New Beginings

I just received an email inviting me to Phase I testing in the process of becoming an FBI Special Agent. This is a major career shift for me and it's exciting to look forward to the challenges that (hopefully) await me.

My biggest hurdle right now is how pathetically out of shape I have allowed myself to become. The FBI has pretty stringent requirements in order to move through the hiring process. You have to score a certain number over 4 different activities conducted in a row with 5-10 minutes between:
-Max. sit ups in 1 minute
-300 m dash
-max push ups untimed
-1.5 mile run

This is much harder than it appears. I tried it yesterday and I am literally starting from scratch. I scored negative points. I have quite a ways to go! Since I haven't been getting out and traveling much, nor do I have any good photos to share, I'm hijacking my own Blog to record my thoughts and progress in my quest to become an FBI Special Agent.

My "baseline assessment" was horrid, but it's about what I expected. I really only began to think this was a real possibility about 2 weeks ago after speaking to the Cleveland Field office. Now I am frantically trying to lose weight and get in shape.

I have a week to measure some improvement then I take my Phase I test. If I pass, they will invite me to fill out a full application and move on to Phase II. However, until I can score a 12, there is no moving to Phase II.

I hope to get some feeling for how long this is going to take to work through the process. If I have a couple months, I think I can prepare my self in time to stay on schedule for Phase II. If they are moving quickly, I will most likely need to defer my progress until I can pass the self evaluation of the PFT (Physical Fitness Test).