Chapter 5 – The Next Chapter
Cody arrived at Park Ranger Law Enforcement Academy in Colorado. Cody walks up to the registration table for the new student orientation. A middle-aged man asked, "What is your name?"
"Cody Hawkes."
"Hmm…. Here you go. You will be staying in the Holland West Dorm in room 214. Your roommate is Mark Jones, and he has already checked in. I am Ranger Gallagher, and I will be your counselor while you are going thru your training."
"Nice to meet you sir." Cody held out his hand and shook Ranger Gallagher's hand.
"Here are your keys, and badge. Here is your class schedule and syllabus. The new student meeting will start at 1400 today. You can get settled in your room and grab lunch before. Conditioning begins daily at 5 am with classes starting at 7:30 am Monday through Friday.
"Thank you, sir." Cody said.
"You said your name is Hawkes?"
"Yes," Cody responded.
"Are you related to Jesse Hawkes by chance?"
"Yes, he is my father." Cody answered.
"Was he the founder of the High Mountain Rangers in the South Lake Tahoe area?" Ranger Gallagher asked.
"Yes, sir," Cody said.
"And your brother is the current acting Commander, Matt Hawkes."
"Yes, sir," Cody responded.
"So, what makes you want to be a National Park Ranger instead of a High Mountain Ranger?" Ranger Gallagher asked.
"I would like to make my own place in the world. I want to gain experience in law enforcement, learn basic paramedic training, search and rescue techniques and still be in and care for our natural resources. Someday, I would like to return home and become a High Mountain Ranger, but for now, I would like to make my own journey and see some of the country and gain in valuable training and experience."
"Well, you have come to the right place, welcome aboard Cody."
"Thank you, sir," Cody put the information into his backpack and started walking away.
Cody reached his dorm room, and the door was open. Cody knocked on the door lightly and man around Cody's age turned around. "Mark?"
"Yes," Mark answered.
"I am Cody Hawkes; I understand we will be roommates the next several weeks." Cody reached out his hand to Mark.
Mark shook his hand, "Cody, nice to meet you. I am excited about the training starting. I just thought I would start unpacking some things to get settled before the new student orientation meeting. Do you have preference on which side of the room you want?"
Cody walked over and set his bags down on the bed and started to unpack. "This is just fine. Mark tell me about yourself, where are you from?"
"I am from Maine. I grew up near Acadia National Park. I just graduated from the University of Maine. Since I was a small boy, I always dreamt of being a National Park Ranger."
"Are you hoping to get a job at Acadia?" Cody asked.
"Someday, I want to get some experience before applying there. For now, I am hoping I will get a job somewhere with mountains like Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, Glacier, or somewhere like that. While I am young and unattached, I wanted to experience a different part of the country. Eventually, I want to go back there. Tell me about yourself Cody?".
"I am from South Lake Tahoe in California. I just graduated from the University of California. I grew up in the Mountains near South Lake Tahoe. It was pretty much just my dad and I. Both my dad and brother have worked with a search and rescue group up there called High Mountain Rangers. I am hoping someday to also work there, but when I graduated there were no openings. I had a feeling that would happen, so for the last few years I have been looking into other options. I found the Park Rangers would give me the training and experience I would need to be a High Mountain Ranger. So, I looked into schools and worked the last two summers at Glacier National Park. I am hoping I will get a job there. But if not, like you, I would ideally like to get a job in the mountains somewhere."
"Wow, that sounds like a cool up bringing. How far from town did you live?" Mark asked.
"It was several hours via horse. My dad did not own a car, so we walked or took our horses. I love it up there and would like to go back. But I have not lived there for a while." Cody said.
"What made you leave?" Mark asked.
"My brother was badly hurt in a drug raid that killed couple of the other rangers. He is fine now, but we moved to San Francisco while he was recovering. My dad searched for the dealers who hurt my brother and the other rangers. I convinced him to become a bounty hunter. His pension did not pay much, and bounty hunting would pay a lot fast. And I could see my dad just lite up. I decided to go off to college and do my own thing, but dad stayed in San Francisco and is still working as a bounty hunter."
"You did not want to join him?"
"No, big city life is not for me. Even college was something I had to do to get to this point. I guess I have a hard time interacting with people in the city, since we were so isolated in the mountains. My closest friends are the rangers in my brother's unit. There are only three remaining rangers from before. And my brother married one of them. One of the other rangers is a Chopper pilot. I would love to get into that as well."
Mark responded. "Yeah, college was same for me as well. I could not wait to get done to start this training and get back to the wilderness. I love the outdoors. I am from a small town, not as isolated as you, but I did not like the city life in college. I much prefer the quietness of the wilderness. I did like the freedom I had at university to make my own decisions and not be so controlled by my parents. And I like to learn, so I enjoyed the classes and did not care for the party scene."
Cody commented back, "Mark, I think we are going to get along just fine. I get the same about college. One other thing I like about college was all the female co-eds. Unfortunately, did not have much luck with them. The best woman I know, married by brother Matt and it took me to push him into it."
"Yeah, the ladies and I just did not work out well either. I hope there some nice female rangers we will meet here or at the Parks."
"Same for me. Ready to head down to the mess hall for lunch?" Cody asked.
"Yes, I am starving."
The two men left their dorm room and headed over to the mess hall, where they met some of their fellow ranger trainees.
Later that afternoon they attended the new student orientation. Ranger Gallagher along with two of the instructors, Ranger Macomb and Ranger Gates were standing up in front of the class.
Ranger Gallagher gave opening remarks., "I would like to welcome you all to the National Park Ranger Academy, where you will learn what takes to be a National Park Ranger. Twenty-five of you were selected from a pool of hundreds of applicants. You were each chosen as we feel you are the best of the best to serve and represent our Nation in the National Park Service. You all come from different backgrounds: some veterans, former law enforcement officers and some of you just starting out on your career and fresh out of college. This class represents people from across the country. We have Twelve states represented here. This training is not an easy one, you will be challenged physically, mentally, and academically. Most students don't pass the physical requirements, please take it seriously. Especially here in Colorado, we are at a much higher altitude that trips some people up. National Park Rangers are a different breed than your regular law enforcement. You need to know the law and how to enforce it, you may need to know how to control crowds, watch for fires, be first responder, do crime scene investigations, search and rescue technique, defensive driving, defense tactics, Firearm skills and you will develop leadership skills. You will be taken through many scenarios you may come across in your job. Going through those scenarios will help you deal with those situations as they come. You will also need to know how to care for the land and the animals and conduct training classes for visitors to get them to better understand the wilderness and area they are seeing. Some of you may be heavier on the law enforcement side guarding our most precious resources, monuments, and historical sights. Others will be more in the wilderness areas where there are mountains, lakes, and streams. I am Ranger Jonthan Gallegher along with my follow rangers Micheal Macomb and Susan Gates. We will be guiding you through the next seventeen weeks and will be following your progress through the eleven-week probation period. I lead the Law Enforcement section of this training, Ranger Macomb will lead you through the Paramedic training and Ranger Gates will lead you thru protecting our National resources, Fire Safety and guiding our visitors thru their experiences thru the parks. Ranger Macomb."
"Thank you, Ranger Gallagher, for your remarks. For paramedic training, you will learn paramedic basics. You will learn how to be a first responder, learn CPR, bandage cuts, remove ticks, set sprains and broken bones, how to treat drowning victims, heart attacks, and how to deal with the mentally ill. You will take the injured to safety or a place where they can be picked up by paramedics. Rangers have been known to deliver babies on occasion. So, some basic training will be given as well. I encourage you all to get your Emergency First Responder Certification that will be held immediately after this program. Followed by the Fundamentals of Search and Rescue. Both certifications will help you pull ahead of other candidates when searching for your next post. Ranger Gates the floor is yours." Ranger Macomb finished.
"Thank you, Ranger Macomb. I would like to welcome you to the National Park Ranger Academy as well. I will primarily focus on training you on protecting our natural resources, what to look for when comes to fires. That will be all your job. As it will be something you are most likely to experience in your career. What to do if there is a fire and how to safely evacuate the park visitors. You will also be focused on providing educational experiences for the park visitors and junior rangers. Help to get a child to get excited about the National Parks and want to protect them. Your job as a ranger will not be a boring one, you will wear many hats in your career. You will work closely with your fellow rangers. In some cases, you will live with your fellow rangers. You will build friendships like you have never had before. Your fellow rangers will become your family. It is more than a 9 to 5 type of job. There is nothing else like it." Stated Ranger Gates.
Ranger Gallegher finished up by saying, "Before you leave for the day. You will need to stop at the tables in the back to pick up your uniforms. You will be expected to wear them when you are in class. There are separate workout uniforms for when you are in endurance training. Make sure they are pressed and tidy. Sloppiness will not be tolerated. A bag of books with your class syllabus can also be picked up in back. You will be dismissed for the day. I suggest you start preparing for tomorrow's classes, break in your shoes and get a good night's sleep. We will see you tomorrow morning at 0500 to start your endurance training.
Class days were long, and they were packed with all sorts of important information. Cody and Mark did everything together. From Studying, training, and workouts. It has been a long and grueling 15 weeks so far. They were coming to the end of their training and were starting to study for their final exams. When Cody got a visitor.
It was Cody's mom Jackie. She came by to visit with her son. "Mom, what are you doing here?"
"Pete had business nearby, so I thought, I would come and visit my baby boy at school."
"Mom it is nice to see you, but this is not a good time. We are getting ready for our exams, and I need to get to class."
"You can skip one class to visit with your dear mom, can't you," Jackie said.
"Not really, we are getting closer and closer to finals, and I can't miss anything. I don't want to have to repeat this course. Sorry mom. I wish you would have call first, but this is not a good time." Cody said.
"Well, your brother never treated me like that. Your brother always took the time when I came to visit. If your dad would have come, I am sure you would have taken the time to be with him." Jackie said.
"Mom, dad would understand the pressure I am under right now and he would have called first before coming. I wish you would understand."
Jackie was not happy, "I was hoping we could celebrate your graduation, but guess you don't want to. I will go then."
Cody was frustrated, "Mom, I have four weeks left, then I will be done with school, and I will have completed all my certifications. I will be staying with Matt and Robin and maybe head up to dad's cabin for a bit before heading back to Glacier National Park in early spring. I have secured a seasonal position up there and will start my pilot training. So, if you like to get together than."
"Will your dad be there?" Jackie asked.
"As far as I know, he will not be, but you might want to check with Matt and Robin."
With that Jackie gave Cody a hug and left. Cody rubbed his head and watched his mom leave.
"Ready Mark?" Cody asked.
"Yep, we might need to run so we are not late." Mark said.
As the two men ran to class, "Mark, sorry about my mom. She does things on her own time table and thinks people can just drop whatever they are doing.
"I know few people like that," Mark responded.
Mark and Cody made it through their final exams, both passed the physical endurance training as well. They were both able to sign up for their two certifications.
Graduation day came. Mark's family was in attendance to celebrate with him. Cody and Mark were all dressed up in their ranger uniforms.
"Cody, I want to introduce you to my family. This is my father Tim, mother Mae, and my little sister's Susan and Megan."
"Nice to meet you all."
"I could not have gotten thru the last 17 weeks without Cody."
"Cody, what is next for you," Mrs. Jones asked.
"I am heading home to Tahoe to visit with my brother and sister-in-law and then heading to Glacier National Park." Cody answered.
"That is exciting," Mrs. Jones said.
Just as they were leaving for graduation, Matt and Robin walked up to Cody. "Hey Toad."
"Matt and Robin, what are you doing here?" Cody asked.
"We could not miss your big day." Matt said.
"Hey guys. I want to introduce you to my roommate. Mark, this is my brother Matt and my sister-in-law Robin. Best sister a man could have." Cody introduces everyone.
"So nice to meet you all after hearing so much about you." Mark said.
"We should get going or we will be late." Cody said.
"So good to see you Cody," Robin gave Cody a side hug. "Where is the bathroom?"
Cody pointed down the hall to the bathroom and Robin ran to it.
"Is she sick?" Cody asked.
"No, she is pregnant," Matt said, Matt went down the hall after Robin. "We can talk after graduation ceremony. Get going or you will be late."
"I am going to be an uncle." Cody said to himself. Then shouted, "YAHOO!"
Cody walked away. The graduation ceremony began, and the recruits swore an oath to serve and protect. After the ceremony, Cody went running up to Matt and Robin. I am so happy to hear you're having a baby. How did it happen? When is the baby coming?"
"Well… Toad if you don't know how it happened, maybe we need little anatomy lesson."
"Oh, I am just excited, I know how it happens." Cody said embarrassed. "Does dad know?"
"Ah..." Robin sighed. "We were going to wait for the first trimester to end before telling anyone. The guys at the station found out, I had to go on inactive duty right away and then morning sickness kicked in."
"We did not want to take away from your special day," Matt said.
"I am over joyed, little baby Hawkes is on is way. When are you due."
"About seven more months." Matt said.
"This is the best graduation present; I could have asked for," Cody said.
"You know you don't get to keep the baby?" Matt said.
"I know, I get to be the uncle who spoils the little girl or boy and then gives it back to you to deal with the tantrums." Cody said. "Do you know if it is a boy or girl?"
"Not yet," Robin said.
Cody was on cloud nine. Matt and Robin headed back to Tahoe. Cody was staying in Colorado for a couple more weeks to complete the Paramedic and Search and Rescue certifications before heading back to Tahoe for a while.
"So have you heard from Jennifer?" Cody asked.
"Not since I took her to school," Robin said.
"Dad said Aaron could not handle her anymore, was that still the case?" Cody asked.
"I was supposed to pick her up, but she showed up at the cottage several days earlier. She was a mess when she arrived. I spent several days with her and helped her get things settled at school. She seemed to be handling things better by the time I left. I am definitely worried about her and how she will do. I told her she was welcome any time at our place. We've tried to call her a few times, But never heard from her." Robin said.