4-14-19

Dear Reader,

Hey. I hope you are doing well!

Impact West. (First time felon boot camp)

After sitting in jail for 10 months I was sentenced to 15-18 months suspended to Impact West and 2 years supervised probation. First 6 months of that probation is intensive probation. Which means between 6pm - 6am I'm in the house.

My first day in boot camp... sucked! Period. No better way to put it. I got screamed at and spit on and after I punch a Sgt in the face for spitting in mine, I got slammed... hard. Knocked the breath out of me. Ha! Ha! I quit, but... they wouldn't let me quit. I had NO discipline after being refused my attempt to quit 3 days in a row, it was explained to me that the extreme harsh treatment was to teach me self control. It wasn't personal. I accepted this and got with the program.

5:30am the revelry sounded off, trumpets blaring through the platoon bay, and I had till it was over (30 seconds) to be on line, T-shirt tucked into my boxers, socks pulled up, standing at attention. Then the Sgt or officer would scream "Fall out!" and I had 2 minutes to flip, rotate + make my bed quarter tight (quarter tight is when a quarter is dropped on the bed and it bounces), be fully dressed for morning P.T. (physical training) and ready for inspection and back on line. From there we marched to the P.T. area in front of the compound at the flag pole. We worked out for 30 minutes + ran 1 1/2 mile. (2nd phase was 2 miles and 3rd phase was 3 miles.) A few of us in my platoon (Alpha 1) set a 3rd phase record by running 12 miles on uneven terrain one morning. I wonder if it still holds...

After P.T. I ate breakfast + then it was off to work. At work, I ran while going everywhere unless I had a tool in my hands. They snapped me into shape quick and relentlessly. Before I went I could barely run a mile, and was dogged out when I got there, unless I was being chased by the police/sheriffs. Push-ups + sit ups... Ha! I had no time for that! ... :/ After bootcamp I could breeze through a hundred push ups and 200 sit-ups. This is because when you make mistakes at Impact West, you pay for it by beating your face. (Slang for doing push ups)

No talking at all without permission. It was tough. Bedtime was at 9:30pm. Though on many occasions I had to do extra duty which was an hour at night of chopping and sawing and stacking wood.

I remember one night I awoke, hearing my bulkhead mates snickering. I looked up and they had huge smiles on their faces and were barely able to contain their laughter. They pointed in the direction of our 4th mate (Stephen - my co-defendant :/) and he was going to town, humping his mattress like a jackrabbit! I laughed out loud by accident + the night platoon officer came back. I tried to cover my face with my blanket + stop laughing (I didn't feel like doing push ups) but a picture of what I just saw flashed in my mind and I busted out laughing again... so I had to beat my face. The officer kicked Stephen's bunk and Stephen snapped his head up and said, "Huh, huh, huh...?" Ha! Ha! It was so funny. The other 2 and I fell back asleep snickering.

Stephen was going to town on that mattress though! Ha! Ha! :D While at bootcamp I learned how to dedicate myself to task achievement. Motivation and more than anything, discipline. If only I'd have maintained those qualities when I got out...

Graduation day. We come marching around the bend to receive our diplomas. Everyone's families sitting on the side of the flag pole area watching us marching all fancy in our dressed up uniforms... except for my family. I wrote my mom once a week for 3 months. Never got a letter from her and once again, no one showed up. My probation officer drove me home. I was doing good. Found me a job working for the city, hand a girlfriend, changed jobs + became a carpenter for a construction company, and moved in with my girlfriend and her parents. It was going well for a couple months. And then my jobsite moved to a county over. So I was failing to make my aftercare program classes. I missed a few and I got a call from my probation officer to come in... that means I'd be locked up. So I didn't show up. And knew that when he caught up with me I was going to prison.

Turns out, my girlfriend's stepdad thought I was sleeping with his wife and he had turned me in... :/ I'm in jail for another 10 months. My P.O. found out I missed my classes because of travel and agreed to let me out on 6 months of weekend jail time. But when I got to court he reneged on the offer. Because my mom and sister cussed him out for violating me when I was doing good. Can you believe it! My mom + sis came to bat for me. But it's what screwed me... :/ A sweet and sour moment.

The judge activated my prison sentence. And did not give me that 10 months or the previous 10 months time served. So I did 38 months on a max 18 month sentence. :/ Next blog, first time in prison.

Until next time.

Yours truly,

Doug