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Hi,
I have read the CHP academy guide that is available on their website. I understand that they do not want unnecessary contact with family and friends as they might cause distractions. With that, are you allowed to come to the academy with a cell phone but use it only on Wednesday nights and weekends?
Thanks again! :smile:
When I was there, we could have cell phones and use them any time in the evenings. From what I understand, they are now more restricted. So yes, you can bring a cell phone but it has to be turned off and in your room during the specified times.
When I was there, we could have cell phones and use them any time in the evenings. From what I understand, they are now more restricted. So yes, you can bring a cell phone but it has to be turned off and in your room during the specified times.
Thank you for your response!
nuke1601
10-01-2005, 09:10 AM
I was curious about the cell phone thing too. I know how important it is to have daily contact with family, especially when seperated for 6+ months and in a stressful environment. I did a tour in Kuwait last year and had to use phone cards to call back to the states. In 3 months I spent over 400 dollars calling my girlfriend, now fiance'. At least from what you guys are posting you can bring them and use them at night, what a relief.
HwyChaser
10-02-2005, 06:20 PM
Just a quick note on cell phones. I have Cingular and it works great. For whatever reason while I was at the academy It didnt work for crap. Three years after I graduated a family member went through the academy. Same thing, Cingular didnt work very well. If you are heading to the academy and have Cingular, change your service. Nothing more frustrating than wanting to talk to your family after a long day and you cant call out.
Just a quick note on cell phones. I have Cingular and it works great. For whatever reason while I was at the academy It didnt work for crap. Three years after I graduated a family member went through the academy. Same thing, Cingular didnt work very well. If you are heading to the academy and have Cingular, change your service. Nothing more frustrating than wanting to talk to your family after a long day and you cant call out.
No kidding, good advice! Do you recommend a specific carrier?
HwyChaser
10-02-2005, 07:07 PM
My roommates had Sprint and AT&T. They had no problems.
My roomates had Sprint and AT&T. They had no problems.
Thanks! Speaking of roommates, what are the accomodations like in the academy? How many roomates do you have?
HwyChaser
10-02-2005, 07:33 PM
You will have 1 or 2 roommates. I believe just about all the classes now have 3 to a room with 4 room to a quad (sharing the bathroom). You loose all of your privacy.
The Academy can be spotty for any service. The concrete construction does a great job of blocking cell phones. (I've been told rebar acts as a Faraday cage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage), but the math doesn't work out unless the rebar is spaced three inches apart.)
I have Cingular and it worked fine last time I was there. When you're in the rooms, a lot depends on which direction your window faces. With the integration of AT&T and Cingular networks, it should be getting better.
HwyChaser
10-02-2005, 07:36 PM
The Academy can be spotty for any service. The concrete construction does a great job of blocking cell phones. (I've been told rebar acts as a Faraday cage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage), but the math doesn't work out unless the rebar is spaced three inches apart.)
I have Cingular and it worked fine last time I was there. When you're in the rooms, a lot depends on which direction your window faces. With the integration of AT&T and Cingular networks, it should be getting better.
Good point, Cingular and AT&T has merged since I was there.
You will have 1 or 2 roommates. I believe just about all the classes now have 3 to a room with 4 room to a quad (sharing the bathroom). You loose all of your privacy.
So basically, 12 cadets for 1 bathroom huh? LOL interesting... :rolleyes:
Your Mentor
10-02-2005, 09:27 PM
You guys are killing me!!! When I went through in the late 80's NO ONE had a cell phone. We had to wait in line to use the pay phones. Whatever the case, I can relate that the dorms are like bomb shelters. Only some cell services will work well, depending entirely on which room you get!! ATT works well in the 200 complex while Sprint works well in the 100 complex. And it changes from year to year. I had ATT in 2002 and it barely worked in the Admin building (not even near the dorms) but switched to Nextel in 2003 and found it worked EVERYWHERE. Nextel was the service of choice by Academy staff until recently only because is it worked anywhere. For cadets you can get nationwide direct connect and really save on calls with loved ones. Of course Nextel was recently aquired by Sprint. Understand that if your phone doesn't work in your room you can't ask to be relocated;) All kidding aside, you need to focus on the task at hand and that is learning to be a Highway Patrol Officer. When I went through, as well as the vast majority of your peers, you could only call home on Wednesday nights. If you were lucky, you could see your loved ones on the weekend. My wife was living in Salt Lake City, UT, at the time so I only saw her twice while I was in training. It was good and bad. Just another time I guess. I guess what I'm trying to say is you should feel lucky to talk to your loved ones at least once a week and to see them on the weekends if you're willing to make the effort. The Academy is way too intense to worry about this. The CHP wants you to think, breath, dream, and feel CHP for six months. You're about to get two years of college crammed into the shortest period of time possible. Do you really want to worry about whether your cell works or not? You're talking about a lifetime career!!!!
Hey Mentor, we've heard this before.
Yeah, yeah -- no one had a cell phone... and you PT'ed eight days a week... and the track was designed so you had to run uphill both ways. Didn't it snow that year? And you had to do knuckle push ups on 180-degree pavement (after the snow melted), right?
;)
... and the track was designed so you had to run uphill both ways....
You mean the track isn't still uphill both ways?!? Kids these days....sheesh. :rolleyes: :lol:
On an unrelated note - while I appreciate the convenience of cell phones, I simultaneously consider them one of the scourges of the earth....I get so sick of seeing people driving, eating, jogging, shopping, etc. with that stupid thing glued to the side of their head! You'll REALLY learn to appreciate them the first time you make a stop and the driver holds up a finger and 'shushes' you when you approach the car because they're talking on their cell phone. :biggrin:shock:ubt:
Welpe
10-03-2005, 10:52 PM
You will have 1 or 2 roommates. I believe just about all the classes now have 3 to a room with 4 room to a quad (sharing the bathroom). You loose all of your privacy.
That sounds kind of like college...5 guys, two bed rooms and two bathrooms. Of course I'm sure the similarities end there. :lol:
... and the track was designed so you had to run uphill both ways....
You mean the track isn't still uphill both ways?!? Kids these days....sheesh. :rolleyes: :lol:
On an unrelated note - while I appreciate the convenience of cell phones, I simultaneously consider them one of the scourges of the earth....I get so sick of seeing people driving, eating, jogging, shopping, etc. with that stupid thing glued to the side of their head! You'll REALLY learn to appreciate them the first time you make a stop and the driver holds up a finger and 'shushes' you when you approach the car because they're talking on their cell phone. :biggrin:shock:ubt:
What do you do in that case? (driver on cell phone when you pull him/her over and refuses to disconnect)
Your Mentor
10-04-2005, 03:57 PM
Hey Mentor, we've heard this before.
Yeah, yeah -- no one had a cell phone... and you PT'ed eight days a week... and the track was designed so you had to run uphill both ways. Didn't it snow that year? And you had to do knuckle push ups on 180-degree pavement (after the snow melted), right?
You forgot about the horse-drawn buggies on the high speed track.:confused:
retchp
10-10-2005, 03:16 PM
True Story..
Back in the olden days..I am talking 1974 and the Academy on Meadowview Road in S. Sac. We lived forty to a barracks and six or eight to a room and all 40 shared a common bathroom with no privacy walls between the toilets and a large common shower. But that is not the story.
I remembered this listening to wannabees worry about cell phone coverage...
I told my wife when I left for the Academy NEVER to UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES bother me there. I came home once a month and she also had power of attorney. We looked at this as a life changing job.
So imagine my surprise when I went home for a weekend and walked into my house and there was a family of five eating dinner at what was definitely NOT my table.
Our house was on the market and had sold and closed and the new family had taken ownership. I knew all this was happening just not exactly when. They handed me a note from her as to where she and the kids had moved and I drove over there.
Honest folks, you need to focus on the Academy...but probaly striking a balance somewhere between running around like chicken little looking for cell phone strength and not knowing where your family has moved. I guess she took me at my word.
Your Mentor
10-12-2005, 05:15 PM
Ouch! :cry:
PharmGirl
10-12-2005, 06:21 PM
DOH! LMBO thats a good one tho.....
When they say you can use your cell phone..it really amounts to about a 5 min (if that) phone call, because really you will be busy polishing, cleaning, reading, memorizing, looking for motrin, and wanting to get into bed! that talking on the phone will the last thing you do.
ear pieces work well, you can atleast talk while your shinining your boots! My husband called my nightly to say goodnight....not more than 3-5 minutes that for sure...his roommate called his wife twice a week and that was it...everyone is differnt.
ear pieces work well, you can atleast talk while your shinining your boots! My husband called my nightly to say goodnight....not more than 3-5 minutes that for sure...his roommate called his wife twice a week and that was it...everyone is differnt.
Was it worth it in the end?
carcop
10-12-2005, 09:41 PM
True Story..
Our house was on the market and had sold and closed and the new family had taken ownership. I knew all this was happening just not exactly when. They handed me a note from her as to where she and the kids had moved and I drove over there.
Honest folks, you need to focus on the Academy...but probaly striking a balance somewhere between running around like chicken little looking for cell phone strength and not knowing where your family has moved. I guess she took me at my word.
Now that there is funny, I don't care who you are. RETCHP, did you ever stop to think, "What if she didn't leave a note?":shock:
CHP Explorer
10-12-2005, 10:38 PM
When your assigned a quad in the academy does everyone in that quad start PT at the same time?
Your Mentor
10-12-2005, 11:03 PM
You're generally assigned to rooms with others from your Company. Sometimes there's an overlap which makes it tough but only when the classes are huge. The facility is quite incredible; it's basically a college campus with a race track, traffic grid, range, and K-9 training area. The gym rivals anything you'll see in a college and is often used by the Sacramento Kings for practice (to avoid fans and photographs). You can't appreciate the place until you visit some allied agency regional academies. There's nothing else like it in California and very few facilities rival it in the rest of the US. The closest is the FBI Academy in Quantico. We often take our Academy for granted because we all went there as cadets and return there for all kinds of in-service training. All you have to do is follow a cadet class at a regional academy for one day and you can't believe how advanced our Academy and training programs are. POST executives are always hanging out there and asking us for advice and ideas to improve training statewide. It really is the flagship of Headquarters even though it's treated as separate from HQ.
Why can't they get the dorm room smell out of the dorm rooms? They still smell the same as they did when I was a cadet. It's one of those distinct smells you can't describe but remember the rest of your life. :confused:
Capsicum
10-13-2005, 04:38 PM
Quad are set up with 2 rooms of A company and 2 rooms with B company in alphabetical order (well in the beginning anyways). So the first quad of a class with have 6 guys from A company and then 6 guys from B company. If all 12 guys were from the same company, you would have one hell of a time getting into the shower after PT since there are only two showers. Splitting the quads this way only has 6 guys at a time fighting for the 2 showers. There are 4 sinks however, but only two toilets. It get a little easier if people from your quad leave the academy, but sometimes you might get shifted around, but they will try to keep the companies together in a room.
Darth Choke
10-13-2005, 06:24 PM
Quad are set up with 2 rooms of A company and 2 rooms with B company in alphabetical order (well in the beginning anyways). So the first quad of a class with have 6 guys from A company and then 6 guys from B company. If all 12 guys were from the same company, you would have one hell of a time getting into the shower after PT since there are only two showers. Splitting the quads this way only has 6 guys at a time fighting for the 2 showers. There are 4 sinks however, but only two toilets. It get a little easier if people from your quad leave the academy, but sometimes you might get shifted around, but they will try to keep the companies together in a room.
Negative
All 12 in our quad were from A company. We had 3 companies. And yes...it was hell. But it was the academy so.....it was always hell. And C company was on the other side of the campus for about 10 weeks or so until we consolidated down to one side of the campus due to quitters and seniors leaving.
CHP Explorer
10-13-2005, 07:37 PM
I was up there in August for the Level 3 Academy and we had 7 guys fighting for the showers just wanted to know when the whole quad is full. Your right about the smell. The best apart was Wednesday at noon because we took the place of company C.
Your Mentor
10-13-2005, 08:13 PM
Well I feel very fortunate then. We only had two guys to a room when I went through and we were all in the same company. I remember I ran faster because I wanted to get into the shower first. And I managed to be the first one back to the quad every morning and at the front of the chow line as well.
Actually, the dorm situation changes constantly. It depends on who the staff office sergeant is or how they want to work the in-service room assignments, etc. You know how that goes. Someone has a great idea and impliments it. Another person shows up and thinks they have an even better way of making things work. Before you know it's all been tried and done. I have to admit splitting the quad between companies makes sense for PT.
...I have to admit splitting the quad between companies makes sense for PT.
Yeah, unless you're in the company that has late PT and the "earlybirds" from the other company are disturbing that last precious half-hour of sleep! :biggrin:
We were two to a room and the whole quad in the same company also.
Capsicum
10-14-2005, 03:23 PM
Negative
All 12 in our quad were from A company. We had 3 companies. And yes...it was hell. But it was the academy so.....it was always hell. And C company was on the other side of the campus for about 10 weeks or so until we consolidated down to one side of the campus due to quitters and seniors leaving.
Hehe, I'm glad it wasn't that way when I went through then, because I wasn't a fast runner and probably wouldn't have had a shower the entire 27 weeks.
The current classes are split between the companies. Not sure how the November and future classes will be though.
Darth Choke
10-14-2005, 06:37 PM
We were literally standing naked just outside the door of the shower. They would leave the water running, jump out, I'd jump in. There were even a couple occasions that threats were made if they did not hurry, we'd be sharing the shower together!!!
PharmGirl
10-17-2005, 08:07 AM
Was it worth it in the end?
You mean to get the ear piece? it came with the phone..just had to find it and use it thats all. For me it was worth it..I in a sense got to hear that he was still locked on and just to say goodnight finished my day! I must say..he often wore his earpiece into the bathroom and heard things I really didn't care for LOL, like the threats Darth talked about or the first day they got juniors and I could hear all the FUN they were having...yup glad it was him and not me!
When I went to the spouse's orientation, we were pretty much told that the cadets live under enough stress "don't add to it" so I didn't...(ya ya, I am a wife, I know how to nag LOL) my part of the phone call was merely support for him.
I was actually asking if putting up with your husband going through the Academy was worth it, but glad to hear the earpiece worked out well. :cool:
makakona
01-13-2006, 10:37 PM
really old... can i ressurect it?
t-mobile doesn't work well, either. but when you're ten hours away from a spouse and you've got kids clammoring to talk to him, it'll do! :smile:
Grover White Jr.
01-14-2006, 01:46 PM
Just a question about cell phones! Does anyone or has anyone heard if verizon works up there?:cool:
stateboy
01-14-2006, 06:42 PM
How has the cell phone policy changed to date? The class I started in was specified a tight window per night (until the Staff Sgt. revoked it if there was a non-complier) since the classes previous apparently had too much time on their hands at night and were talking too much. I personally didn't mind the short time...too many other things to take care of.
I'm just curious to see if/when that policy changes to no cell phones for incoming classes...
makakona
01-14-2006, 08:04 PM
How has the cell phone policy changed to date? The class I started in was specified a tight window per night (until the Staff Sgt. revoked it if there was a non-complier) since the classes previous apparently had too much time on their hands at night and were talking too much. I personally didn't mind the short time...too many other things to take care of.
I'm just curious to see if/when that policy changes to no cell phones for incoming classes...
last i heard, 8:15 to 8:45 monday, tuesday, and thursday, anytime after 5:00 p.m. wednesdays and fridays, and free weekends.
Just a question about cell phones! Does anyone or has anyone heard if verizon works up there?:cool: Yep - it works fine, even inside the rooms.
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