergency services of

*First Responders

*Advanced First Responders

*and Paramedics

Our firefighters do "first responder" duties and stay with the patient until the Onslow County EMT unit arrives with paramedics. It's very interesting though because so many of the "first responders" are also paramedics.  The system changed a few years ago from firefighters being the paramedics to Onslow County providing the paramedic duties.  Many of the firefighters keep up their certifications to be paramedics.

I didn't realize that paramedics no longer are in contact with a Doctor or hospital during an event.  That's old TV drama stuff.  Paramedics are on their own, although they may call the hospital to give them a "heads up" on who they are bringing in.

The battalion chief who spoke to us tonight has been with Jacksonville for 28 years and is getting ready to retire in 2019, although he plans on being an instructor at a high school or college.  He's tiring of 100 hour weeks he says.

Two of the paramedics who talked to us tonight explained how they "live" their work and are dedicated to their jobs.  I don't know if I can explain this well or not, but I'll try. (Kind of a "You had to be there" thing). The battalion chief said he is always assessing people and situations even when not on the job, because he has to do that on the job.  I think it's like, always wanting to be prepared.  Just in case.  Police Officers are probably the same way.

They have monthly continuing education classes which is necessary to keep up on medications and drugs and their uses and side effects, etc.  

There were a lot of questions asked and discussion on their dedication and do they ever have PTSD.  They acknowledged that, yes, they do get/have PTSD but they are all encouraged to seek help.  It's not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength, to ask for help.  There's a psychiatrist on duty, and they have chaplains.  Battalion Chief said he is able to cope with traumatic situations on the job due to his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  He's the third officer of either department who told us they trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and not afraid to say so.  I'm so impressed with all these men who conducted these classes.

Near the end of the night, Director Yaniero, who is in charge of the entire Public Safety Department came and spoke to us, thanked us for participating and for being a source of public relations for them. 

They called each of us up, gave us our certificates and gifts, and shook our hands

Then we went outside to the front of the building to have a photo taken of the group with the officers involved.  The director talked to us about volunteers and what kind of jobs are available to volunteers and asked if we wanted to take an application home with us.  Several people said yes, so he went to get some in the office, but they were out of them.  So, the Director of the entire department went and made copies for us.  I admire that.  He didn't send a secretary, he did it.  Can I just say, these men are all humble servants and I feel honored to have been able to attend these classes and get to know what kind of men they are.

( Heard tonight we now have two motorcycle police officers.  Have to watch out for them!  ha ha)


Found out recently that Onslow County also has a Citizens' Academy.  Maybe I'll do that one next!

May week of 2-9

I wasn't able to attend the citizens' academy for two weeks, but I will write again after tomorrow night's class.

I had a friend from California visit since May 2 through this morning (Judy, you know who you are!)  It was nice having a California friend come spend the week.  We had fun visiting a few  local sites, shopping in thrift stores and eating out!

We also made a couple of road trips, thanks to Judy willing to rent a car (I don't trust mine away from Jacksonville).  We had a nice SUV and had LONG road trips.  One to Greensboro to an event with Diamond and Silk (political duo from FOX and Youtube videos)  That was interesting.  Picture a Trump rally with a few hundred Southern Belles in their 50s and 60s and a few husbands!  

We also made a trip to the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte.  The library is very interesting and in a beautiful setting, making use of the woodsy-ness of North Carolina for the setting.  It's definitely an evangelistic place, as is fitting for Billy Graham.  

 

                     

A fun week seeing an old friend and seeing more of North Carolina!

Part Two: Jacksonville Public Safety Citizen's Academy

A couple of random thoughts from the 12th:

**Police and Firemen hate speed bumps  (especially Firemen who say speed bumps wreck the suspension on fire trucks)

**Officer D. S. says Jacksonville will never have red light cameras.  They cause more accidents than they're worth!  Yay!

**The police officers appreciate the cameras on their cars.  They don't want to have body cameras.  They realize they can be helpful in some situations, but they don't want the responsibility of knowing when to turn a body camera on, and when not to.  Do you turn the body camera on when you arrive to a scene?  Will you remember to turn it off if not necessary?  (Imagine someone getting CPR and are half naked because of it.  And, if they forget to turn the camera off if they use the bathroom,  well.... All that "data" has to be stored for at least 30 days, and storage becomes very expensive.  He said the City of Charlotte paid out millions of dollars on storage of camera data)


April 19th

     Tonight was the Fire Department's night to share with us.  There was just four of us again, but a different four than last week.  Tonight was three men.  and Me. 

    The Assistant Fire Marshall showed us a Power Point that showed us the hierarchy of leadership within the Fire Department.  I didn't understand this before, but the Police Chief is the Director of the entire Public Safety Department of the city, with the Fire Chief and others below that.

     He told us that the city of Jacksonville, and Camp Lejeune have a mutual agreement when it comes to fires (also with the police, but I forgot to write that before)  Camp Lejeune fire personnel will act when needed outside Camp Lejeune, and vice versa. 

     He talked about Fire Prevention, fire statistics for Jacksonville, when and where the most fires happen and why.  (Cooking is the most common cause of fires!) He gave us a little lesson on finding the cause of a fire. He showed us photos he had of fires he has investigated and explained what they look for to determine where a fire started and the cause.

     My apartment has fire sprinklers, so I asked him if they had to be tested or examined periodically.  He assured me that they are required to be inspected once a year and that the Fire Department will check to see that it's been done.   One of the men in our group is a former Marine and told us he was at the Pentagon on 9/11 and brought up how fire sprinklers don't do anything in certain types of fires, for instance an explosion or impact like on 9/11.  The sprinklers failed due to the impact, but the water from them just spread the jet fuel around and created more damage. 

     There was a lot more information shared but I can't possibly write it all out!  We ended the night with a demonstration on using a fire extinguisher.

      The department has a new toy, and the Assistant Fire Marshall was anxious to show it to us.  They have an actual 5lb fire extinguisher fitted with a laser, (much like the police department has for training) and a screen that can show different levels of fires.  When the laser on the extinguisher  is aimed at the screen, it will put out the fire that shows on the screen.  He asked the four of us if we wanted to try it out.  All three men said no.  He looked right at me and said, "Come on!  You got to try it!"  So, shy me went up front and held the fire extinguisher.  He "started a fire" on the screen, and I had to pull the pin, grab the hose on the extinguisher and walk toward the "fire" using the laser to put out the fire.  I have never had to use a fire extinguisher, but now I kind of know what it feels like!  This fire department "toy" even makes the sound of an extinguisher!

     Next Thursday is Elaina's birthday, so I will miss that week.  That will be another Police Department week.   I hope to go back on May third, which will be another Fire Department week.  Then there's only one more after that.

     I may have said it before but if your city has a program like this, I highly recommend going!

Jacksonville Public Safety Citizens Academy

I was accepted to participate in the Jacksonville Public Safety Citizens Academy and tonight was my first night.  This class lasts for 6 weeks, from 5:30 until 7 pm each Thursday.  I will probably write a little about each night as a reminder to myself of what I'm learning.  The Jacksonville Public Safety building houses both the police department and the fire department offices, along with traffic and communications.

April 5th
    There's only 8 of us here for the class.  We were introduced to the program by the chief of police, a police sergeant, and the assistant Fire Chief.  We were taken to the traffic department first where we saw all the traffic cameras on the major intersections around the city and how they control traffic problems that come up.  This was an entire huge wall of live video. Amazing to see your city from this perspective.  We were reminded that these cameras are not used for law enforcement purposes, but only to help traffic flow.

     We heard from the communications director about the 911 system and the new technology coming in the next year or so.  Some phone carriers are using text 911, but many are not using it yet.  Eventually skype to 911 will be available.  In the near future land lines will be obsolete as systems improve.

     Fire Station One is connected to the public safety building, so we were shown around the living quarters and kitchen area for the firefighters. It was fascinating to hear that they have a device on the front of each truck that can start the light cycle changing before they get to a light, so that they can have green as they get closer to the intersection.  Not foolproof of course, but definitely helpful.  Fire departments have to be certified and have to comply with certain response times to be certified, and this system helps them stay in compliance.


April 12th

    Only 4 of us tonight.  Tonight we were taken to a training "studio" where a computer program called "Prism" is used as a training simulator.  They have laser equipment (9mm gun fitted with laser) to give them the opportunity to face real life scenarios and practice what their actions should be.  The trainer runs the scenario on the full screen and the trainee reacts to the individual scenes as he/she is trained using the laser equipment.  The program has approximately 4000 different scenarios that can be used.  Tonight we saw
 1. Active shooter in a hallway, with bodies on the ground.  The officer has to act according to what he is seeing and within a few seconds.  In this case the officer kills the shooter who is aiming at him with a rifle.
2.  Officer is checking business doors to check for security and finds someone in the building who doesn't belong there.  The man moves forward toward the officer with a knife in his hand and the officer has to react to protect himself by stopping the offender. 
3.  A  couple arguing at a picnic table in the park. The woman is swinging a baseball bat around. When she is told to put the bat down, she turns around and is hugely pregnant.  He kind of left us hanging on that one, saying no one wants to shoot a pregnant woman.  Talking down a situation is an art and they need the "gift of gab." 
4. An officer doing a welfare check on a woman in her home. The officer has no idea who is in the house or if there is a danger.  The woman pulls out a knife to kill herself and the officer has to talk her down and still check the house for other danger.

In each situation, the trainer is able to tell the trainee how long it takes them to react (within split seconds) and exactly where their bullet hit to take down the bad guy.  The Sergeant who is with us each night takes the time to answer all of our questions.  In each case where the officer's or other lives are in danger, they shoot to kill.  I asked that question: Is it always shoot to kill?  The Sergeant's answer was, If I need to stop the danger to myself and others, I will do what I know will stop them.  Shooting an arm or a leg or shooting the weapon out of their hand is no guarantee that they will be stopped. There's your answer.

Here's a link to a Youtube video of a similar product:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCY93NBKpHU

The sergeant told us that police like law abiding citizens that have concealed carry permits (which we do in this state).  He explained how this can be a way of protecting yourself and family (self-defense) but also explained how it should not be used.   I asked for clarification on that because at first they were describing using your gun and causing a problem.  So, why have concealed carry?   For example, if you're in Walmart and there's an active shooter, you do what you need to do to get you and your family to safety.  If you have to defend yourself in that process, so be it.  BUT, after getting your family to safety, Don't go back in with your gun drawn.  Then you become part of the problem, when law enforcement gets there and don't know who is who.

http://www.ncdoj.gov/getdoc/19be6294-bfbf-4875-bbef-ac2ebb6f47b2/2-6-3-6-3-Concealed-Weapon-Reciprocity.aspx

It was a very enlightening night.  I had a respect and admiration for police officers before this, but it has grown immensely.

Well, that's just the first two weeks.  Other nights will concentrate on the Fire Department as well.  As I'm still a new North Carolinian, I have questions about Volunteer Fire Departments!

Relief and Appointment and Retirement

Yesterday I went to an event at New River Air Station that Elaina invited me to. I've been to the squadron hanger before, and met some of "her" Marines but this time was different.  This event was called Relief and Appointment and  Retirement.

Chairs were set up at one end of the hanger for family members, guests and the Marines of  the squadron.  A CH53 helicoptor was parked in the middle of the open hanger door, looking like a giant metal grasshopper.

Elaina's SgtMaj for the past 18 months retired after 25 years in the Marine Corps.  and was relinquishing his duty to his replacement. The Marine Corps makes a big deal out of this kind of thing.  There was an impressive display of Marine Corps traditions, (They have a tradition for everything) the Second Marine Aircraft band played and speeches by current CO, and former CO of the retiring SgtMaj  acknowledging his 25 years of selfless service and dedication to the country and the Marine Corps. Happy to say this retiring, dedicated Marine began his speech by thanking his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, saying none of "this would be possible without Him."  He thanked the Marines, and his family for their sacrifice.

The incoming SgtMaj gave a short speech as well and just as impressive. She is going to be a force to reckon with, I'm sure. Tiny but mighty, I think.   

The band played the National Anthem, Marine Corps Hymn and Anchors Away.

The hour long ceremony was quite impressive and I feel honored to have been able to be there.  Brings out extra patriotism at an event like this.  As they say in the Marine Corps, "Fair Winds and Following Seas..."  SgtMaj.