Thread: Quantico-FBI Academy

Couldn't find a thread on Quantico really, so I thought I would start one for others to share experiences.

Just arrived in Quantico Saturday night, buildings looked just like the G-man videos. Thank god for the interconnecting walkways btw the buildings, because it's literally freezing outside, <20F at night. The people here are really nice and courteous, greeting one another while passing by. I met my counselor already, had some great conversation about on job experiences and what not to do as a NAT and an agent, basically lots of valuable advices to have ahead of time.

Sitting here in the FBI academy library, typing on one of their broadband enabled computers. I must say for a first impression, I really like this place, the atmosphere and I like my clean and well lited dorm room as well. So hopefully after class starts on tuesday, I'll have more to update. As for now, some advices for NATs coming in:

1. Flipflops are a must for the shower stalls.
2. Linens are clean (sheets and blankets), but the pillow has brown drool spots all over so they are nasty, good thing I brought my own and a pillow cover.
3. Pack lightly, closet space is limited and you don't want to crowd your roomie's space.

P.S
My class 2/21/06 is only 28 comrades strong, don't know the reason for the small class, just thought applicants might wanna know.

Congratulations on starting the Academy. Quantico is an addicting place. In way of just a little advice, be cautious with what you write on the forum about the Academy. More than one New Agent has had some troubles for giving out too much info. Thought you might like to know. Good luck, brother.

Originally Posted by AZ Cop

Congratulations on starting the Academy. Quantico is an addicting place. In way of just a little advice, be cautious with what you write on the forum about the Academy. More than one New Agent has had some troubles for giving out too much info. Thought you might like to know. Good luck, brother.

Troy I think you'll be fine as long as you stay with information on closet space and Flip-flops. I don't think there's anything top secret about that.

Thanks for the information, wish I was there with you. Good luck..

That's so exciting that you've finally made it there, T. Perhaps our classes will overlap and I'll meet you there at some point soon!

Just a few questions I just thought of:

- When must you arrive and when can you arrive?
- When is the first PFT?
- Are there still ramifications for failing the first PFT? Would you then be restricted to base for 3 weeks, required to attend PT sessions, etc.? I've heard all of these but am curious if it is still in practice.

Best of luck to you as you start out! Remember that you earned your slot there, you deserve to be there, and kick some butt!

Goodspeed

Let's see, I've talked to my field counselor about what we can talk about, and what we can not talk about during the academy to the public and family. Obviously, we shouldn't go into class details, exams or specifics about anyone classmates, and classfied stuff is a given, but general stuff like man, the continental breakfast here bites would be ok hopefully. I think hogan's alley practicals are public knowledge, I googled the pictures of some robbery exercise last week from some virginia college.
However, the caution is well noted, if MODs see anything out of line posted here, please let me know. I'll be careful nonetheless.

We westcoast people can arrive 1 day prior to the arrival date (the date where you have your informal class meeting with the class supervisor, NOT your EOD (where paperwork gets signed, cred photos gets taken with suit and tie etc). Our PFT is 1 day after EOD, which is next wednesday. Although, the track is currently under construction, so I have no idea where we are gonna run.

There is still remedial session on weekends for people failing PFTs, and of course the weekend night base restriction applies as well. So I'm gonna do my best to pass that darn thing in this freezing weather..

Twinturbo, sawannabe and goodspeed, hope to have lunch with yall soon in the cafe.

If you can let us know where you had to run your PFT. I would assume that you will run it on the road but maybe you can enlighten us. Best of luck my friend.

First of all, sorry for not updating sooner, the internet here at the academy has been down for the past week. Here are some more updated advices for incoming NATs.

Don't bring cash if you've got a credit card for all the uniforms and stuff.
We've got a BOFA bank right inside the cafeteria with ATM and Service Counter. Don't buy the wrestling shoes if it's >$50, the ones at the PX here is only $40. Don't bring boxing gloves and headgears, you can get them at sport authority around here for total of $50.

Bring a void check for direct deposit purpose. Don't bring too many hangers, cause you can get them at target with 13 for $1.50. Don't bring humidifiers, $14 at target. Bring some stationary goods, and lots of snacks.

Blue tooth/camera phones, not really allowed on FBI facilities. So if you bring one, keep it in your room and disable blue tooth if you can. Personal laptops stay in the dorm room and can not be used for anything other than play some DVDs, games etc.

We had our PFT last wednesday with snow in the morning and rain prior to the event.

So there we were, 30 degrees out, freezing in our shorts and t-shirts, hands numb, huffing and puffing down the asphalt road for our 300 meter (track is backup, but lines hasn't been drawn yet), unforgettable moment of my life!! I felt my lungs were gonna burn out with that cold air. 1.5 miles, yeah...painful as well, some people got enough pts but got 0 on this event, please get some hill training in, cause the road ain't flat.

Pushups on the wet pavement wasn't fun either. The instructors were supeeeeeeeeeeeer strict about the pushups. People lost 5-10 reps left and right due to very minor protocol violations. My advice is to touch your chest to the ground and make sure you hear your elbows lock. Make sure your arms are not more than 1-2 inches wider than your shoulder and don't do them too fast. I barely passed with 15 pts, and a lot of us failed, and we are still getting grilled after a week by every instructor/director that comes to talk about it. Thus I would urge everyone getting ready for Quantico to be more prepared than they are right now. Cause no matter how fit and ready you think you are, come PFT day, you'll be hurting, and that day has a lot more stored away for ya than just the test :P

Penality for failing week 1 PFT is :
Mandatory Power PT mon, wed, friday. The weekend base restriction is no longer in effect for people who fails PFT(nice). I'm attending Power PT right now by choice, it's kicking my ass but I'm confident it'll help me to improve my scores.

Got issued bunch of FS (PROFANITY EDITED) (holsters, goggles etc) from the firearms unit, haven't started much there yet, really looking forward to the range.

Academic classes are really interesting, 1st class instructors I must say, with very interesting discussions and it just gets more challenging by the week.

I'm here with DeadMoneyFBI and Wardawg from the forum, both very talented, awesome fun individuals. I've already made a whole lot of friends, went out on the weekends to movies, malls, dinner etc. I think my class will make a hell of a team.

3/20 class, we're expecting you soon. Congrads to FBI2b, Bike123 for getting the call...

P.S. if yall wanna blame someone for this new 45 days field office PFT policy..well, blame the previous 4 classes include us, cause we've all had a lot of week 1 pft failures, guess that really pissed the PT unit off.

That's a fantastic report, T! Thank you very much for sharing. Congrats on passing your first PFT. Keep up the good work (and the posts)!

Goodspeed

Thanks so much for the report!

I have one quick question: I thought I read in another post that personal laptops could be used to dial in for Internet access from the "lounge" areas. Is that no longer the case?

-B

You're doing great T-roy. Hang in there man.

Thanks for the update!! I have been working out about 2 hours a day (gym and track workouts) since I started my terminal leave. The MD/DC/VA area can be really cold in the winter and really hazy, hot and humid in the summer.

Killer stuff Trouble, thanks so much for the detailed report.
I am getting excited just reading your post.

Still surprised at the PT failures... I guess the weather may have some impact on southerners like myself, but man --- this is the big dance -- gotta be better prepared.

Go get 'em. And kudos by the way for voluntarily attending the Power PT.. shows dedication and I am sure that it will inspire/motivate the others that are there because they "have" to.

Adios

The laptop dialup connection is feasible, but the fact is the academy does not allow personal laptops outside of the dorm on FBI facility space, and does not "allow" personal laptops to be connected to the internet from FBI facilities. The security protocol here is strict, my suggestion is to use the computer lab and the library instead. If you wanna go to the mall for internet, starbuck/boarder's wireless internet is not free, it's a t-mobile hotspot account ($10 for 24 hrs etc).

For those of you with family and kids, don't worry too much, many in my class are married with kids. Bottom lines is, the day is long and week flies by faster than you can notice. We wake up at 5:30-6am, uniform up, get breakfast, haul ass to classroom, stay there till 12pm, get lunch, back to classroom till 2-3pm, firearms training 3-5pm on certain days, change into PT cloth for 5:15pm powerPT. Get our butt handed to us for 1 hr in the gym, drop gears to our room, hit the cafeteria for dinner, get back to our room, it's usually 7:30pm already. Homework will consume 2 hrs, and most parents have about 1hr to talk to their kids before having to hit the sacks for the 2nd morning around 11:00pm. It's hard for parents really, but everyone is motivated here and by letting the family know what's going on each day really helps relieving some of that anxiety at home I guess. Plan for a trip back home after week 3, that'll really help things as well.


Btw, got issued my gun today, exciting day for all of us, lots of fun drill training at the firearms classroom, well at least for me, Glock is a beautiful weapon I must say.

Keep PTing guys, it's getting much warmer here in Quantico....heard TwinturboNoy just got the 45 day PFT call, sounds like everyone is getting close.

What does homework usually consist of?

Studying class material? Reading? Writing reports?

Or all of the above??

No PT in the morning eh?? I'm a bit surprised.

Thanks
Mark

Hmm, that's going into details, and I've been cautioned to be careful here. Sorry, let's just say it's homework and not limited to paper work only.

Friday PowerPT is 6am, some days, the Defensive Tactics/Regular PT is at 10am...so yes, you would have a mixture of 5:15pm PTs and morning PTs..
Now, the recommended training is to augment PowerPT with a 5 day running schedule, but I got tired just looking over that running list, it's super aggressive. I'm gonna do my own thing, try to get more long distance running on the weekends and focus on sprints during the weekdays. The trails here are great, tons of trees, gravel roads close to the lake etc, you guys will enjoy the runs.

For people who loves to work out(I'm not one of them), there's a full sized weightroom, a medium cardio room, a big ass gym and a warm indoor full sized pool. No sports whatsoever though obviously, cause no one wants to get recycled due to sports related injuries.