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Some decisions change a lot.
Today I was approached by my LT who asked me to come have a seat in his office.
I entered the room and to my surprise, my sarge and the other sarge for our unit were already sitting in there.
This started off already not looking to good.
I had a seat and spat out, “Alright, am I getting written up?”.
The LT said back, “No no, this is nothing like that. Look, it’s come to my attention that a spot opened up in RID and they asked for you. They want you for the uniform squad, not the black shirt. It’s up to you if you want to go, let me know”.
I thought about it for a few seconds.. I’ve been wanting to goto RID for years. It’s the unit that is the pinnacle of ‘jump out’ units. The highest point on the ladder as far as specialized units go. The absolute end of the line to a career spot.
RID recently started a system where you’d enter as a minor league type tryout. You’d be back in the standard county uniform and doing jumpouts out of a cruiser. From what I’ve been told and heard, they get little respect amongst the rest of the unit for whatever reasons. Basically, I’ve heard a lot of negative things about it.
In my few seconds of introspection it dawned on me.
I’ve got years of experience doing jumps under my belt. I’ve been told I’m the MVP of my unit, which is the next best unit in the chain of the ladder to the RID unit in the county as far as catching real bad guys.
Why then, would I be sent to some tryout squad? I’ve proven myself time and time again and have a massive jacket to prove that. I personally know of a few people who went straight to the ‘black shirt’ RID (same jumpout get up we wear in my current unit, but with a Black polo instead of a gray on) straight off the bat. If they really wanted me that badly, they’d have pulled me straight to the Black shirt squads.
I looked at my LT and said, “Listen, I have a really good thing here. I like my supervisors, my team mates and my area. I’ve earned everyones respect here and I made a time commitment when I interviewed. If the RID guys really wanted me, they’d have brought me over to the black shirts and not stuck me in some tryout phase. If they’re offer stands at ‘me going to uniform’, my answer is “no”.”
My Sarge immediately said, “What? Are you serious?”
I replied with a sturdy, “Yes. I am.”
The LT thanked me for my time and commitment and I exited.
Immediately after that I left the mini-station and met my squad to do a jump.
As I pulled up at the staging location they all were standing out of their vehicles. I walked up and they all turned around and started Congraduating me on getting sent to RID.
I stopped them and told them what I told the LT.
They all looked at me dumbfounded.
I had to explain my reasons.
If RID really wants me, they’d ask me to come to their black shirt unit. I’m not a moron, I’m no rookie, I’ve been doing this a minute. There is no reason that I should be sent to a tryout squad and I don’t feel like playing that game. I have too much going on to worry about impressing new people and proving myself again. They know where I’m at and I’ll be here for some time.
So, with that being said, if I just burned a Bridge, it wasn’t intended but I can’t control how other people take my reply.
No body turns down a position in RID.
Everyone I know thinks I’m crazy.
Maybe I am.
Maybe I should start focusing on that Firearms Instructor position.
Maybe I should really focus on getting promoted and climbing the ranks…
Time will tell and I may never get the chance to get into RID again, but that’s a decision I’ll have to go through my whole career knowing I made, and if it means never getting into RID, so be it.
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