Hell of a Day at Sea

a Tradition of Honor, a Legacy of Action

2009-06-14T00:01:00.003+03:00

Okay, so I still have some good stories left over from my days at Gloucester, but I figured I'll skip ahead to more recent events for a few posts. I'm currently assigned to Coast Guard Cutter Seneca, a 270 foot cutter out of Boston, Massachusetts. I'll start with how I came to be here.

Around my five month mark at PATFOR SWA in Bahrain, about six detailers came to visit us and talk about where we wanted to be stationed after our deployment. Detailers are typically officers and are each in charge of handling the transfers of a particular rating. I had been looking at what was open in the Northeast's District One (D1) for BM2s and came up with a list of about ten units. I knew I needed to go afloat for my next tour so I was looking at anything from an 87' Patrol Boat to a 270' Medium Endurance Cutter. The big two things were I needed to get underway and I needed to stay somewhat local so my wife could continue her education.

I ended up choosing the BM2 billet on the Seneca. The detailer raised his eyebrows when I told him this bit because large cutters are often not very sought after. I explained that I wanted to do a tour on a large cutter while I'm still young and early in my career. That was that, I received my orders several months later. I didn't really have to complete for the billet for two reasons: Being overseas, I had priority over everyone else in the US that was transferring at the same time as me. Also, like I said before, a 270' normally doesn't sit very high on any one's wish list.

About four months after reporting to the Seneca, the other BM1 transferred and they moved me into his billet. I was originally there on orders as a BM2, but since I made BM1 the June before I arrived they did what's called a "fleet up" and I moved into the BM1 opening.

Now I'm almost a year into my tour on Seneca. I'm a Coxswain on two boat types and a Deck Watch Officer on the bridge. I work for the First Lieutenant (an 0-1 or 0-2) and a BMC. Under me, I have one BM2 (with another arriving this summer), three BM3s, and about fifteen non-rates.

I'll get into specifics about my time on Seneca in my next several posts.

Heavy Weather Coxswain School, pt 3

2009-03-08T02:59:00.009+03:00

After having completed the required training, we were free to spend our remaining time playing in the surf zone. The Columbia River offers a very unique training environment for surf. The worst of it is to the north of the river entrance at Peacock Spit. We observed the surf conditions there during our first week. Because of the bottom characteristics in that area, there tends to be three different "sets", that is to say the breaking waves come in simultaneously from three directions. A key element to maneuvering in surf is "squaring up" where you keep you bow aimed directly into the waves. This is a difficult task when you surf out of just one direction, which is why we didn't conduct training at Peacock Spit.

Instead, we trained right inside the river entrance where the conditions were challenging but better suited for trainees. There were three different concepts we covered on the first day in the surf that would be the main focus of our remaining time at Cape D:

We would start at the end of the surf zone and work our way out into it using an "outbound" or an "up-swell run". We would come up to full power and then use helm adjustments and throttle management to negotiate our way through the breakers. The two main things were to not take the boat through a wave as it broke and to not get the boat airborne. The saying is "if it looks like a ramp, it is a ramp."

When we had to move perpendicular to the surf we used a "lateral run". Basically the same idea as the outbounds. We would make full speed and then judge the incoming breakers to see which ones we could pass in front of and which ones we had to allow to pass by before we kept going.

The most difficult of the three was the down-swell run. As waves interact with the ocean bottom and start to break, they also slow down. This allows the MLB to outrun or keep pace with the waves, something that isn't possible on the open ocean. Although the 47' accelerates fairly well, it never seems like enough when a twenty foot breaker is bearing down on the stern. If a breaker does catch up and passes underneath the boat, there is a very good change that the boat will be knocked down, rolled, or even worse, pitch-polled (tumbling end over end).

On our second or third day in the surf, I was coming of a lateral run and then transitioned to a down-swell run. As my bow lined up to run with the seas, I threw both throttles in full ahead. There's a long list of things to monitor while running down-swell. I was continually looking over my shoulder to find the next breaker. Is it gaining on me? Is it starting to break? Then I would check again in front of us. If you catch up to wave in front of you, you can bury the bow, or even climb up and over, plunging down in front of it violently. If the wave you're following starts to break, it leaves behind a carpet of aerated water. The propellers lose their traction in the foam and then if you don't get back into good water, you might lose enough speed to get hit by the wave behind you.

I checked over my shoulder as the bow lined up to follow the wave in front of me. There was a fifteen foot swell standing up about twenty feet off my stern. Holding to the "head on a swivel" mentality we were always applying, I returned my focus to the bow. The wave in front of me was getting away. I looked astern again, the wave was catching up, about fifteen feet behind us now and getting steeped as it prepared to break. There was nothing I could do but hope we accelerated. My right hand vainly pushed harder on the throttles, which were already full ahead. If I turned to get out of the path of the breaker, I would lose speed and most likely get hit broadside. Everyone was staring at the breaker, ten feet off now.

We finally met the speed of the breaker and moved farther ahead of it. We continued down-swell and exited the surf zone.

We graduated after the third week and returned to our units. After patiently waiting for the right weather in Gloucester, I got underway with one of our BM1s and became a certified Heavy Weather Coxswain.

Heavy Weather Coxswain School, pt 2

2009-03-06T02:42:00.007+03:00

Okay, so I've been away for about half a year now. I've had a lot going on between the new unit, my fledgling marriage, and starting up a band with an old shipmate from Gloucester.

If you had questions earlier on, please post them as comments on this post. It will allow me to know what questions are still pending and I'll address them.

Although I have many new developments that are post-worthy, I've done a fair job so far of maintaining a timeline format for the order of posts. I'll pick back up where I left off, at Cape Disappointment.

As I said before, we were underway for our initial assessment. The instructor gave us a quick run through of the maneuvers he wanted us to replicate. I was taken aback by the way he manhandled the boat. He would throw the throttles into place, which was contrary to the mentality I had been constantly taught at the station. Back at my unit, and most units for that matter, you are constantly told "don't beat the boat up". Our instructor explained the reason behind his technique. He said, "The boat can take it. The throttles are electronic, not cable so the engines will know to accelerate and decelerate at the correct pace. Put the throttles where you want them and go. This is a Motor Lifeboat, not a 41 footer. Every time we come out here for the next three weeks, we'll be acting as if lives are at stake. After you start putting this qualification into use at your unit, lives will be at stake."

The seas that day were around twelve feet but the maneuvers were fairly straight forward:

Drive the boat into the seas. The key to this is not launching the boat off the face of a wave. You manage your throttles and weave though the crests to keep the hull in the water while still making the best speed possible.

Drive the boat with the seas (waves off the stern). The MLB can't outrun ocean waves. This means that every time a wave passes under the stern, it drops the boat's bow and you start to "surf". The center of gravity moves forward and if you show even a slight amount of your post or starboard side to the wave, it can quickly result in a "knockdown" which is exactly what is sounds like. If a knockdown is especially violent, it can become a rollover (once again, self explanatory).

Drive with the seas off the beam (off the side of the boat).

Back down in a straight line. We would place the throttles at full astern. Even the slightest wind or wave action would kick the stern to the side. You often had to bring one of the throttles to clutch ahead to return to the line you were following.

After we had all rotated through, we came back into the boat basin and tied up for the day. We had a quick debrief with the instructors. They said the forecast looked good. There had been several recent classes that hadn't had the correct conditions for the training so they didn't complete all of the curriculum.

As it turned out, we completed all the required tasks in just the first week. On Monday of Week 2, they asked the class what we wanted to do for the remaining ten days of training.

We answered, "Surf."

Heavy Weather Coxswain School, pt1

2008-08-06T02:06:00.005+03:00

In the spring of 2007, I went to the National Motor Lifeboat School (NMLBS) in Washington to attend Heavy Weather Coxswain School. A quick bit of background information first:

Station Gloucester was designated as a "heavy weather station". This is determined for stations Coast Guard wide by analyzing sea conditions throughout the year. In the end, they fall into three categories. If they have breaking surf (typically at the mouth of a river or inlet) then they are surf stations. The next step down is heavy weather stations and then just normal stations.

Surf stations and heavy weather stations maintain at least one 47' MLB and have to have specially qualified coxswains to operate in the heavier sea conditions. When I became a 47' coxswain, it was as a "basic" coxswain which meant I could operate the boat in up to 8 foot seas and 30 knot winds and not in surf. In order to drive in the rougher seas seen in the winter months at Gloucester, I would have to become a Heavy Weather Coxswain.

Therefore, I received orders to the school and packed my uniforms, gear, and some civilian clothes and reported to the NMLBS. I was warned by a few people before leaving that my experience would be a negative one, that the instructors were very short tempered and I would not enjoy my time there.

We started out in the classroom. I found that myself and three other BM2 [we were all BMs there with the exception of two Navy enlistees (didn't expect to see them there)] were the the low men on the totem pole. The rest of the class were mostly BM1s and then two Chiefs (BMCs). The instructors were each assigned three trainees and after some quick intros from both the instructors and the class, we broke up into our crews that we would remain in for the next three weeks.

My crew was a BM2 from Point Allerton (the station south of Gloucester) and a BM1 from Maine. Our instructor began in words close to these:

"My name is Rusty. I like my name. Yes, I'm a BM1 but we're in a learning environment now so I'd prefer we forgo the military bearing. I'm very passionate about boat handling in heavy weather so if I raise my voice, it's not because I'm angry, it's because I'm trying to get through to you."

Fair enough. He explained that the routine would be what we were all used to. Something we like to call "Crawl, walk, run." The first step was going to be to review fundamentals to see what level each of us were operating at, both in terms of knowledge about the MLB and how we operated it when we were driving.
After some time in the classroom discussing safety procedures we donned our drysuits and got underway. Each boat was complimented with an instructor (all of them were BM1s that were qualified Surfmen) and then a boat engineer and a crewmember. The docks at the school were right in the path of a very stiff current so Rusty told us, "Okay, now I'm only going to moor and unmoor the boat for today to show you how to deal with the current. After that, each of you will take turns each day. You'll notice these pilings around the docks have a lot of dings and scrapes in them. Those are from students that didn't pay attention an crashed into them."

We got underway and then exited the mouth of the Columbia River to begin our evaluations...

More to follow, and sorry for not posting so long. I've been moving.

Coast Guard Journal

2008-08-06T00:47:00.003+03:00

I added a link on the sidebar for the Coast Guard Journal. It was stood up by the Coast Guard in February this year and has several interesting first hand stories of Coasties throughout the fleet, but mostly focusing on the CGC Bertholf.

I'm curious as to whether the ratio of Bertholf posts as opposed to other units is due to motivation by HQ, motivation from the command of the Bertholf, or just the crew taking its own initiative to inform the rest of the service and the public about what the Coast Guard's newest cutter is like.

Whatever the case may be, it would be nice to see more posts (despite being almost six months old, the post count is still in the thirties) and to see more firsthand accounts of what life is like for a Coastie. It's great that the Coast Guard is using the internet to spread deckplate level information to the public but there's always room for improvement.

"Gloucester. They're always from Gloucester."

2008-08-01T21:45:00.003+03:00

I was looking through the Coast Guard Directives and found something kind of cool. The new edition of the Coast Guard Medals and Awards Manual was released in May and guess what's on the cover? A painting of an old Gloucester rescue! A print of this was actually in the day room of the station back when I was working there.

Okay, so maybe it's not that cool.

I noticed that over the course of the three SAR updates I made, the blog got over two hundred hits. Whether this is due to the topic of the posts or the fact that Peter Stinson of an Unofficial Coast Guard Blog linked the post is debatable but I'll try posting some more sea stories in the near future. It'll be a good change of pace for the blog in a any case.

This blog is meant to serve a specific purpose. That purpose can be shaped by your feedback. If there's an aspect of Coast Guard life you're curious about then feel free to throw it in the comments section.

baptism by fire, part 3

2008-07-28T22:07:00.004+03:00

This'll be the last post concerning that weekend in 2005. I can't properly frame this last one as it was three years ago and all I'm sure of was it was either on Saturday or Sunday of the weekend in question.

We'll roll the last two cases into one post as they were both over rather quickly.

The harbor was crowded with vessel traffic the entire weekend. There was a great deal of recreational powerboats, sailing vessels, and as always in Gloucester, commercial fishing vessels. I was in the communications center with the Officer of the Day when the distress call came in. As the watchstander began copying the information from the call, the OOD hit the SAR alarm and piped "Person in the water, number six buoy. 25' boat crew!"

I raced down the brow to the boat and climbed behind the helm as I had twice already that weekend. The crew joined me and we did a quick risk assessment before getting underway. It's mandatory to complete a Green, Amber, Red or "GAR" model before launching a boat to ensure crew safety. It was more expedient to do it on the boat because the comm center was now hectic with phones ringing, radios squelching, and nextels chirping as they commanded the mission.

We raced across the harbor with the blue lights flashing and the siren wailing to warn vessels of our hurry. The reported position was a short distance from the station, in the center of Gloucester Harbor. This was a blessing for the men in the water because it increased their chances of being picked up by a good samaritan but on the other hand they could be run down by a vessel that didn't see them in the channel. We discussed this on our way to the scene.

Luckily for the two men in the water, they were spotted by another boat when their small skiff capsized and they were promptly fetched from the water. We transferred the two men onto the 25' and headed back to the station to get them medical attention. The two men were an elderly gentleman and his son. The son was doing fine but his father seemed very disoriented and confused.

We tied up at the dock and brought the men inside the station. The son called their family who were in town and were at the station shortly. The old man became more aware now that he was on dry land and left without needing any medical care. I checked the case file when the watchstander had completed it and found that from the time of notification to the time we arrived on scene was about six minutes. Not terribly important considering the men had already been helped by nearby boaters, but it was still cause to give everyone a pat on the back for being "Semper Par".

The other case came in the middle of an open house we were holding that weekend. A large fishing boat was getting underway and leaving the channel when they had a reduction gear casualty. The "red gear" is basically the same as a transmission for a car, which meant the stern trawler could no longer engage its propellers and was drifting forwards with no way to stop.

As before, the SAR alarm rang but this time it was the 47' Motor Life Boat that got the call. It was obvious that towing would be needed and the 47' had the highest towing limitation at 150 tons. The coxswain started barking orders to the crew as they backed from their berth. Fifty yards away, the trawler was drifting towards a pier with a couple dozen people on it. Despite common sense (about 150 tons of steel vs. wooden pier) the people remained in place and seemed captivated by the 47' coming in to put over towing lines.

It was very close. The 47' got two lines over and couldn't wait for the other two. The coxswain started backing down with over 800 horsepower at his fingertips. As he saw that the lines were handling the strain, we could all hear the twin diesels throttle up to the limit. Black smoke poured out of the exhaust ports as everyone held their breath.

It was just enough at the right time. The bow of the trawler made it within ten feet of the pier before it was pulled away by the MLB, accompanied by the applause of the onlookers. Despite the fact that I wasn't on the 47' for the tow, I thought it was intense enough to mention as long as I was on the topic of SAR.

baptism by fire, part 2

2008-07-28T05:44:00.003+03:00

So, we left off on Friday night where despite our best efforts we failed to make the save. We ended with a debrief during the ride back to the station. I was happy that we had brought a second coxswain because it allowed us to put him on Merrimack's boat and make the mission safer with his local area knowledge. The only real thing that could've gone better was the location of the accident which we obviously had no control over. The thing about the location was that it was virtually right on the AOR border between Gloucester and Merrimack River. Even then, this worked to our advantage because two boats subsequently responded instead of one.

I lost some sleep that night. It wasn't anything a cliche as "Oh, if I had just done this or that then that man would still be alive." The nature of his injuries and the apparent immediacy of his death made is so I didn't question myself. It was more the fact that on my first case as a coxswain we ended with a "01" in the "lives lost" column of the unit case log. I'm not superstitious but it still didn't sit well.

Things refused to slow down on Saturday. A boat called in taking on water after striking a submerged object. As I mentioned before, the 25' was an outstanding vessel for getting a dewatering pump on scene quickly. We launched with myself, one of our best engineers (they specialize in damage control and operation of the pump), and two reservists who were doing their weekend drills.

We flew up the coast of Cape Ann, milking every RPM and inch of trim we could afford out of the twin engines. The flight north was one that alternated between radio communications and the crew developing a game plan to act upon once we arrived. The P-6 dewatering pump sat secure on the aft deck, strapped in place and ready to be broken out for the job.

The harbormaster for the nearby port of Rockport had beaten us there. Nevertheless, they were glad to see us because our 250 gallon per minute pump outmatched the one they had brought. We tied up alongside and two crewmembers went over the gunwale of the cabin cruiser with the pump. The MK3 reported back that he could see the hull puncture, a respectable gash through the fiberglass.

The pump roared to life and quickly stemmed the flooding. We put over additional lines and put the vessel in alongside tow. We coordinated with the harbormaster and decided the best thing was to take the boat to a nearby ramp which was incidentally where the boat had been launched that same morning.

The duration of the alongside tow was enough where I got to do my next favorite thing to SAR, training. One of the reservists was breaking in as coxswain so I gave him some time on the helm while I spoke with the guys running the pump and went through my mental checklist of anything I might have missed (after all this only my second SAR case).

We made it to the boat ramp without incident and transferred it to its trailer. As the truck pulled her and the trailer out of the water, the damage looked much worse than we had originally thought. My engineer's assessment had been made from his view from the inside but with the boat out of the water we could see the damage to the exterior of the hull. There was a gash four to five feet long below the water line but luckily only a few feet had punched through the entire hull.

Just as we had the pleasure of working with another CG unit on Friday's case, we now got to shake hands with the Rockport Harbormaster. The Coast Guard offers that unique opportunity to constantly rub elbows with other agencies and organizations, whether they be federal, state, or even just local.

The weekend isn't over yet. Part 3 to follow...

baptism by fire, part 1

2008-07-28T02:37:00.005+03:00

Okay, so this is supposed to be about my experiences in the Coast Guard, but I've held off a while on telling any specific stories about Search and Rescue (SAR) cases that I've been on. I'm the proudest of the ones I worked as a coxswain (boat driver) so I'll start there.

I earned my coxswain qualification in the late summer if 2005. The first boat type I became a coxswain on was the 25 foot Response Boat Small (RB-S). It was a great platform for conducting Law Enforcement and a valuable asset for quick response during SAR cases. She could nearly double the top speed of our other two boats (the 41' UTB and 47' MLB) and was therefore good for responding to cases with a person in water (PIW) or she could rapidly deliver a dewatering pump to a vessel taking on water.

It was my duty weekend at Station Gloucester and was going to be my first rotation as the duty coxswain. I arrived Friday morning and was posted as the coxswain if the 25' had to launch and another coxswain was assigned to the 41'.

My first SAR case came just before sunset on Friday evening. The watchstander sounded the SAR alarm and added "MEDEVAC Essex River, 25' boat crew!" As we grabbed our gear, we knew what to expect when we arrived at the scene, so we also grabbed the back board in case we had to immobilize the patient.

We were underway within minutes of being alerted. I climbed in behind the helm, started both engines, turned on the electronics, energized the blue light, and had my crew clear the mooring lines and we were en route. It was myself, two crewmembers, and another coxswain who we had decided should come along to assist. The Essex area was at the northern extreme of our Area of Responsibility (AOR) and had a sandy bottom known to shift often, creating shallow water. Having two coxswains on board would help to mitigate some of the risks posed by operating in that particular area.

I brought the 25' up on a plane and maneuvered up the Annisquam River towards our destination. As we transited the river, the crew kept the station informed of our ETA and we were told that Air Station Cape Cod had launched a helicopter to assist. We cleared the Annisquam River and shot across Essex Bay, into the mouth of the Essex River.

As we entered the river, we could see a large gathering of vessels to our right. We hadn't received a precise location of the person so we headed towards the vessels. As we got closer, we could see that there were over a dozen people wading in the water around something. They were only up to their knees in the water, so I slowed my speed and trimmed my engines up to prevent them from touching bottom. We lightly ran the bow onto the sandbar and could see that the people were all standing around an injured person.

As we ran up on the sandbar, we saw Merrimack River's (the CG station to our north) 25' arrive at the mouth of the river. We decided that they would transport the patient to a nearby dock in our AOR and we would drive in front of them to lead the way and clear any traffic in their path. I came alongside Merrimack's RB-S and transferred the other coxswain to their boat since he was more familiar with the area we were heading to.

The civilians helped to get the patient on board the other boat while we called Station Gloucester and told them to have EMS meet us at the dock we were heading to. We gave them all the information we had about the person's condition, including that he wasn't breathing and had no pulse. As soon as the other boat was ready, we began making the best possible speed to meet with EMS. During the entire transit, the other boat's crew were kneeling over the patient and performing CPR.

The patient didn't make it. We later found out that he had been riding on a jet ski when he hit a sandbar, flew forwards, and broke his neck. The crew took it well because we all knew that we did the best we could and we were told by the ambulance crew that death had most likely been instantaneous.

This was just the start of that weekend, I'll continue with more later...

military wedding

2008-07-18T00:48:00.005+03:00

My current excuse for my lack of posting is my recent wedding. In this case though, it serves both as an excuse and and something I thought was worth blogging about.

The wedding was at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, which is where we originally met almost six years ago. I hate how I look in a tux so I wanted to wear my dress uniform. Three of my five groomsmen, including the best man were either active duty or prior service CG so I asked them to be in uniform as well.

This was, by the way my first time ever being in the Class "A" uniform, the main differences between that and the more common Class "B" uniform (aka Bravos) is the white shirt replacing the light blue one and the wearing of medals on the member's right breast.

Around the time of the rehearsal my father asked if I was going to do the traditional tunnel of sabers. I laughed and said no because the tunnel would only be two people long on each side and two of the Coasties were missing the rehearsal due to delays. However, the old man persisted and said he would take charge of the detail if only I and the lovely bride would allow it at the wedding. We agreed.

The ceremony was Saturday afternoon and went very well. After our time on the altar was through, we waited in the back of the chapel to give the guests time to make it outside and for the detail to get formed up. When the time was right, we made our way under the arch and the BM3 who had served with me for over three years at Gloucester lowered his saber in front of us, blocking our path.

"Halt. You must kiss to pass." We obliged with our second PDA as a married couple.

The saber was raised as he said "I now introduce you to Petty Officer and Mrs. Wardynski." The applause started an we started walking again. As we passed the BM3, he performed his final duty.

He gave her a slight tap on the butt with the flat edge of the saber accompanied by "Welcome to the Coast Guard ma'am."

post deployment

2008-07-04T05:27:00.003+03:00

I won't go into my entire journey back from Bahrain. I just wanted to focus on my mental health screening which I though was interesting.

After completing my tour with PATFOR SWA, I had to complete a post-deployment screening. This was essentially just a few medical items followed by a sit down with an EAP representative to talk about my feelings and mental well being.

The following is an approximation of our conversation:

EAP - Casey, so far nobody from the Coast Guard has returned and been diagnosed with PTSD. But we like to do this just to evaluate how your experience was over the past year and to make sure you know what resources are available to you should you or anyone else you know need them. We also want to prepare you for some of the things you might experience now that you're back home.

Casey - Sounds good.

EAP - So, what have you taken from your experience overseas?

Casey - It was a lot different then I thought it would be.

EAP - In what way?

Casey - In every way. I really didn't know what to expect over there, even after the training we received before deploying. If anything, the training only confused me more because they were training me for a mission I didn't actually perform. There was also a great deal of culture shock involved with being in the Middle East. I felt prepared for the cultural differences I would see but most of the things I saw were still surprising.

EAP - Such as?

Casey - Life is cheap there. Their emergency services were a joke. If someone was in a car accident, the ambulance usually showed up so long after the fact that they might as well have sent a hearse. The civilians there drive down the highway at 120 kmh while their toddler crawls around the inside of the vehicle. No seat belt, no car seat, nothing.

EAP - Anything else?

Casey - I would say that was the most shocking difference but there were plenty of others. People there have a notion that if water is flowing then it's clean. A lot of the water from the faucets there isn't purified like it would be in the US, where we use fluoridation and whatever else. But if you hand a local there a bottle of water, they see it as unclean and they'll actually pour the bottle out and go find a tap to refill it with.

EAP - Well, that's the first time I ever heard about the water thing, but the value of life has come up before with others. I've been looking over your paperwork an it says you're a BM1?

Casey - That's correct.

EAP - And you're how old?

Casey - Twenty three.

EAP - Would you like to talk about that?

Casey - As far as...

EAP- Has that ever created any conflicts at work?

Casey - Not in terms of being a young BM1. I've been young for my rank ever since I joined though. There have been times where someone took issue with the fact that I was a young BM3 or BM2, so I would expect it will happen again now that I'm a relatively young E-6.

EAP - How have you handled those conflicts in the past?

Casey - The biggest thing is that I don't lose my temper. If I simply hide behind my rank and bark at someone then I'm just as immature as that person is accusing me of being.

EAP - So what alternative do you take?

Casey - I prefer just to discuss it with them. Hopefully, the issue isn't my age, but actually that the person has a problem with my performance and is using my age as an easy way to take potshots at me. That's usually the case. If their problem actually is how young I am, then sorry but there's nothing I can do about that. I can imagine that it's hard to work for someone that's younger than you, but hopefully it motivates you to advance. When I left Bahrain, two of my new non-rates were at least two years older than me.

***

The EAP representative was extremely polite and professional. This was my first time actually sitting down with someone from EAP and it was a good experience. They are one of the many resources available to Coasties and their families, and they offer the unique quality of being a third party that will listen to your situation and they are outside of the Coast Guard.

I found it funny that my age and rank came up because it was the overture for my few last months with PATFORW SWA. I advanced June 1st and then left at the end of the month and here are a few of the thing I was at the receiving end of:

(As I'm having my new insignia pinned on at quarters):

LCDR - "Didn't you report here as a non-rate?"

(After getting our new E-3s, I heard variations of this one about five times):

SN - "Boats, is it true that you're just 23?"

(As I'm receiving a coin from a Three Star Admiral)

VADM - "BM1, I've been told that you aren't only performing as a stellar First Class Petty Officer. Your performance is that of a seasoned Chief."

Casey - "Sir, that is probably the best compliment I've ever received."

called out by Joe Coastie!!!

2008-07-04T04:50:00.005+03:00

I was skimming through an Unofficial Coast Guard Blog and saw this alarming post. Have no fear, Joe. Rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated.

I know the time between my posts has been increasing lately. I've been using my time for these things rather than blogging:

Upon my departure from PATFOR SWA (more on that later), I signed a non-disclosure agreement which was worded in the most incomprehensible lawyer-speak this guy has seen since NAVRULES. Anyways, after signing the agreement, the Chief who gave us the forms asked if we all understood the ramifications of the agreement. A few of us were a little slow to shake our heads so he explained it in these terms:

"Basically guys, don't talk about Fight Club."

Now, this earned the Chief a few chuckles from my shipmates but in my case it meant revisiting my previous posts and making absolutely sure that I've been on the right side of OPSEC throughout my short blogging existence. I found nothing in my posts that couldn't be found elsewhere in the web, or if it is unique to my blog then it's harmless information concerning my personal experiences as opposed to statements about the unit, mission, etc.

Just the same, if anyone finds otherwise then feel free to contact me. The last thing I want to do is publish anything that could be the least bit harmful to my fellow service members.

I mentioned before that I've left PATFOR SWA. I'm now enjoying some extended leave before heading to my next unit. Let me just say, absence certainly makes the heart grow fonder and that rings true in the case of my fiance, my country, the list goes on but I'm definitely loving life at the moment.

I guess I'll try and stick with the theme and talk about what occurs during a Permanent Change of Station (PCS).

Leading up to a PCS, a Coastie submits what we call a "dream sheet". Its more professional title is "e-resume" and it allows a member to see all the billet openings in the entire CG for their specific rank and rate. For example, if I'm a BM2 transferring in the summer, then the winter beforehand of time I can see what jobs will be open in the summer and decide which ones I like the most. Based on your job, the list of choices can be very long or very short. The member then makes a list of all the jobs he or she wants and orders them from most desired to least desired.

There's a lot of anxiety when waiting for orders to your next unit. The detailers (people who sort out who is going where during transfer season) have to process a lot of information and try to please as many people as they can so it can be a bit of a wait.

Once you get your orders, things start taking off. You do a lot of paperwork concerning things like when you depart from your current unit, when you report to you next unit, how much leave, you'll take, how you'll move your belongings, whether or not you need travel advances to do so, and so on.

Actually, this is pretty boring stuff. If anyone actually cares to hear more about "PCSing" then leave a comment.

in keeping with the highest traditions...

2008-06-19T16:05:00.003+03:00

The title of this post is a portion of the standard ending for many Coast Guard awards. For example, "Petty Officer Smith's perseverance, diligence, and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Coast Guard."

When I think of tradition, I think of what a Commanding Officer's office looks like. There are usually some of his favorite pictures (both family and Coast Guard related), some maritime antiques from a prior unit, but my favorites are the plaques and the coins.

It has been a long standing Coast Guard tradition to give a departing member a unit plaque. This typically is a piece of metal inscribed with the profile of the cutter (or at a station, all of their small boats) which is mounted on some darkly stained wood with another portion displaying the member's name and the time period they served at the unit for.

Around the time I was reaching my last year at Gloucester, it came down from Sector Boston that we could no longer purchase plaques using unit funds. I can understand their side of the argument which was misappropriation of taxpayer money, or the recurring military tag line of "fraud, waste, and abuse".

Just the same, this policy change threatened to destroy a long-standing Coast Guard tradition. I love being able to walk into the office of an officer or a chief and on display is a unit-by-unit history of their entire career. Esprit de Corps anyone?

Another great tradition being stomped on is that of unit and personal coins. A recent ALCOAST (a message sent to the entire Coast Guard) laid out a very detailed policy on the purchasing and distribution of coins.

Some quick background for those who aren't familiar with the subject matter:

Challenge coins are seen internationally through just about every military service. They are usually about the diameter of a Snapple cap and are decorated on each side with details regarding who the coin was given to you by. They are used as a form of recognition for achievements, or sometimes just exchanged by units that have had the pleasure of working with each other.

The new policy really restricts the use of coins in the Coast Guard in several ways. Who can purchase them, who they can be given to and why, and how they can be designed. Not only will we be seeing less coins floating around in the future, the new standard also restrict the creative designs adorning each side that made each one so unique.

In the new era of heavily scrutinized spending, I think we might be trading the soul of our service for nothing more than the nice CYA feeling the higher ups might be gaining from the new policy.

A quick rundown of the coins I've been given over the past year:

Sargent Major of the Army Kenneth Preston
Coast Guard Cutter Adak
Patrol Force's Southwest Asia Chief's Mess
Vice Admiral Robert J. Papp Jr.

Guess I better hold onto these babies, they might be the last ones I see.

command perception

2008-06-10T18:49:00.002+03:00

Okay, loyal readers (can I even pluralize that yet?) I've been slacking on the blog. I'm gearing up for my transfer which means all kinds of fun stuff. Paperwork, relief letters, pass-downs, going away parties, and so on. I also advanced to E-6 on the 1st of the month, okay so that's not an excuse for the slacking, just something that's happened since my last post.

Today I'll discuss the disparities that can be found between the command cadre's understanding of how their unit is running and how it actually is being run when they are out of sight and out of mind. An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog had an outstanding post regarding this topic, so follow the jump for the Parable of the Boat House.

As always, I'm going to base this off my own experiences. Most of my time at Gloucester was spent under the command of an outstanding Commanding Officer (CO). He asked a lot of his crew but was also very reward oriented. We went from doing approximately four hundred boarding a year to one thousand. The boats were maintained to the highest standard, and gained the reputation of being some of the sharpest looking boats in the District.

Having worked his way up through the enlisted ranks himself, the CO had a very precise idea of how he wanted the station to be run and how he wanted his people treated. But at a small boat station, the command is typically on board the unit five days a week and during normal business hours. It is up to the section leaders and Officers of the Day (OODs) to carry out the CO's wishes when he isn't around on the nights and weekends.

The work schedule changed throughout the year. In the summertime, when we did the most Law Enforcement (LE) and Search and Rescue (SAR), we usually worked from 0630 to 1300. We worked short hours because the Coast Guard has fatigue standards to determine if a boat crew is well rested enough to perform it's missions. Each hour of work counts as a half an hour spent underway so an eight hour work day would subtract four hours from our maximum underway time in a 24 hour period.

Now this is all Commandant Policy type stuff. The basic idea was the CO didn't want us wasting our energy on projects at the station of it would keep us from doing the real jobs (LE and SAR).

Sometimes we hadn't finished our work list by 1300. We wanted to keep the command happy so we would wait for him to leave for the day and then hammer out whatever was left. He ended the day with the satisfaction that he was taking good care of his crew, even though this was based on his limited perception of what was actually going on.

Another good example is what the Coast Guard calls "holiday routine". It's a modified work day that is usually used on national holidays. At a small boat station, everyone can't just go home because we have to maintain our response posture for SAR. Instead, the CO would declare that he didn't want any work done, he just wanted us to relax and stand by in case we had to launch a boat.

I can't count the number of times in the past five years that I've been working during holiday routine (usually punctuated by another Coastie sarcastically asking "how's that holiday routine working out for ya?").

To quote Funk #49 "don't misunderstand me". I'm not saying I minded working later hours to get the job done, or putting in some time during holidays. I'm just trying to show the differences between command perception and deck plate reality.

Luckily, my CO was aware of this fact and implemented certain measures to counteract it. He held quarterly meetings with all of us, and did it by pay grade. He would meet with all the non-rates, then all the E-4s, and finally the E-5s. The meetings with the E-3s tended to be the most informative for him. Lets face it, if he was working the crew too hard then it ultimately fell upon the non-rates the most. These meetings were extremely beneficial and the setup was great because most of the time a non-rate would hesitate to say certain things to the CO if his E-4s were in the room.

The Coast Guard also gave units a great tool by having them complete anonymous online surveys. It addressed all aspects of work, from morale to supervision to safety and everything else in between.

I remember at one point the survey results came in and the command saw that the scores for morale were low. We started having morale days every few weeks where we would all play softball or football together. The command also started encouraging us to join different sports tournaments, and if possible would give us time off to participate.

I think that about covers it. The basic message is that it's easy for a command to fall out of touch with its crew, but with the tools at their disposal nowadays, it's a conscious decision to continue on in ignorance.

OC pepper spray

2008-05-27T18:18:00.005+03:00

Coast Guard Boarding Officers (BOs) and Boarding Team Members (BTMs) carry pepper spray as part of their LE gear when conducting safety inspections. In order to ensure that all Coast Guard LE personnel fully appreciate the ramifications of deploying OC, they are required to receive full face exposure to it as part of their qualification process.

I picked this subject for my newest post because I stumbled upon a heated argument on one of the Military.com/Fred's Place message boards. I like visiting the boards there once in a while because it provides Coasties with a rare opportunity to exchange thoughts and opinions from throughout the usually isolated parts of our service.

Anyways, the thread was started by an individual who said his Chief told him he had to receive his full face exposure (we call it "being OC'd" or "being sprayed"). His argument was that Law Enforcement is an optional collateral duty and from there he received a myriad of replies, panging from "man up and get it over with" to "good for you, way to stand your ground". I'll reserve my own opinion and instead describe what is was like when I was OC'd.

I was still an SMBM and it was the spring of 2004. I had attended a two week course at Boston which covered all of my tasks for becoming a qualified BTM, all of them that is, except OC. It was an off going morning for my duty section and my fiance was waiting at my apartment so we could go back to New York together. I ran into the training officer in the hall and he told me before going on liberty I had to get OC'd. I had been asking to get it over with for a while and although it wasn't the best morning I could have asked for, I was still eager to put it behind me.

I put on a dirty uniform (the spray doesn't wash out very well) and an LE belt with a training pistol. I asked if I needed "keepers" (loops that hold your gun belt in place) and was told not to worry about it. The BO that would be spraying me told me what to expect. I already knew what I was in for. A week before I was the role-player for another E-3 when he was sprayed. I was told to not be overly aggresive, just to try and take his sidearm.

The crew gathered around, both for support because they knew what I was in for and because the bizarre spectacle was sort strange from of morale (hard to explain, sorry). I closed my eyes and the BO yelled out "OC! OC! OC!" He put two streams across my eyes and one across my nose. "Okay, Casey. Open your eyes!"

It took a split second for the burning to start. Once it did, my eyelids clamped shut and became swollen. I knew the role player was on his way to disarm me so I used my left hand to force one eye open while I blanketed my pistol with my right hand. I saw a blue blur moving towards me and used my few reaming moments to do our standard call for assistance (you're simulating that you were exposed to pepper spray during a boarding so you are supposed to yell to the rest of the boarding team and let them know you've been sprayed so they don't rush into the same situation unprepared).

The guy going for my gun was about about five inches taller and thirty pounds heavier. While going for my gun, he was actually able to lift me off the ground by my gun belt. After what seemed like forever, the BO called "break" and told me draw my weapon. I reached into the holster and found nothing. Laughter ensued from the onlookers as I realized somewhere along the way I had been disarmed.

A cooler of cold water and fifteen minutes in front of a fan later, and I was given a ride home where I was met by an angry fiance who rapidly shifted gears from "why are you late?!?" to "Oh my God! What happened?" In about three point five seconds.

Being sprayed is a rite of passage in the Coast Guard. It's an opportunity for new guys to have something in common with the rest of their unit and a chance for the rest of the unit to give the new guy a pat on the back and help him through his decontamination stations.

getting qualified, it never ends

2008-05-23T16:13:00.003+03:00

I mentioned my qualification process at Gloucester in an earlier post so here's the continuation of that. Sorry I've been slacking on the posts, work has been trying this past week to the point that the last thing I wanted to do when getting home was blog about the Coast Guard.

Anyways, the reason they had us get qualified on the 41' first was because of it's simplicity. It was very meat and potatoes compared to the 47' and it was much safer than the 25' RB-S. The 41' was over twenty years old and therefore didn't have a lot of the advanced engineering and electrical features of the 47'. It was safer than the 25' because of it's lower speed. The 41' therefore was an excellent platform to learn the basics for your current qualification set, whether it was crew member, engineer, or coxswain.

The 47' was far more complex. In all honesty, my opinion is that the complexity often got in the way of getting the job done on the water. One time, we were underway of the MLB (Motor Lifeboat, the title of the 47') and got an alarm for low coolant level on one of our engines. The engineer verified that the level was satisfactory and the only way to stop hearing the alarm on the bridge was to either hit the "silence alarm" button every few minutes (very distracting) or to disconnect the sensor. The coxswain and engineer choose the latter. We then got a nice change of pace when an alarm started sounding because the sensor was disconnected. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about fail-safes and contingency plans, but I'm still a seat-of-his-pants kind of guy.

Other complications when comparing the 47' to the 41' -

The 47' had electronically controlled engines while the 41' was old-school cable throttles.

The 47' had four different places to drive from, including a backup panel, the 41' simply had the helm in the pilothouse and then an emergency tiller for use if there was a leak in the hydraulic steering.

The 47' was rated up to 30 foot seas and 20 foot surf, while the 41' is approved for 8 foot seas and no surf. This meant the crew of the MLB had to be much more proficient due to the adverse conditions they could be expected to operate in.

In any case, I did my best on the MLB but shot myself in the foot by making enemies with one of the coxswains in my duty section. Only a coxswain can sign off on the various tasks needed for a crew member qualification so I found myself coming in during my off days to get underway with the other duty section. It worked out in the end because I got qualified on time.

Different units handle qualification delinquency in their own way. The way Station Gloucester was (as were many other small boat stations) stated that if you failed to meet your qual date then you were placed on "port and re-port". To explain, most stations run with two duty sections, known as port and starboard. If you were on port and report, you would stand your normal 48 hour shifts, and then on your off days you would stay from 0800 to 1600 studying and getting underway. This went on until you got qualified and then you went back to your normal duty shifts.

More later on coxswain, I'll post the link again later, but this deserves to be linked twice. HILARIOUS.

anti-oxidation force protection

2008-05-17T14:20:00.002+03:00

When I landed in Bahrain it was 110 degrees and it took my breath away. I was assigned a sponsor, issued a cell phone, and was shown to my living quarters. Being assigned to the Deck Department as part of PATFOR SWA's shore side contingent was nothing like what I expected it to be. The reason behind having a shore side potion of the unit is this:

PATFOR SWA's six patrol boats log more hours underway than they would ever expect to if they were operating out of the US. In light of that, the shore side personnel are there so that when the cutters return from their patrols, they simply inform us what has to be fixed before the boat can be ready to leave for its next patrol. Normally, the crew of a cutter would do all of its own maintenance but due to the increased number of patrol hours, its best to give the boat crews some down time.

Most of my department's work consists of painting the boats after they get all beat up. The Coast Guard prides itself in the appearance of its ships, and it's no different out here. I've got no complaints though, I really don't mind painting and I'm used to the heat by now.

I mentioned in my last post that before volunteering for this job, I spoke with my fiance about the impact it would have on our future. Here are some of the specifics:

After completing the one year deployment, you are given a high priority when choosing your next unit. As long as there is an opening for the job you want, you are practically guaranteed to get it.

For members with dependents, you continue to receive your housing allowance, and are also given separation pay as compensation for being away from your spouse.

All earnings from your deployment are tax free. This includes your re-enlistment bonus if you re-enlist out here.

During your time out here, you get two weeks of R&R, where the Coast Guard will fly you anywhere in the world free of charge.

That's just a few of the benefits but obviously everyone has there own reasons for coming out here. The recurring ones are to serve their country and to save money.

cutting to the chase

2008-05-17T13:55:00.003+03:00

I received a comment on the last post requesting information on my current unit, Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFOR SWA). I was going to leave it until a later date in the interest of maintaining the timeline of the blog but I've pretty much failed at that already so here it goes.

As I already mentioned, the Coast Guard has people in the Arabian Gulf (or the "Persian Gulf" for you CNN types) in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Our service possesses unique specialities that the Navy doesn't, most importantly the ability to board and search vessels. This is the same reason that our Law Enforcement Detachments (LEDETs) often ride on board Navy ships in areas like the Caribbean to give them the ability to conduct boardings in counter narcotic missions.

In the interests on working smarter, not harder here is a link to a comprehensive article written around the time I first arrived in Bahrain.

I volunteered to join PATFOR SWA around the end of 2006. I took my fiance Katie out to dinner and we discussed the positive and negative consequences of my possible deployment and came to the conclusion it was good move for our future (more on this later). There were openings for both the shore-side potion of the unit and the cutters and I submitted a request for both spots. This request was denied, most likely because there were other people competing for the same spots that were more qualified than I was.

In March of 2008, I was off duty, sitting at home and received a call from my Commanding Officer. He asked if I was sitting down and my mind started racing. Maybe someone from the station had been hurt, it wouldn't have been the first time I got a call saying we had lost a shipmate. My CO asked if I still wanted to go to the Middle East. I asked him if I could call him back, as I wanted to talk it over with Katie first. He informed me that he had the detailer (the person in charge of issuing orders) on hold and needed an answer immediately. I said yes and told him I would be at the station in a few minutes.

When I arrived at the station, I was told to check my e-mail and I found a a copy of electronic orders to PATFOR SWA. The was also a short message from the detailer saying I had three days to report to Virginia for pre-deployment training.

the little acorn has become the oak

2008-05-14T17:45:00.004+03:00

Another wonderful Coast Guard day. It's starting to heat up again out here. For anyone just joining in, here would be Bahrain, a little island kingdom off the coast of Saudi Arabia. It hit 120 degrees before we headed home, and most of the work my department does is outdoors. Just the same, I'm in a great mood because...

I've been here since June of last year. During that time, I have tried as much as possible to encourage my guys to advance (get promoted). The Coast Guard leaves advancement very much in your own hands, especially for the more junior enlisted ranks. As I mentioned earlier, some ratings (including my own) allow you to "strike" in order to gain your rating and become an E-4. Striking is basically another word for on the job training in lieu of attending "A" School. In order to complete the striking program, a Coastie has to gain the knowledge for their desired rating and then demonstrate that knowledge to their supervisor, who then initials the various tasks, known as Enlisted Performance Qualifications, or "pracs". The striker then has to study for and pass an End of Course Test, which is multiple choice and typically requires an 80% or above to pass. The Coast Guard also recently implement another test for professional military knowledge which is similar to the EOCT but focuses instead on Coast Guard heritage, identifying insignia of other services, and so on.

Getting back to the point, during my time here in lovely Bahrain I have had two non-rates advance to BM3 and one is currently an SNBM on the waiting list for advancement. In addition, the SNBM also passed his BM2 test earlier this week and then two of my BM3s took their BM2 test and also passed. I just finished the reviewing the pracs for one of them today and he'll be placed on the advancement list shortly.

This is all thrilling enough in itself, but now I'll go into my own deal. Since I'm a BM2, I had an additional requirement to advance to BM1. After completing my pracs and my tests, I had to compete against all the other prospective BM1s in a test called the Servicewide Exam. The Servicewide is a 150 question multiple choice test that is given in May and November every year. The test also factors in things like your time in spent on cutters, points gained from personal awards, and an average of the employee reviews given by your supervisor. After all these items are factored in, they assign everyone an overall rank.

I took the test back in May of 07 while I was preparing to come out here. I didn't study as hard as I should have and didn't do so hot in the test. On top of that, I had no time on cutters whatsoever, and my time in service and pay grade were below average compared to the other BM2s taking the test.

After the test, the Coast Guard decides how many BM1s it needs and then released that number. If they decide 150, then everyone on the list from number 15o and up are guaranteed to advance and they sit on the waiting list to make E-6. In the May SWE, I was not above the cut.

After being at my current unit for a few months, I took the test again in November. This time, I studied hard and out of 163 candidates my test score was the seventh best. Just as before, my shortcomings in other areas pulled me down on the list and I ended up as #34. As luck would have it, I was above the cutoff and sometime in the next several months, I'll be the proud owner of some E-6 insignia.

I've been lucky enough to be in a rating that is pretty open for advancement right now, but many other ratings aren't so lucky. Some rates are so clogged up that the running joke is the only way to advance is for the guy above you to get promoted or die.

A quick timeline on my journey through the ranks so far:
July 2003 - joined as an E-1 (Seaman Recruit)
September 2003 - left basic training as an E-2 (Seaman Apprentice)
December 2003 - left BM "A" School as an E-3 (Seaman Boatswain's Mate)
June 2004 - advanced to E-4 (Boatswain's Mate Third Class)
July 2006 - advanced to E-5 (Boatswain's Mate Second Class)
Summer or Fall of 2008 - advancing to E-6 (Boatswain's Mate First Class)

From the few members of other services I've had the pleasure of meeting, this is more or less unheard of anywhere but the Coast Guard. As I said before, it's left mostly in your hands and it seems that at least a few of my people have learned that lesson. Happy days.

more quals

2008-05-09T17:37:00.005+03:00

After being released from mess cooking I returned to the qualification process. It was at this point that things started getting better. I thoroughly enjoyed getting underway and since I was breaking in I was told that every time the 41' left the dock I needed to be on it. For the first time since my arrival in Gloucester, my "A" School training started coming into play and gave me a head start at completing my qualification tasks.

When we launched the 41' the crew was commanded by the coxswain. The coxswain had completed a rigorous qualification process and was responsible for several things, above all the safety and conduct of the crew and passengers. All of our coxswains in Gloucester were Boatswain's Mates, but the qualification was open to the other rates if they wanted. The second in command was the engineer, who was an Machinery Technician (MK) or a Fireman. The engineer had originally became a qualified crew member, and then gained specialized knowledge in damage control, engine operation, and casualty control. When we got the UTB underway, it was usually with a coxswain, an engineer, a qualified crew member, and a break-in crew member.

We did any number of different things while underway but no matter what is was a blast. As soon as we left Gloucester Harbor, we could see the Boston skyline to the south. We would make trips to Rockport, Salem, Manchester, and many of the other harbors that fell in our AOR.

The largest focus for training was placed on towing as it was the most dangerous job we did. The 41' displaced about 15 tons and could tow up to 100 tons. When dealing with those kind of size differences, everyone on the crew needed to do their job inside and out. Conducting tows in Gloucester in the dead of winter was pretty unforgiving but it was necessary in order to get the break-ins qualified and to keep the qualified people sharp.

I took my oral board about a week before my deadline and did pretty well. The next day the Chief announced to the crew that it was the best board he had seen in a while and if anyone needed study tips then they should come and see me.

Next was my "check ride" which covered towing, boat handling, casualty control, anchoring, and first aid. This also went fine and I was now qualified.

Next was the "varsity boat", the 47' MLB...

mess cooking

2008-05-09T11:06:00.003+03:00

It was shortly after I became a qualified watch stander that I was selected for the next month of "mess cooking" at the station, a rotation amongst all the E-3s at the station. Being a mess cook meant assisting the unit's Food Services Specialist (FS) throughout the day by washing dishes, setting tables, refilling beverage dispensers, and so on. I worked from around 0600 to whenever we finished cleaning up after the evening meal, which was usually around 1800. This went on six days out of the week and I was allowed to choose whether I wanted Saturday or Sunday off. Although the rotation was for an entire month back then, we later adjusted it to two weeks to help junior people get qualified rather than wash dishes for an entire month.

I had no issues with mess cooking. In fact, I enjoyed it because it gave me some time to regroup after about a month of nightly sit downs where I was told how I was inadequate to make third class. On a few occasions, some of the BMs that were normally in charge of me came into the galley and started barking orders, but they were quickly taken to the side by the cook and reminded that I worked for the galley, not them.

On the other hand, I wasn't making any progress on my next qualification, which was crew member for the 41 foot Utility Boat. It hadn't been established whether my original deadline of three months would be extended since I was working in the galley.

I also discovered that the SNBM that reported before me had been told specifically that he didn't have to mess cook because he had already obtained his rating, unlike the other E-3s (known as non-rates). I was a little bitter that they went out of their way to treat me differently, and when I asked why the explanation was that I was younger than he was. Age was going to be a continuing issue throughout my career and this was the beginning of that prejudice.

It was a fairly easy month. I even managed to get underway with the 41' a few times to start learning my job as a crew member. The only real horror story I left there with was cleaning the grease trap. There's a three or four gallon reservoir under the deep sink that caught all of the grease and oil runoff and the only way to clean it is by transferring the grease to a bucket using a ladle. Even then, I was lucky enough to clean it in the winter as opposed to the summer, in which case I might have taken a trip outside to vomit.

The job of mess cooking varies unit to unit. Some stations leave it up to the crew to clean up after themselves and don't even have a messcook. Most Coasties agree that mess cooking on the bigger cutters is the worst, but on the bright side it motivates people to become petty officers so they don't have to do it anymore.

On another note, thanks to those that have posted comments (we have them from SIX different people now, or maybe one person under several names). This is the only way I can verify that this is being read so please keep 'em coming.

breaking in, getting qualified

2008-05-08T18:08:00.003+03:00

As part of my check-in process, I was informed of what qualifications I would have to gain and the deadline for each qualification. The first qualification was communications watch stander. At a small boat station, there is a communications center (comcenter) which houses the unit's radios, phones, and other equipment used for communication with both Coast Guard and civilian vessels. The main purpose of the comms watch stander is to maintain a constant guard for distress calls, whether they come in over the radio, cell phone, or are relayed to us from another agency.

When not running a SAR case, the watch stander basically served as a secretary for the station, fielding phone calls, taking down messages, and maintaining a detailed log of everything that occurred during his or her four hour watch.

This was a good qual to start with because it was fairly simple to complete and gave a new member some insight into how the station worked. I was given two weeks to become qualified as a comms watchstander.

The qualification process had several steps. The first part was getting my qualification book signed off. The book broke each task down into steps and I had to sit down with a qualified watchstander and demonstrate each task "without prompting or use of a reference". The hardest task of all was my Area of Responsibility (AOR) test. I had to memorize almost two hundred different points of interest in Gloucester's AOR including islands, rocks, coves, harbors, and lighthouses. When I felt ready, I took the test which was a chart of our AOR with all the names blacked out and numbered. I numbered a blank sheet of paper and named every point that I could remember.

The other major sign-off was to successfully complete my SAR scenarios. I was given a radio and all the standard check sheets used during a SAR case (ex- initial distress check sheet, taking of water, vessel fire, etc.) Another person called in SAR scenarios from another radio and I was judged on how I handed myself and if I completed all the necessary steps. The first step of a SAR case for a watch stander is to get what is called "the four Ps" namely, Position, Problem, number of People on board, and then telling them to put on their PFDs (life jackets).

The last step was to take an oral qualification board. I sat in front of three watch standers and a qualified Officer of the Day (OOD) and they asked me anything and everything about watch standing. At the end of the board, they reached the decision that I was ready to stand comms watch and I had my first qualification in Gloucester.

two quick things before I continue:

2008-05-08T17:58:00.003+03:00

Sometimes it's hard to take a step back and read what I've posted so far from an outsider's perspective. I do my best to cater to my target audience which is a high school senior with no prior knowledge of what the Coast Guard. In light of that:

I realize my more recent posts have had a few negative experiences mixed in. This is in fact a key part of this blog as I don't want to censor the things I disagreed with or made me see my job in a negative light. Overall, I obviously love my job or I wouldn't have signed for another six years this past summer. I am trying to portray my experiences in the most honest fashion possible, and possibly even save future Coasties from making some of the mistakes that I did.

Also, as this blog continues their will be some chronological issues. This is due to the fact that I'm attempting to focus on one specific aspect of my career at a time. For example, my next post will overlap with my previous one, but focus on the qualification process rather than what it was like to be a new SNBM at a small boat station (see previous post). I will mention dates whenever possible to rectify this matter but it still could get a bit confusing. Sorry.

"Hey you! SNBM!"

2008-05-07T14:25:00.003+03:00

The morning after reporting, I began my check-in process. I was assigned a sponsor, who was a BM3 that had been there for about six months. I reported during the holiday season so many of the people I was supposed to meet were on leave at the time. I met the BM1 who was in charge of Deck Force and his utmost concern was that I found myself an apartment. They had an E-3 who had been living on board the station for over three months so the BM1 didn't want me to do the same thing. After about three days at the station, he sent me out into town with the instructions "Don't come back until you've found a place to live."

I went out into Gloucester, eighteen years old, trying to find an apartment in the middle of winter. I found a studio apartment at a reasonable price and was able to meet with the landlady. I was then introduced to one of the many benefits of being in the military. Despite the fact that she had several other people interested in the place, she knew that I could be counted on to pay the rent because she could always call my Commanding Officer (CO) about any delinquencies.

I later met with the Executive Petty Officer (XPO) who was a Boatswain's Mate Chief. He started with the alcohol speech because I was underage. Next he informed me that "If it's in blue, then it's not for you. If you're looking for a girlfriend, then do it outside of the gate." In accordance with the Coast Guard's Personnel Manual, which contains descriptions of "unacceptable romantic relationships", dating someone at the station (a small shore facility with less than 60 people) would result in disciplinary action.

Over the next several weeks, I was usually addressed as "SNBM" (said as a word rather than one letter at a time). When work had to be done around the station, I was used as an intermediary between the BM3s and the non-rates. I received my fair share of resentment from both the petty officers and the non-rates. The E-4s didn't like that I was a "direct 'A' schooler" because they had been strikers and "did things the hard way". The non-rates gave me a hard time because I was young and inexperienced an I technically didn't outrank them so they didn't like when I was put in charge of work projects. I can completely understand both points of view but on the other hand I didn't go to "A" School because it was the easy way, I did it based off the limited amount of information I got from my recruiter.

I was routinely counseled by a few of the BMs that I wasn't performing on an E-4 level and if I didn't step it up then I wouldn't advance when I was supposed to. This didn't really help much, as best as I could tell all E-4s did was use the SNBM to do their job for them. I was so fed up with these nightly talks that I considered changing rates just to work for someone more reasonable. I'm glad I never followed up on it because it would've been a choice I regretted.

Eventually, they switched up the two duty sections (there will be a later post explaining the work schedule) so that I worked under different BMs and things improved ten fold.

I advanced to BM3 in June 2004.

Memories...

2008-05-06T18:43:00.004+03:00

I'll be adding this to my Basic Training post as well, but wanted to post the link separately here too as it's well worth making it extra visible. I know that I personally had a lot of anxiety leading up to basic training and it was mostly because I had no idea what to expect. The Coast Guard Channel put together an outstanding series that follows a company of recruits through their training experience. It's an extremely accurate reflection of what you're exposed to at Cape May and the interviews of the recruits mirror many of the attitudes I had as training progressed. Follow the link to watch It's Just Eight Weeks.

Reporting to Gloucester

2008-05-06T13:41:00.004+03:00

I reported to Station Gloucester, Massachusetts shortly after Christmas of 2003. My orders stated "report no later than 2200" and I arrived around eight o'clock that night. After graduation from "A" School, we were told that we could report to our new units either in the Service Dress Blue uniform or Tropical Blue Long. I choose trops that day and entered the station to report.

I was met by the Officer of the Day (OOD) and he immediately told me I was in the wrong uniform (he was right, I had been misinformed). I apologized and handed him my orders. As he reviewed the paperwork, he asked me why I was reporting after work hours. I pointed out where it stated the reporting time on my orders, which didn't improve his disposition towards me. "So, you're an SNBM, huh?" he inquired.

"That's correct, petty officer." I responded.

"So you'll make third class in six months?"

"Yes, petty officer."

"Well that's dependant upon your conduct. You know, little things like being in the proper uniform. Stuff like that."

I was to later find out that the OOD had just received news that he might be sent to Station New York to augment their operations there, so I was just having his frustration taken out on me. No big deal, but it still wasn't a good first impression (the station looked bad to me and I looked bad to the station).

A word of advice to those reporting to their first unit, or any unit for that matter: Be respectful, be punctual, and look sharp. Don't overdo the boot camp stuff (don't square your corners) and show up ready to learn.

Boatswain's Mate "A" School

2008-05-04T12:54:00.005+03:00

I flew into Virginia and caught a cab to TRACEN Yorktown. I entered the building specified in my orders, wearing my "tropical blue long" dress uniform and carrying my seabag. Upon checking in, I was informed that I had several weeks before my class convened so in the meantime I would be "day working" (Coast Guard speak for working a normal five day work week).

Almost half of my basic training company were also there day working until their respective schools started. Hurricane Isabel had hit the area the week before so there was plenty of work to do. We worked throughout the base picking up debris and clearing fallen trees out of the roads.

There's one major thing about day working there that still bothers me. Now, there may be a valid reason for this but I sure can't think if one. Hopefully this has changed since I was there but when you were day working, there were two kinds of people working in that capacity, those who were waiting for their "A" School to begin and those who were waiting to leave because they had failed their school due to either academic or disciplinary reasons. To go a little further into this, the only reason to show up early to the TRACEN is if you're coming from basic training because if you were coming from anywhere else and didn't have enough leave to reach the class start date, you would just remain at you unit that much longer (not an option after you graduate basic). So to be perfectly clear, you have highly motivated Coasties who know very little about the "real Coast Guard" and the first people they end up working with are in the midst of going to their second unit as an E-3 usually (but not always) because of a disciplinary or motivation flaw. I think I've beaten this to death enough and for all I know the system there has changed since 2003.

I found Boatswain's Mate "A" School to be well paced for the most part. It's now a twelve week course but back then it was nine weeks. The first six weeks were mostly classroom instruction, and I would say the materials were pretty much spoon fed. The material covered was not difficult to grasp, after all the saying is "if you can't make rate, be a Boatswain's Mate."

In the fifth week, we spent every day of class preparing to take our NAVRULES exam. This was the most challenging test of the school and our class rank (which we would use when picking our next units) would be largely based off of our NAVRULES score. Even aside from it's impact on us while we were in school, it was an important hurdle in a Boatswain's Mate's career and a requirement to become a qualifies boat coxswain and to be an E-5. We would be allowed to pass "A" School with an 80% on the test, but only a 90% or above was an official passing score. If memory serves, I received a 94% but not all of us were so lucky. After two retest opportunities, some members of the class didn't reach the 80% cut and returned to the fleet as E-3s.

In week six we picked our next duty stations, or "billets". The instructors factored in our test scores and where we were coming to Yorktown from, with boot camp and land units being weighed the least and cutters and isolated duty being the highest. I was sixteenth in my class so I reviewed the list of choices and ranked my favorite sixteen. I was lucky and the fifteen guys and girls ahead of me in line didn't pick my number one choice, Station Gloucester, Massachusetts.

After we had our picks, they split the class based on where we were heading. There was now a "cutter strand" and a "small boat strand". The job of a BM differs significantly between cutters and small boat stations so the remaining three weeks were used to prepare us for our next unit. The reason that the school is now twelve weeks long is so all students can attend both strands of training, that way they are more adequately prepared to do both jobs later in their career.

The small boat strand was spent at the UTB (Utility Boat Big, silly name isn't it?) Systems Center which is also located on the TRACEN. The goal was to have the students complete all of the qualifications tasks required of a crewmember on the 41 foot UTB. I enjoyed this portion of the course more than the prior six weeks, because almost all of the learning was hands on. We covered everything from navigation to general seamanship to towing to helicopter operations.

At the end of our nine weeks there, we were all advanced at the graduation ceremony. Some of us became E-4s, making their new title "Boatswain's Mate Third Class". I reported to Yorktown as an E-2 (Seaman Apprentice or SA) so I became an "SNBM" meaning I was an E-3 but once I served six months in the E-3 pay grade, I would advance to E-4.

I returned to West Point, NY for some much needed time with my family and my girlfriend during the holidays before I would have to report to my unit.

networking

2008-05-04T05:23:00.003+03:00

After about a week of inactivity (as far as viewers for the blog), I received an e-mail from both Joe Coastie at CGBlog.org and John Willis at Coast Guard News as well as a post by Peter Stinson on CGBlog.org tagging this blog as "the first deckplate blog". You are all far too generous and thank you for welcoming me into the Coast Guard blogosphere.

it's all over but the crying

2008-05-01T14:15:00.004+03:00

CGblog.org had a nice post about the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2007. Particularly the portion that will make the Coast Guard accountable for providing security for both the LNG terminals, and the LNG tankers as well. On paper, this might not look so bad to the layman, but there are a lot of implications to this bill passing (which it looks like it will, even in spite of President Bush's protests). The two things that spring immediately to mind are trained personnel and boats.

I would imagine that when this bill passes (might as well just treat it as an absolute, there is no "if") that they will use something similar to our Maritime Safety and Security Teams and they'll either augment existing MSSTs if one is already present in the vicinity of the terminal, or they'll have to stand up an entire new unit at the location. In either case, if you're going to give us tasking like this, then PLEASE give us the people and assets to do the job properly without hampering our other missions. Yes, we have sayings like, "doing more with less since 1790" but that doesn't mean we enjoy working with less resources than we should actually have.

Now, it does stipulate that the determination of whether or not the Coast Guard will be capable to provide security is a decision left to the Coast Guard sector for that region. Just the same, the only way for the sectors to make an educated decision on that is to have an open dialogue with the small boat stations and MSSTs that fall in their region.

This whole episode could either develop into yet another demonstration of CG flexibility, or a reminder that as the smallest armed service we are not omnipotent and require sufficient support if others wish to continually add to our list of growing missions.

entering the Coast Guard, pt2

2008-05-01T12:04:00.003+03:00

My flight into Philadelphia was delayed due to weather. By the time I landed, the last bus to Training Center (TRACEN) Cape May had already departed. I noticed about a dozen other people sitting outside of the USO and it turns out they had the same bad luck as I did. Due to the weather, most of the decent hotels had already filled up so we ended up at a cheap motel with all of us packed into a room meant for two people.

The next morning, we headed back to the airport where we met the bus. As we got close, everyone became silent and I started getting that feeling in the pit of my stomach. The bus pulled up in front of three men (company commanders) all wearing the Coast Guard Operational Dress Uniform along with campaign covers (smokey bear hats). The tallest one climbed aboard the bus and started barking commands. We scrambled to comply but failed miserably, I can only imagine what it looked like from their perspective.

The next eight weeks were a blur. As the saying goes, "the days drag on but the weeks fly by." We were subjected to constant uniform inspections, tested on our general military knowledge (they almost NEVER ask for the fifth general order, anyone who's seen Full Metal Jacket already has it memorized) and when necessary the company commanders (CCs) administered incentive training which was mostly just push ups and sit ups. In our seventh week, we received our rifles, or pieces, and it gave the CCs a new punishment regimen to use on us. Although, they only weighed seven or eight pounds, they added a new level of pain to incentive training and focused the company much more on doing everything perfectly to avoid this punishment.

Overall, basic training wasn't very physically demanding. Like many people, I had the incorrect idea that there would be a lot of focus on swimming but there wasn't. Believe it or not, a lot of people showed up to basic not knowing how to swim and they had to be taught by the instructors. For the love of God, the place didn't even have an obstacle course!

What basic training lacked in physically challenging tasks, it made up for with its mental strain. The company commanders knew how to get inside your head and break you down so they could build you back up as a Coastie. By the second week, I was pretty much convinced that I was worthless and by the week eight came we were all walking tall and looking sharp.

Upon leaving Cape May, I took twelve days of leave and went back to New York until I had to fly to TRACEN Yorktown to begin Boatswain's Mate "A" School...

For those that learn visually, check out the Coast Guard Channel series It's Just Eight Weeks.

side issue, first of many

2008-04-28T15:41:00.002+03:00

I found this gem on a discussion board that was started in regards to reports of unprofessional conduct by Coast Guard boarding teams:

I am sitting in a tavern
Swilling down my nightly beer,
When a stranger asks politely,
"Do you mind if I sit down here?"

I knew just what was coming,
But I said, "Sure, sit a spell."
Then he starts asking questions,
I am so mad that I could yell.

He is eying my gob suit,
When he notices my shield.
Then he says, "What's that thing sailor?"
So I answer, "Heres the deal

That thing stands for Coast Guard,
I am very proud to say,
No we're no part of the Navy,
We like ourselves that way."

Now I warm up to my topic,
Sitting there in that bar.
I tell him of the good and bad points,
But that's neither her nor thar.

He buys one while I tell him
About "Stiff Calls" and all that stuff.
Then he says, "I'm a YACHTSMAN."
I says, "Brother that's enough."

I like rattlesnakes and scorpions,
Lizards, snails and crawling worms,
But just the thought of YACHTSMAN,
Makes my guts and gizzard squirm.

In their Captain's hats and deck shoes,
With their chest's a stickin' out,
They spin tall yarns while drinking,
They're "Salty" no doubt.

They curse and damn the Coast Guard
For a lazy bunch of bums,
Who drink coffee and play poker,
And lie out in the sun.

They're mighty brave these YACHTSMEN,
While they're standing slopping drinks,
But they surely change their tactics
When they think they're a'gonna sink.

Then we're "GOOD OLD COAST GUARD."
And they sing our praises high.
We're not "Coffee Drinkin' Bastards.
"We're "The boys who are standing by."

But when we get them safely ashore,
And there's no more chance to drown,
They retire to the nearest bar,
And start to run us down!!!

"They surely took their good sweet time,
Those coffee drinking bums.
Why hell we could have drowned out there,
We thought they'd never come.

They scratched our yacht from stem to stern,
With their dirty towing line.
When they took all night just to tow us in.
"Yep, they sure took their sweet time."

This crap that I am taking,
For a lousy ten cent brew.
So I have to leave the joker there,
And go back and join the crew.

But we can't be to hard on them.
And this is what I say,
"It's those ^%&*%#@&* YACHTSMEN,
Who are paying me my pay.

EN1 Doran wrote this poem
while stationed at Beaver Island LBSTA in October 1950
Seems like there isn't much difference from 1950 til today.

Most of the negative things said on the board aren't worth repeating. They are essentially bred by ignorance for what the Coast Guard does and who we are. If you care to look for yourself, one of the popular themes was that we should need probable cause (just like the police) to "pull boats over" (read - conduct a safety inspection). I personally think that is a horrible idea. The reason we don't need probable cause to conduct a safety inspection is because it serves an important public interest. I might be able to stomach the whole probable cause pitch if it wasn't for the fact that in the course of my career so far, when we conducted boardings on recreational vessels we found discrepancies on a very regular basis. Everything from something as basic as a broken navigation light, to something more severe like a boat operating offshore with an insufficient number of life jackets on board, or the worst being boating while intoxicated (only going into the safety type violations here).

As a law enforcement agency, is it possible that there have been a few bad apples that give the rest of us a bad name? Absolutely. But I've witnessed boardings that started off with a professional and friendly greeting by the Boarding Officer, only to be met with unfounded and rude statements from a captain about how he has no right to board their vessel, he's a taxpayer, we're just a bunch of kids with guns, he's sailed the seven seas, we're water nazi's...the list goes on. It's a two way street, but I've been lucky enough to be stationed with professionals so far.

entering the Coast Guard, pt1

2008-04-27T18:44:00.000+03:00

In my senior year of high school, I made the decision to join the armed forces. My father is an active duty officer in the US Army so obviously the preferred path was to attend the academy at West Point, NY (our family happened to be stationed there at the time). I wasn't prepared to commit nine years of my life (four at the academy, five paying the Army back with service) so that ruled out all of the service academies. That left enlisting as my only option and I eventually settled on the Coast Guard, which led to the family joke that I was only doing it because I like the word "coast" har, har.

My basic plan was to enlist for four years and to then use the Montgomery GI Bill to attend college. I had no reason to attend college right after High School because I had no idea what I wanted to do for a career. In light of that, how could I possibly decide what to major in? I only viewed college as a means to an end so if I didn't know the end (my future career) then there was no reason to waste that kind of money.

I went into New York City in search of a recruiting station. The first one was the small booth in Times Square (the one that was bombed recently) but it turned out the Coast Guard was the only branch without a representative there. The next stop was at the recruiting station in Battery Park. Upon reaching the door, I was asked by a civilian security guard if I had an appointment. Being young and ignorant, I had figured it was like the movies where you just walked right in so I did not have an appointment.

As I was getting ready to leave, a recruiter happened to walk by, overheard the discussion and joined in. He asked me what I had received for an SAT score. I replied that I has gotten a 1370 and he asked me to follow him to his office.

He started giving me all the standard handouts, including a pamphlet containing all the ratings in the Coast Guard accompanied by a brief description. I had attended an Outward Bound course several years ago and one of my favorite parts was the orienteering/navigation. This seemed to be best embodied by the Quartermaster (QM) rating but I was informed that the rating was being merged into the Boatswain's Mate (BM) rating. It turns out the Coast Guard was hurting for BMs so I was given the opportunity to go directly from Basic Training to BM "A" School in Yorktown, Virginia. I decided that it sounded like the best path to take, as opposed to going to an operational unit and either having to do on the job training (striking) or waiting on the list to attend "A" school.

I signed up for a four year enlistment, but that also includes eight total years of IRR, which essentially means the government keeps you contact information so they can reactivate you after your enlistment was over (in fact, this happened after 9/11 to many ex-coasties). Under advice from my father, I entered the Delayed Entry Program in May 2003 to start my IRR time running early (that way there would be less of it when my enlistment ended). All that this really involved was attending MEPS, the medical screening program used by all the Armed Forces. I also took the ASVAB and did well enough to qualify for every rating in the Coast Guard.

After that, I just finished up my senior year of high school and kept in touch with my recruiter to let him know how things were going. When the time came to depart for Basic Training, I had to go through the entire MEPS journey again because it had been more than thirty days since my last screening.

A quick, look into MEPS. Hopefully your own experience is or was better than mine. The trouble began with the medical questionnaire we had to fill out. The first question on there is regarding tuberculosis, which I had been exposed to five years ago. It had never been active in my system but to be safe I was treated with a few pills, monthly blood tests, and a chest X-ray that confirmed there wasn't any lung damage. I asked if I should check the "yes" box for TB and the corpsman said I should just to be on the safe side.

After finishing our forms, we each saw a civilian doctor one at a time to review our paperwork. The doctor had very little patience for my explanation of why I checked the box for TB and basically said I would have to provide evidence that there wasn't any lung damage (BTW this all took place in a hospital, I don't see how hard it would've been to send me down the hall and be done with it). Moving on, it came time for me to drop my boxers and the berating started again. He asked me why I had written that I didn't have any scars or tattoos. I replied "Uhhh, because I don't." He pointed angrily at my right buttock where I have a birthmark, at which point we engaged in a lively discussion about whether a birthmark qualifies as a scar or not (mind you, this entire debate took place while my boxers were around my ankles, it's funny looking back but I failed to see the humor at the time).

The MEPS personnel that were in the military were extremely professional and helpful, but the civilian component left something to be desired. I suppose I can kind of understand their exasperation as they had to deal with a constant stream of eighteen-year-olds running around like idiots but it still wasn't a positive indoctrination into the military.

In any case, I eventually got the documentation between my first and second trip to MEPS and I then spent the night in a hotel waiting to go to the airport the next day...

dispelling common misconceptions, an exercise in futility

2008-04-27T12:23:00.000+03:00

I would like to start off by laying down a few basic facts about the Coast Guard and also looking into some incorrect assumptions people seem to have about the service:

We ARE a branch of the armed forces (that makes five total). Although we are not used often in a "combat" role, we DO have Coast Guard men and women deployed to the Arabian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In fact, that's where I am currently deployed.

We ARE NOT all rescue swimmers. They are a critical component of our service but when looked at in size compared to the Coast Guard as a whole, they comprise a small part of the Coast Guard. Their rescues tend to be a lot more TV friendly than the ones made by let's say small boats or cutters. I have nothing but respect for ASTs (rescue swimmers) and only mentioned this fact because it seems like a lot of the prospective future Coasties have the impression that ASTs make up more of the service than they actually do.

Our motto, catchphrase, slogan or whatever else you might want to call it is "Semper Paratus" not "So Others May Live". This is Latin for always ready.

I could go on (my next target would be everyone calling the 47' MLB "the unsinkable one from TV") but I'm going to call it quits out of fear for sounding bitter. Or is it too late already?

Intro

2008-04-27T12:03:00.000+03:00

Over the past five years, the Coast Guard has been seing more and more publicity. Between Hurricane Katrina and the film the Guardian, the new generation has been seeing more of the Coast Guard then I ever did. Thanks to the positive things the public has seen of our service, the Coast Guard is becoming a popular job to take on after high school. Although there is a lot of information on the internet about the Coast Guard, a lot of it doesn't address some of the more common questions a senior in high school might ask a recruiter. Anyone who does a search on popular sites like Facebook or Yahoo! Answers can see that a lot of people are trying to get their questions resolved via the internet so that they can form a better idea of what exactly the Coast Guard is.

My aim through this blog is to simply to describe some of the things I've seen and done so far in my Coast Guard career. Hopefully someone stumbles across it and it answers some of their questions about the Guard. If not, feel free to contact me and I'll do my best.