Coast Guard Recruit Company Delta 186 weekly journal posted Jan 19, 2012

03JAN12-04JAN12

      Sounds of laughter and conversation filled the bus as we made our way from the Philadelphia Airport to Cape May, NJ. All of that stopped once we saw those yellow triangles and the men in those round hats. We soon would know them as Company Commanders. Oh crap was the first thought in our minds as we were running off the bus trying to follow the loud but simple instructions. The loudness seemed to make them infinitely more difficult to carry out for some. Finally, we were brought inside for a long night filling out paperwork. Little sleep was had for any that night, not knowing what awaited us the next day. Unfortunately it was a full day of paperwork and medical. Most uneventful besides starting to learn how to march. Always was present was the mind blowing instruction and correction.

05JAN12

     Equally uneventful with more paperwork and medical. Although the men got their heads shaved and we all went through the uniform issuing process; even though, I was in a warehouse, it felt great to be in our uniforms at least for the few seconds before we took them off to have our names and U.S. Coast Guard sewn above the breast pockets.

06JAN12

     We all awaited the afternoon on Friday. The day we would finally meet the company commanders that would be leading us through the next eight weeks. We were lucky enough to get moving speeches by not only Captain Kelly but others in our chain of command. Speeches that spoke of patriotism, life saving, and of course hard work. We ended with our company being handed over for our training. Here we go!! Fire Fire Fire are the words we will now fear forever. Not because there is a fire, but because we are either about to be Incentively Trained as a group or be given niner zero seconds to get up three flights of steps to the main squad bay. Then came drills to get our rack squared away. Of course this took hours when it could have been minutes because of lack of speed, something we need to work on. Speed could in fact be the word of the entire weekend running drill after drill after drill, over and over. Continuously missing time objectives. This did not sit well with our Company Commanders: Petty Officer Williams, Petty Officer Simcox, and Petty Officer Garza. Hopefully the message is going to start sinking in.  Even though we spent a lot of time sweating, we also were learning a great deal. Marching being the main favorite of most in the company. It is a very good team building exercise. Everyone must contribute so that the formation looks good.

10JAN12

     Was our first core workout at the gym. Wow, what a workout, for those who gave it their all probably lost a couple of pounds in sweat alone. It was also the day indoc weekend was officially over and we are accountable for the knowledge that we have learned thus far. The night ended with a speech from Petty Officer Bailey.He told us that he wanted us to be the best company for some it was another reason to push to be better.

11JAN12

     Any thoughts that could have been had about the day were killed by two things Recruit Aptitude and Motivation Program (RAMP) and Remedial Instruction. After running Remedial after Remedial, sleep was greatly appreciated by all.

12JAN12

     Fire Fire Fire, once again was our wake up call to start the day. Today was going to be a very enjoyable day for some and a very frightening day for others. Today was our swim test day. This was our first time being in the water at Recruit Training. The instructor explained that we would be jumping off a platform 1.5 meters from the water and then swimming 100 meters around the edge of the pool. Sounds simple but with the added factors of no distinct swim lanes and no goggles greatly increased the difficulty. Personally it felt like small city pools where everyone goes. You could not swim one stroke without someone hitting your leg or cutting in front of you but if your ship is sinking you could run into a similar situation. Thursday also brought us into some more classes. At this point in training most classes are just informational and kind of dry. Although today held two pretty enjoyable classes. One was about mixing work and life and how the work life office could help us with different issues. The class was made more enjoyable when the instructor told us that he was a former Company Commander. Not only that but he trained Petty Officer Bailey. He sure did an outstanding job. Although short, Saluting class was awesome. Saluting is something everyone associates with the military and now we know when and how to properly use it. Recruits continue to resist the system and we all are learning from it. Our discipline drill has been done so much some don’t even look at the words. They have been burned into our brains, now hopefully we can show that we have some of it.

13JAN12

     Apparently the discipline drill did not take because Petty Officer Simcox noticed someone spitting on the Parade Field. Not only that, none would own up to it, so after breakfast came another round of the discipline drill. Please God let it work this time. Today our workout ended up with us in the pool again. This time doing 20 yard sprints across the pool. Again, constantly being scratched and pummeled by fellow Recruits. Before and after the swim Petty Officer Simcox took us for a march to practice our moves. We are definitely improving from the company we were a week ago. We marched down the road to the ocean. You could just see over the dunes. My future! Obviously the thought that was going through many a Recruits mind. Later in the day we had some more classes. One about how we should brush our teeth. Maybe this is why it is called basic training. The other was a class on terrorist threat levels by our own Petty Officer Garza. Finally we all know how that color chart works and what it means. It also was interesting to know what different measures were taken under each threat level. How do you make someone learn the correct way to sign in and out of a log book?  Run the sign in and out remedial.  We are hoping this is the last time for this.

14JAN12

     Today’s wakeup call was a little different that the last couple of days because we did not get back topside. So we had to run it again. Today was colder that it has been since we got here. You could see it on the faces of the southern and western Recruits. After our very early morning breakfast we came back to Munro Hall to run a drill we had not run before. This one was to teach us how fast we could actually change from PT gear to ODUs. Later we went out and had a meeting without mentors about their experiences in the Coast Guard. It was great!!! Both people have a wide range in careers. After they talked to us for a while they opened up the floor for questions and there were a lot. All different because they were about our future in the Coast Guard and not complaining about boot camp training. After lunch they came back to Munro Hall with us to talk some more and answer more questions. Then we went over to classroom 101 and had a class with Petty Officer Bailey on military customs, specifically when saluting. Good stuff to know! Later was time for remedial training to reinforce deficiencies of the Company. People have got to stop touching their faces. You can tell people are because half the company has crud. Today we definitely became a better team and showed more discipline than ever. This was evident because we got to shine our boots and start working on organizing our racks and learned some basic moves with our pieces instead of getting incentively trained. Let’s hope day like this become less rare.

15JAN12

     It was cold today! The wind coming off the ocean bites at your face that early. To those of us that grew up with winters like this it is revitalizing and wakes you up. I have not mentioned chow yet and that is a travesty. Chow is a vital part of our day. The nutrients and calories keep us moving and the fact that it always tastes great does not hurt either. The staff deserves high praise for keeping our tanks full. Once back from morning chow we ran rack making drills. Some rack mates are getting really fast. Today had another workout on the schedule. Petty Officer Bailey took us to the gym for a cycle workout. He definitely pushed us harder that the trainers did earlier this week. After it was time today for some people’s action at the gym. Guess what?? More remedials. By the end of training we will have the shoulders and arms of gorillas. We had a class on personal values. It was good; some people are realizing their values are right in line with the Coast Guards. Wow I forgot about divine hours. They go from 0800 to 1300 every Sunday. We are thankful for them. Many Recruits read letters from loved ones and scribbled out letters to send out. The time was also used to organize our racks, work on ODUs and shining boots. Getting ready for our inspection tomorrow. People are stressing out. Even those of us who you would not call the problem recruits are scared of the chance of going to Ramp. The night ended with the highest note we have had yet. Petty Officer Bailey told us he was complimented on our marching ability. He said we looked really great and were better than the week 08 company. You could feel the excitement in the room even though everyone had a straight face. Let’s hope this makes us keep pushing to be better. We are Delta-186.

16JAN12

     If we knew how the day would end we would have never wanted to start it. The day started off pretty normally. We even got an extra 15 minutes in the rack. I say in the rack instead of asleep because almost everyone was awake. Looks like our internal clocks are catching up to our crazy life. We ran fire drills multiple times and also ran rack making drills. After morning chow we had our water survival class. What an experience! We learned how to properly put on the suits and actually got to try them out in the water. Now granted the water was already 80 degrees but we got the point. The rest of the day was full of pretty boring classes. It was nice to learn about the differences between the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post 911 GI Bill. The other classes were about sexual harassment and sexual assault. Don’t do it was the message to be taken from those classes. Tonight is when the stuff hit the fan. I am talking about a truck load and a jet engine. Petty Officer Garza informed us that he had cleaned our squad bays because the Section Commander was coming for inspection. Our heads looked like a tornado went through them and we had only a couple minutes to clean. Chief Howe brought along some other Section Commanders to help inspect and look for Ramp Candidates. Fear was so thick in the room you could smell it. Racks being inspected and required knowledge questions being asked. All anyone could do was stand at attention and wait their turn. Sadly some of our shipmates will not be with us for the next couple of days but hopefully they will return to us without whatever got them sent there in the first place. Our Company Commanders were not happy with our performance which we paid for at the end of the night and I have a feeling we will be paying for the next couple of