When I Grow Up, I Want to Be?

A lot of children are asked "the question" throughout their adolescence 'What do you want do you want to be when you grow up?'

A common response when I was going to school was firefighter, police officer and astronaut. Given the current media coverage and political climate the response of police officer is fading in our youth. I would like to walk you on my path to becoming a Glasgow Police Officer.

When I was a young Scottie running around bleeding the red and white plaid, I was frequently asked the question.

My response at a young age was to work with wildlife. That evolved into doctor, game warden and police officer throughout time.

The dad of a good friend was a police officer. I listened to that officer's stories of comradery, heroics and selfless acts for his community.

I also looked at the way the community and its members respected the local police department. This profession brought a certain interest to me, but I had aspirations of going to college, seeing other places and people and maybe coming back to Glasgow with a different career.

As time went on and graduation from high school was coming closer, I set my sights on giving the medical field a go. I found myself a Marauder in Bismarck North Dakota chasing that dream along with a college scholarship for football and track at the University of Mary. As my dad would say, "I gave it the old college try."

A few things went wrong in this pursuit. I did not realize the dedication it was going to take to be a doctor and duel collegiate athlete. Looking back those aspirations were simply too high and achieving a degree in the medical field or being a successful colligate athlete on its own were each full-time goals.

There also was something I was missing while in North Dakota - the small town feel and wildlife.

Those opportunities set me on a journey to come back to Montana. I learned a lot during my time in college. I decided this go around I was going to use my athletic ability to ascertain a scholarship. I would then use that scholarship to obtain a degree and a career.

That sent me into a frenzy of mailing off homemade highlight tapes from my Scottie days to numerous small colleges in Montana.

As my year as a Marauder was winding down, Tommy Lee, the head coach of the Dillon Bulldogs, called me up. After a conversation about the program and research into the area; it was decided. I was heading to Dillon on an athletic scholarship. I had the goal of earning an environmental science degree that lined up perfect with one of my career choices.

Arriving in Dillon, I noticed immediately it had the same small town feel of Glasgow, but with a college. I enjoyed the college block schedule for classes and flourished academically under this style of learning. I also was able to hunt and fish on my time off from class and football.

The last year of college, I was met with a road block. This road block that made me make a decision between football and academics.

While changing my career choice from Bismark to Dillon, I took a few classes that did not pertain to my degree of environmental science. That left we with a few choices.

One was to extend college by a year and maintain my spot on the football team in hopes of being the starting running back for the next two years. Another option would be to drop out of football, pay for my final year myself and in the process take an overload schedule of classes to complete college in four years.

The choice for me was rather easy. Also backing the choice was a moose tag and a bighorn sheep tag that year. Overload schedule it was.

The little things in life that make you alter your life path are truly amazing to me. That bighorn sheep hunt with my dad made me truly miss those times hunting the breaks with my dad. During that hunt I felt something calling for me to spend more moments like this with my dad.

For some unknown reason I knew these times were coming to end sooner that I wanted.

That year I completed my degree with honors. I started trying to find a job in the environmental field and found numerous part time jobs as technician. I started calling agencies to learn how I could get a job as a full-time employee.

The answer was simple; do seasonal technician work for four to five years and you are shoe in for a full-time job somewhere in the US.

Then after another five years, you could have enough seniority to go where you wanted.

I realized at this moment that the field was flooded with employees and I would have to work extremely hard to break that mold.

I then went to work for Glacier National Park as a Forestry Technician.

After arriving at the park, I went right to the work of looking for my next seasonal job. I wanted to assure I was not sitting idle looking for employment and I would have a leg up on the competition. My park job would end in September and I was able to find a technician job with Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks as a Laboratory Technician. The position was an ideal fit because it would bring me back to Glasgow during hunting season to be spent with my father.

The last piece of my how I became a police officer came together at "Bible Study at Edwin's". I ended up talking to the Chief of Police at the time Lynn Erickson and Captain Bruce Barstad. I mentioned my dilemma with the environmental field and finding full-time employment. Erickson and Barstad informed me that there was an opening at the police department and asked if I ever wanted to be a police officer. I informed them that a police officer was one of the three professions I was interested in growing up. I would think about the opportunity and discuss it with my family. The following morning, I was awoken by my dad way earlier then I wanted to be up. He told me to get dressed and look decent. I was very perplexed and was wondering what was going on. The next thing I knew I was sitting at Chief Erickson's desk filling out an application for the Glasgow Police Department.

I'm now the Assistant Chief for the Glasgow Police Department with a 13-year career in law enforcement serving the community of Glasgow. I spent a great deal of time with my dad in the field before his passing. The little things have guided me to my true calling as a police officer. The main reason I became a police officer has evolved throughout time, but not changed. I believe the respect for this "Middle of Nowhere" community allowed me to pursue a career I might not have otherwise chosen if I lived somewhere else. This community, like me, bleeds red and white plaid with the hometown family atmosphere being second to none. My hope for the future of this great profession is to walk into the schools and hear the words "I want to be a police officer when I grow up". Not simply for the fact that an officer has a badge but rather what the profession means and stands for in its community.