The King and I

While staying with the Jones, there was a community theater putting on a play for "The King and I". I was not interested, aware of the huge time consumer it would be. Finally the day of the tryouts I decided to give it a shot, Lori picked out the song "Just a Wayfaring Stranger" (Awesome song). I tried out and was chosen for a role as "The Khralahome". It was great to not only be in a play, but to learn a new skill alongside the Jones. I learned tons about acting, made some great friends, and enjoyed seeing crowd after crowd go away with teary eyes. It was also amazing to see the amount of behind the scenes work that went on for a production. Lori, Mrs. Jones, and Stacie worked endless hours on costumes and props. It was phenominal to see the actual amount of practice time that took place. Finally everything fell into place before the show times and everything ran smoothly!

ERT Second Phase

The second phase was exhilerating. Our cram packed schedule of Search-And-Rescue, Responding to Emergencies, Special Response Diver (NAPD), Basic Fire Fighting, Basic High-Angle Rescue, Deployment to El Paso, and many other subjects all in the short period of ten weeks.

We were part of the battalion even though we did not train with them. Our wake up time was 4:55 and then we usually started off with PT, after which we had breakfast and then we would go off to our classes. Depending on the dubject we would ether have a physical day or a slow class day. We had excellent professors for each subject who could usually make even the most boring subjects interesting.

We had great audio visual to work with. Hospital helicopters, made up fractures, dummies and fellow responders to practice our skills on. The times that stick with me
the most would be the dive trip in Florida and the El Paso Flood Relief.
It is HARD to imagine going to Florida in the middle of summer and not visiting the beach. Well ... we went ocean diving once but we never touched the beach..

Our ocean dive was a 70ft dive to an old shipwreck, we saw many tropical fish and even a large baricuda, the water was very choppy and many of us (inc. me) got sea sick. We did two 20min dives, and than we headed back to the church we were staying with.

You wouldn't think of flood relief as fun, but it was almost like treasure hunting, we found what we could salvage for the people an then trashed and cleaned up the rest. During our two week trip to El Paso we also got treated to a really nice resteraunt where there was nothing on the menu less than $20, and we went MOUNTAIN CLIMBING!!! 7,600ft we started at around 3,000 and climbed, starting on the path and straying to the rock walls we at times were scaling sheer rock with no safety equipment whatsoever. At the top were a few air towers and some barbed wire enforced with do not trespass signs. The climb down was not near as fun, we had taken barely enough water on the ascent We drank on average of 20lt of water every day because of the heavy work in such hot weather. It was sad to see the amount of furniture, cars, electronics, and many other things utterly ruined due to the flooding.

Our Counceling classes were actually quite fun, and our firefighting was alot of fun also the fire fighting class was a blast! We put out a car fire and had to rescue victms from a burning house(STAGED) the suits are very hot! and bulky but they would protect you from a fire. Playing with the hoses was a lot of fun also, the pressure they exert is tremedouse!

BEST DAY EVER in ALERT was the last day, not because I was leaving but because of the events that took place.
I woke up in a good mood to the last day at ALERT, Pt was fun as we did a jody run for the last time, I managed to pass the firefighting test which I was sure I'd Bomb, at lunch I promoted to Responder First Class, I got $75 dollars for promoting which I of course spent, I cleared up all my paperwork and got the last signatures I needed before I left. The afternoon went well and I got to put out a large fire, I recieved a random gift witha $20 gift cert. for Walmarts, and then supper was great, while I was at supper a Montez asked me if I still wanted to go flying, so things kept getting better, I went to Capt. Dankers and we had some speed Volleyball, after that I went flying over to Tyler with Montez and we did some field takoffs which feel like a roller coaster, after we also did some stalls and no gravity drops!!! It was perfect, I got back around midnight which is way after bedtime, and started a pillow fight, we got dropped and then I went to bed.

5 Weeks of Fun

After Basic I got 5 weeks to rest up before the next fase,
I stayed with a very nice family working on remodeling with their father.
Throughout the duration of my stay we put up a room addition and worked on many other projects.

On mondays we would play soccer, and on thursdays we played basketball.
While I was there I also went Ice skating (Awsome), swimming various times, learned many new card games, watched a good number of movies, went grape picking, had to rescue maidens in distress out of gas :p !!

I had a wonderful time, even though the reason of my stay was to pay for my A.L.E.R.T. courses I will leave sad, and miss them




They have 8 kids:
Michael - Married, I often work with him

Amy - Very active and fun, someone who would probably never manage to bore you. Excelent personality!




Stacie - A very nice girl who just graduated with a History Major, plays the harp and piano

Lori - Extremely good at math and just graduated with a music major, excels with the piano and flute

Brian - Quite mature for his age and a very stable, fun guy

David - Working on his schooling and was accepted for the role of razul in the city's 'Aladin' play

Timothy - The youngest boy in the family, also accepted for the role as a guard in the 'Aladin' play

Katie - The youngest girl in the family, very happy and creative

2006 Basic Training, A.L.E.R.T.

Basic Training

Probably one of the more interesting times of my life has been A.L.E.R.T. I did not actually know what I was getting into, but it has been a great help in getting me focused on God, and has worked on my endurance, stamina, an motivation.

R-Night:
Our introduction to A.L.E.R.T. Captain Rowh introduced us to our superiors, took a few pictures of us still in our civilian attair, gave a small speech, and then the fun began!

As we were ordered to our positions everything was looking quite normal. They briefly taught us the correct position of attention, then the correct manner to address authority, and lastly why and when we should come to the position of attention. We were ordered to read through our instruction manual while the dropped us for pushups at every code infraction. We probably did 200 - 250 pushups that night. Our heads were shaved and our uniforms and equipment were issued, Nave blue, a color we would get to know quite well. We were ordered to dump all personal belongings and they took all means of telling time, food, gum, candy, pain killers, non-subscription medication, sunglasses, and any distraction. We were hiked carrying full duffel bags a few miles in the pitch black to our barracks. We were dropped a few more times, showered, and bed.

Day's Fly By Slowly:
As the weeks went on we managed to get used to the 24/7 rigorouse exercises of boot camp. Those who could not subject to authority or were not physically able to keep up were dropped from the program, some dropped due to injury. Each week as we could not think of any way for it to be more difficult, but thay always managed to make it just that much harder.

Challenges:
Throughout the 9 weeks there were many struggles. Here are the more difficult obsticales:
Voice Lockdown (3 weeks) - We were not to communicate(voice) with anyone other recruit, for the higher ranks where we used the proper protocall ("Recruit Baab respectfully requests permission to (ask a question)/(make a statment).

Multi-day Alarm - We would be anywhere, a mile away or sleeping in ou bunks. They would sound the alarm and we had a few minutes to have our hiking pack ready with all the required items. If you missed and item, did not have your cantene full, or arrived late to formation you would have to carry a large log on your pack as well as knock out 30 pushups with your full pack on for each item you missed.

12 Hour hike - We accomplished a 34 mile hike, fast paced over 12 hours. The last 3 hours were hardest as legs began to cramp.

Responder challenge - We awoke to a multi-day alarm around midnight, given coordinates, told to save a hunter, and find the materials salvage him. We hiked all night, found the materials, and finally picked the hunter up around 5am. I and another Recruit carried his 120lb pack the distance back to camp, and the others carried the hipothermic hunter on a stretcher. We also performed a river crossing with the hunter on a stretcher. We arrived at the barracks after the sun was pretty well up and they sent us to bed. 20 minutes and we had another multi-day alarm. I forgot to refill some water and was issued a log. We were given many objectives to complete, we managed to finish them by around 6pm, this time we were actually able to sleep.

24 Hour Hike - If the 12 hour hike was bad, the 24 hour hike was much worse. We left at around 7am and hiked up and down the mountains in Alabama, under a torrent of rain, and through probably every river possible to hike through in those mountains. It was a Cold rainy day. At night fall we hiked on roads, we couldn't stop and a few hiked on injured limbs; everyone had chaffing, blisters, cuts, and bruises. We finished the hike at 24:13 hours, and 52 Miles. A 7 hour busride back to the barracks and 35 exausted Recruits sleeping in every nook and cranny of that cold steel bus. Until then I did not think people could sleep and hike at the same time.

"And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. ..... .... ..." Revelations 6:8


Satuday Inspection - Every saturday we had to clean the barracks to perfection, have our uniforms perfect, and have or juristictions perfect. We had harsh correctional thrashings if we failed. one of the last thrashings was 1 set of 200pushups and then piramids from 30 down, bear walking 300M, 300-400 P.O.W.'s, runs up and down heartbreak hill, lunges up and down heartbreak hill. supermans and mountainclimbers in the sand.

Promotion Day:
The last week was nice, things went smoothly as we drilled for promotion day. We did a few presentations of our skills, had a cerimony and then a banquet. 33 out of the 44 that entered were promoted to the rank of responder.

Fill

My Family

Elizabeth Yvonne Baab

- born February 22, 1984 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Elizabeth a fun outgoing person,
currently in Brazil deciding on what's next.

Andrew John Baab

- born January 13, 1987 in Greeley, Colorado. Me, I'm currently in the Usa travelling around, workng, and deciding on collage.

Joyanne Holly Baab

- born December 9, 1988 in Salvador. Joy is in Japan going through a school and learning the language and culture.

Melissa Dorothy Baab and Janice Emily Baab

- born Nov. 30, 1991 in St. Catharines, Ontario. Currently in Brazil having fun at the beaches and meeting new people.