something a little different..

I am used to shooting pretty things. You know, brides, happy couples, smiling families, babies.... but this week, i got a chance to shoot something totally different. As many of you know, my husband is the director of resident life at a university in St. Louis and this week began the resident assistant training week (rat week, as it's lovingly been called). In light of the VA Tech shooting last year, police departments all over the county have been training to repsond to similar events on college campuses. Our local police department had their training right in our dorms! It was a great time because it provided some great training experience for our police dept and it also provided us a way to proactively train the resident life staff. Our staff got to be actors in several scenarios and it was great fun! Of course, I tagged along with my camera :). It was intense! The simulation seemed so real that I was shaking the first time they ran the drill! Here are some shots from the training session:

My Jon (orange) practiced his role with John (white). My Jon played th role of the shooter and John played the role of the hostage.


Rod, the trainer in green, demonstrated the "Televangelist Take-down" on John. Yeah, that's right. Two pics, three Jo(h)n's. Confusing? You bet :).


The police dept used airsoft guns to make the simulation as real as possible, so all the resdient life staff wore protective masks. No RAT's were harmed in the training drill.


Rod showed Jon how to act in his role as the shooter. John2 doesn't look too threatened.


Bryce will stop at nothing, even looking like a dweeb in his protective eyewear.


The training begins!


Yeah, my Jon pretty much was stinkin excited to be a part of the drill! His pic, with John2 and Rod was on the front page of the Post the next day.