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As I mentioned in my last post, I had to leave a client site early to return to KC for Trinity's first ever Boot Camp . As anything named Boot Camp would imply, it was long and hard, but it was amazing! There were about 22 recruits divided into 5 teams. All new hires within the last 6 months were "invited." I use invited in quotes because the training was mandatory. This training was designed to be Trinity's immersion training for new hires.
We started with lunch and lecture on the first topic which was Emission Calculations. I was a little apprehensive about this topic, since I don't have an engineering background and haven't seen or done calculation equations since high school chemistry and physics (we won't talk about how long ago that was 
). It wasn't as bad as I feared, after all, it is just basic math, and if you have an equation you just have to work a little to get the numbers to plug in. What did make me feel weird was that I would just barely get the calculation equation copied and the new engineers fresh out of school, especially the ones with a background in Aeronautical, would already have an answer. Well, at this point in my life I'm resigned to the fact that I'm a slow, methodical thinker who needs time to process information. That's not a bad thing, but this training was pretty fast paced, so I just focused on paying attention & let the whiz kids crank out the answer for the instructor. I felt it was more important for me to really understand the process than to try to rush through calculations.
This topic took us right to dinner time, so we all car pooled to a local BBQ restaurant for a quick meal, then rushed back to the office for the second topic, Quality Assurance/Quality Control. We reviewed the Trinity QA process which is ISO 9001 compliant. We quit at 8PM and as a local driver I loaded up my recruits and assumed the duty of Transporter (yes, it's one of my favorite movies). We didn't have much down time, as I would be picking them up again at 6:45 AM.
Friday morning we had another session on Emission Calculations, had lunch catered in, and kept working in our groups. This might be a good time to mention that we were given Drill sheets earlier and the point of the training was to simulate the creation of a Title V Air Permit for a client. So after a lecture period, we would divide tasks and work on the calculations and regulations. After lunch we had a lecture on Regulatory Review & Applicability. We worked until about 6PM and headed to the new entertainment district in Kansas City, KS called the Legends. We dined at the Yard House restaurant, then went to Standford & Sons Comedy Club. I transported my recruits back to the hotel about 10PM and headed home (luckily on 10 minutes away).
Saturday morning I picked up my recruits & their luggage at the hotel & we started Boot Camp about 8AM. The first lecture was on Permit Application Development which took us to lunch. We worked in our groups through lunch & started our agency meetings where we presented our client's project overview, our regulatory applicability and talked about how we arrived at our emission calculations. By 3PM we had wrapped it up with an evaluation discussion, handed out awards, and everyone started heading to the airport.
It was long and hard, but a very good learning experience, which made it fun. Good food was provided which is always appreciated, and there was some social and entertainment time as well. Overall, it was fantastic, and as a new Trinity employee it is something to look forward to. Several things impressed me, especially the Drill Instructors knowledge and expertise, but the thing that impressed me the most was the fact that Trinity believes in its employees enough to outlay this significant time and expense for training. Trinity prides itself on hiring the best and brightest, and they aren't afraid to invest in you with training and trust. I've worked for companies that wouldn't spend a dime on training, and those were very disappointing places to work. With this first ever Boot Camp, Trinity has demonstrated its commitment to ensuring new employees are well trained and immersed in the basics of our business - air permitting. I've been with Trinity 6 months now, & this company just keeps impressing me.
Since this topic is about Boot Camp, I can't help but toss in some pictures of a Krav Maga Boot Camp I did a couple of years ago. We'd workout from 5AM-7AM, Monday & Wednesday for 3 weeks. I'd have much rather done this than emission calculations! In this first picture I'm in the far left, front row across from the instructor:
Yes, this is uphill! Same road we were doing push-ups on.
I'm in the middle toting my extra large friend in the brown shirt.
No, the sun really isn't up yet! But we worked out anyway.
Mountain climbers & kicking at 5AM - Hoo Ahh!
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