Gettysburg (week of July 25)

This week I continued to ride along with the law enforcement ranger I did not get to last week and it seems as though I now am responsible for opening up the National Cemetery and raising the flag on the mornings I come in early and I'm proud to have that responsibility. For the most part the ride alongs this week were not too much different than the last, each ranger had their own way of patrolling and their own general style. It may sound cliche, but no two were alike, which allowed me to get a diverse experience. This week followed the same general outline as last week, however, Wednesday of this week was probably the most eventful day I have had all summer. On this day my supervisor, Ryan Levins, took me on a tour small tour of a few parks in the NCR (National Capitol Region). We first visited Harpers ferry, which coincidentally was his first park. He introduced me to some of the staff, showed me around the park, and we even helped out of few visitors in the information center. When we left there we went to Antietam. While here we made our way around the battlefield, stopped at the visitor center briefly, and ran into the two prorangers working at Antietam when we stopped by the ranger office. Our trip ended with a brief stop at C&O Canal and a visit to the national capitol region communication center. I was introduced to the staff and given the details on how their dispatch functioned. It was very informative and was also nice to see how their dispatch operated compared to ours. After leaving there we were headed back to Gettysburg, our field trip was over. However, little did I know, the day was just getting started.

On the way home we heard a call go out over the radio about reports of a man with a gun in the park. we were still about 15-20 minutes away so we this was all unfolding while we were en route. As we got closer we heard more reports over the scanner that the suspect had left the scene and there was an ongoing pursuit for the suspect. When we arrived on scene two other rangers were there taking statements from the alleged victims. Apparently it was a road rage incident and one guy allegedly was waving a gun around. I was kind of at this point because this would be the first chance I got to witness the investigation process firsthand. I stood by while the rangers took their statements and got all of the details of the incident. While this was going on the suspects identity was confirmed and with the help of the local police, we eventually were able to track him down and have him come in voluntarily. After the statements were finished being taken, I watched as the witnesses/victims of the incident were able to positively identify the suspect. After this was done another ranger, who was not on scene while the witnesses were giving their statements but helping track the suspect down, asked him questions regarding the incident, recorded his statement, and got permission to search his vehicle.

Once this whole process was over we headed back to the ranger station and went over the facts. Watching this whole process unfold was amazing and unforgettable. I'm hoping for more of this as my summer winds down.

Gettysburg (week of July 18)

This week I got my first chance to ride around with the other law enforcement rangers and was amazed a how differently each one does things. They all know and do their jobs very well but they all have very different styles that they have become comfortable with, which is something I was not expecting. However, one thing that they all shared was the love they had for their job and the park. It didn't matter what the situation was, they always handled it the right way and with a smile on their face.

Since Gettysburg has a large number of monuments and other resources, a lot of time was spent trying to protect them. We got a lot of cases where we would see kids (and the occasional adult) climbing on cannons or pulling on a piece of a monument, such as a musket, that would stick out away from the base. Sometimes we may hear things from the culprits down playing the significance of such events, but if they realized the amount of work and effort that is continuously put forth to get these resources in the great condition they are in now and keep them that way (and also the respect they should have for what they represent) I guarantee they would feel differently.
I also got a chance to run radar and witness some more traffic stops. It was nice to get a chance to see how the different rangers worked these stops and the different reactions you get from the stopped individuals. On one stop the passenger in one of the vehicles was not very happy that they were getting pulled over. After verbally abusing the ranger I was with, ranger Peterson, he actually tried to get out of the car (for who knows what reason). Fortunately all it took was for her (ranger Peterson) to yell out over the magaphone to get back in the car and If he didn't before, he definately realized that she meant business after that.

It was an exciting week and being as though I only got through about half the Law enforcement staff this week, next week is already looking pretty good.

Gettysburg

Hello everyone, this post covers the last few weeks I missed and fell behind on my blog entries. Sorry for the wait....
The two weeks before I packed up and went to leadership were split between resource management and law enforcement (with a tad bit of interpretation). My first day with resource management was spent with the division supervisor going around meeting everyone and getting a general overview of what everyone does. the following day with resource management was spent with the museum and artifacts preservation branch. While here I worked on scanning and cataloging new documents that the park received. Most (if not all) of these documents were VERY old, some were even pre civil war. It is because these documents are so old and fragile that we scan them, allowing the originals to be kept in safe storage and out of harms way. In addition to scanning documents I also worked on upgrading the system that was in place for cataloging all of the park maps. Gettysburg is a nice sized park with over 1300 monuments and historic structures so we were working with quite a few maps. One of the more exiting things I got to do while here was assist in changing out some of the artifacts on display in the museum. The artifacts on display are all original and therefore need to be kept in excellent condition which is why these periodic changes and swaps are done.
The next couple of days were spent with the spraying crew. We went out into the wooded areas and sprayed chemicals that targeted certain types of weeds but for the most part our day was spent targeting the infamous mile-a-minute species. This was quite the experience and I even saved a couple turtles from certain death while out there. To finish off the week I saw how all of the park maps were created. This is an important task and I was surprised to see that it was all done by one man. He walk me through the map making process while we were in the office and later on in the day we went out and mapped the coordinates of the of the park boundaries. since this had not been done in a while (at least for the area we were in) it was an adventure trying to even find the boundary markers through the thick undergrowth.

My following week was spent with law enforcement. This week was basically spent getting to know certain "problem" areas of the park better, going over the code of federal regulations as well as RM-9, and reading through some of the paper work. I also sat in a few of the staff meetings where all of the division chiefs sit down and discuss what has been happening on their end and they progression of anything they have going on, as well as the different projects that they are beginning to get rolling. Being as though this was my first time with law enforcement, it being a shorter week, and getting ready to head off to leadership camp, this week was geared more towards the administrative aspect of the division.

This week I also had to go back and pull out my inner interpreter for a day while I worked the visitor desk (photos to come) and also had the opportunity to give my first interpretive talk program on the Soldiers National Cemetery/ Cemetery Hill. Being my first program I was a little nervous going out there and started off a little slow. However, once I realized that they weren't going to bite my head off if it wasn't perfect, things began to go a lot smoother and before I knew it I had completed my first interpretation program.

Once leadership camp was done I jumped right back into the thick of things with law enforcement. I learned how to properly write up reports, helped review the reports of the other LE Rangers, and do the protection division weekly report showing everything that the protection staff did and calls they had to respond to. I also did patrol with my supervisor Ryan this whole week which was really interesting. I learned how to use the portable and mounted radar units we have and witnessed a few traffic stops in the process. We also had a visitor in the park this week, country singer Trace Adkinks, who was here doing an interview. Me and Ryan controled the flow of traffic in the area, controlled the crowd, and did some permit compliance, making sure the camera crew adhered to the park policy.

Gettysburg

The two weeks before I packed up and went to leadership were split between resource management and law enforcement. My first couple of days with resource management were spent with the museum and artifacts preservation branch. While here I worked on scanning and cataloging new documents that the park recieved. Most (if not all) of these documents were VERY old, some were even pre civil war. It is because these documents are so old and fragile that we scan them, allowing the originals to be kept in safe storage and out of harms way. In addition to scanning documents I also worked on upgrading the system that was in place for cataloging all of the park maps. Gettysburg is a nice sized park with over 1300 monuments and historic structures so we were working with quite a few maps. One of the more exiting things I got to do while here was assist in changing out some of the artifacts on display in the museum. The artifacts on display are all original and therefore need to be kept in excellent condition which is why these periodic changes and swaps are done.
The next couple of days were spent with the spray

Gettysburg (week of june 7)

This week I finished up interpretation training and focused mainly on designing an interpretive program. The instructors went into great detail and were very helpful in giving us step by step instructions on how we should design our programs and gave us pointers to help us when we actually give our programs. During the course of the training I was able to develop a theme for my ranger program, find specific locations as visual aids, and outline key points to go over on my program. I also got a chance to go on some of the other ranger programs which gave me an opportunity to see first hand how a ranger program is delivered and I actually learned a few things about the battle of Gettysburg as well. This week was very informative and helped a great deal in my development as a ProRanger.

During the week we were also given a break from training and went on a tour of President Eisenhower's home here in Gettysburg. It was amazing to see his home with all of the original furniture from the time he and his wife lived there. In my visit I learned that Eisenhower would regularly have important political figures from aroung the world as guests to get to know them on a more personal level. I have included photos from my  visit.

I was also able to volunteer my time this saturday (June 4) on the Friends of Gettysburg "friends day". On this day we built about a mile and a half of fence along areas of the battlefeild were the park has evidence there was fence during the battle. It was a good chance to meet some new people, help out the park, and get in a nice workout.

Gettysburg Week 3

The last week here at gettysburg has been just as exciting and informative as the first. I finished up with the maintenance division and moved on to interpretation training with the other interns and some seasonals. We started by being introduced to the rest of the interpretation staff and going over the basics of what an interpretation ranger does. After we got that out of the way we were taken on a tour of the of the battlefeild and the three day battle that took place. It was a lot of information to take in but being able to physically walk through the exact spots where they were fighting allowed me to visualize what the action was like on those three days. The instructors also did an excellent job of illustrating exactly what happened including outlining the battle lines, the postions of each unit, their communication, and the ways they moved across the battlefeild. I learned a lot about the action that took place here in 1863 over the last few days and the best part is, I had fun doing it.

Also to add to some of the interesting things that have gone on here over the last few days, we got a visit from Sarah Palin and her family this week. She came and went rather quickly and with the help of her security and my fellow park rangers, managed to evade the reporters without much difficulty.

Gettysburg week 1

I have been at Gettysburg for a little more than a week now and so far the experience has been great. My first few days were spent riding around with my supervisor Ryan touring the park, meeting the staff, and learning all that goes on behind the scenes which most people don't realize. Gettysburg has more history than I ever imagined. There are more than 1300 monuments and historic structures here, most of which were actually here during the the civil war which is amazing. The structures that were here have been refurbished but extensive research has been done to restore the structures to exactly the way they were in 1863. The next couple of days were spent with the seasonal employees who were re qualifying their firearms (pistols and shotguns). Today was the most hands on experience I have had at the park. I spent the day with the maintenance crew and got the opportunity to do a little waxing and power washing of a couple monuments.
The people here at the park that I have had a chance to work or meet have all been great as well. From the time I arrived I have felt welcome and now only have been here a week and feel like I have been here a month.
I do have actual pictures of me working but am having some technical difficulties. I will post them ASAP.