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| Park Ranger Vehicle |
What a summer it has been, and I finally realized at the end
of my 5th week here at Gettysburg that it is half way over! But as
each week passes, the more myself and my fellow ProRangers at other parks are learning
and being able to add the skills we are learning to our tool belt. With saying
that, my fifth week would be spent with law enforcement, and I learned more in
one week then I would have thought. My first day would be spent with seasonal
LE Ranger John Ludwick, who would teach me the ins and outs of radar, how to
judge car speeds, EMS, how he does his traffic stops, and much more. But first
before we went out on patrol, we had to find some inventory for our administrative
staff to help them out! So we searched high and low for what we needed to find,
and knocked a good amount off the list, which administration was very thankful
for, as we all get something good out of helping another division out with tasks.
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| Ride for the Anniversary Weekend |
We then headed out
and did a traffic stop for speeding, as Ranger Ludwick was showing me how to
use the radar, how to lock in speeds, then the procedure of making the stop. It
was a great experience running radar, especially with Ranger Ludwick, who is a
great teacher and better Ranger. Everyone has their own small things they
incorporate during a stop, so every piece of advice for me to try from all of
the LE rangers here are getting added to my tool belt. The rest of the day was
spent patrolling the park, and me asking him many questions that will help me
become a better ranger in the future, and I was very thankful for the time and
advice I got while riding along that day with him. The next day I was with LE
Ranger John Sherman, as we would patrol the park and conduct traffic stops with
a different kind of radar that his car is equipped with. Again I spent the day
talking and asking Ranger Sherman about how he does certain tasks, and what the
best path would be for to reach the goals I want to when I eventually get into
the NPS as a LE officer.
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| My driveway as a parking lot on Anniversary Weekend |
Then finally, Battle Anniversary weekend is upon us! What
the battle anniversary is for us when the battle took place at Gettysburg, we
celebrate it by putting on special programs over the three days for visitors
that want to get a better interaction with what took place on those days of the
battle. For those that don’t know, the battle took place July 1,2,3 of 1863, so
this year is our 153rd anniversary of the battle. My task for the weekend,
along with our other LE Intern Mike, was to manage parking and traffic throughout
the park where the programs were taking place. This may seem like an easy task to some, but
it was quite a task at times when cars would come in droves. But we were able
to manage it, and learn the easiest ways to deal with it, while eliminating
some other ideas we had that didn’t work. By the end of the weekend we were
pros, and were told by the Rangers that we did a great job throughout the
weekend. While not parking cars, we were also tasked to patrol the park and
watch for any other traffic problems or criminal activity, while the other
rangers were doing road blocks or EMS tasks. While we didn’t see anything, it
was nice being able to roam the park, and interact with visitors and help them
with any questions they had about the park or the special events going on that
day. Overall, battle anniversary was a great experience that I am happy I was
able to partake and help with, and will definitely see myself coming back to
help with in the future!
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| Angelo and I working the Fireworks Show |
On Saturday the 2nd, I was able to go on a
special detail with our Chief Ranger Jeremy Murphy down to Antietam National
Battlefield to help with their firework concert/show, and work with fellow
ProRanger Angelo! It was a nice hour or so drive down, and was a good time to
get know my Chief ranger better, and ask questions about different divisions
within the National Park Service that I am interested in and learn more about.
I was able to get a lot of information, and was also able to get to know Chief
Murphy more. Going down, I was expecting this show to only have about five to
ten thousand people there. Well what I didn’t realize was that this is a huge
event for them, and that the crowd would be about fifteen to twenty thousand
people. When we got down to Antietam, we went to the visitor center observation
deck, which was where the HQ/check in area was. After checking in, I was
introduced by Chief Murphy to other Chief Rangers from nearby parks that were
there to help with the event, as well as other rangers who were pulled in to
help with the event. We then got briefed by Antietam Chief Ranger on the event,
what to look out for, and then were sent to our posts. This is where I finally
meet up with Angelo, and caught up with him. Our duty for the night was to park
cars, and make sure everyone got out safely. Again, let’s just say by the end
of the night, we were pros. The concert was great, fireworks were amazing, and
a flyover by the US Air Force definitely capped off a great week for me! I hope
everyone enjoyed their 4th of July weekend, and hope you continue to
read throughout the rest of the summer! God Bless the USA!
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