GRADUATION!!!

Yes! It is FINALLY done. No more academy!! Fantastic . . . let the celebration begin. Followed by the sleeping . . .

Here in the real world they're shutting my county down . . .

Two days before my graduation to be a certified peace officer, comes the call we at my department have been dreading. "They started the layoffs today . . . here's who's gone already." While I have enough personnel hired after me that it will have to get ugly to get to me, it doesn't matter. These are my brothers and sisters, men and women with families and houses to pay for. I met my friend from another division outside in the parking lot tonight, turned on John Rich's song "They're Shutting Detrioit Down" . . . and cried. He has two kids, a wife, a house and now no job. Every division of the SO was affected.
What does it say about the state of the country you live in when you can't afford to keep the people who keep you safe?
May the Lord bless and protect those who now don't know what the future holds. Keep my brothers and sisters still working safe from harm now that their backup isn't there anymore.

"May your hope give us hope, may your love give us love . . ."