Thanks to Trish Murphy, Matt’s PNP at Stanford, for setting up “Matt’s Day with SWAT”.  Matt told Trish his dream is to be SWAT, when he grows up, so she worked her magic.  Trish contacted a friend, who was former SWAT, at the Fremont Police Department and is now a Police Lieutenant with the department.

Thank you Gus, for a day Matt will never forgot.  Gus arranged for Matt to spend the day with SWAT.  It started by us getting a tour of the Fremont Police Department and meeting the Chief.  The Chief asked Matt if he had ever shot a machine gun.  Matt obviously said no, so the Chief said after today, you won’t be able to say that again.  Matt’s eyes almost popped out of his head.

We then proceeded to the briefing room, where we joined the SWAT briefing.  This was an incredible time.  They gave Matt his own SWAT uniform, with his name on it.  They also gave him a SWAT hat, beanie, blanket, sweatshirt, golf towel and a SWAT “Go Bag”.  Matt was gleaming from ear to ear.

Once Matt put on his uniform, they swore him in.  Matt was now an official SWAT member.  After being sworn in, Matt shook hands with all his SWAT members and they congratulated him.

Matt then had his picture taken with his new team.  We then went outside and took more pictures in the SWAT vehicle.

What happened next was Matt’s favorite part.  We all loaded up in Gus’s police car and headed to the shooting range, at Coyote Hills in Fremont.  We met up with SWAT Team Officers Kelly and Eric, at the range.  Kelly and Eric let Matt shoot the .45 caliber hand gun, the MP5 and the M4 rifles.  They let Matt fire the rifles, fully automatic.  Matt shot at few hundred rounds and qualified.  Matt’s first 10 shots, with the .45 caliber, qualified him as an expert marksman.

After the range, we all headed back to the police department and thanked Gus for a day we will never forget.