Coast Guard Recruit Company Echo 186 weekly journal posted Feb 13, 2012

 Echo Company's voyage through Week 05 has a great deal in common with the Titanic's maiden voyage. Just like the Titanic, Echo Company started Week 05 with a great reputation and an invincible state of mind.

    On Tuesday evening we had our Operational Dress Uniform (ODU) inspection with the Battalion Commander Master Chief Carlson. Standing in formation in Healy Hall, Master Chief picked apart our uniforms and drilled us on our required knowledge one by one. His high rank and position as our Battalion Commander allows him to talk to us calmly and at a normal volume, yet still scare us. Echo did very well, however we might not have known our required knowledge but boy we sure looked good. We scored a 55 out of 60 on the inspection and were told our boon dockers (boots) looked outstanding.

    We followed up this accomplishment by crushing our seamanship mid-term the next day. Much to our instructor, DC1 Douthit's surprise, we scored a 95% and appear on track to earn the seamanship pennant at the end of our 08 weeks.

    All these feats and achievements were only leading up to the pinnacle of our time here, which was earning our "COLORS" and marching around the regiment with them at the bow of the formation.

    Just like any normal day we were marching back to our barracks and were told to stop on the way to do some incentive training. Thinking we had yet again screwed up we started our push-ups. We got to the squats and strangely enough our Lead Company Commander had us do an about face. There in the parade field stood our colors, waiting for us to pluck it out of the ground. After the incentive training session was finished they released the reins and let us run wildly into the field to claim our prize.

    This reward was immediately followed up with learning our much awaited orders. Some of us were ecstatic about our assignments while some of us will be impatiently counting down the days to "A" school.

    Unfortunately, all this excitement was just too much for ECHO Company. We promptly lost all self discipline and kick started our next day by doing everything we were told not to do. Infractions ranged from talking at all the wrong times to not responding correctly to our instructors not twenty four hours after receiving our Colors they were gone again and we have paid for their loss dearly.

    Rewind back to Week 02 and you have a pretty good idea of what we've been doing the last few days. Our lives now primarily consist of endless incentive training, lots of rushing and a fair amount of publics embarrassment. Highlights include marching around with our arms crossed like a pouting two year old while singing circus music cadences. One lucky shipmate even spent thirty minutes skipping around the quarterdeck because they were caught doing it earlier by their Company Commanders. Hopefully all this nonsense helps explain the awkward and confusing 02 minute phone call polluted by incentive training background noise.

    The week concluded with an encouraging visit from our Company Mentor and we all look forward to our manual of arms test this week which presents our first opportunity to partially redeem ourselves. Till next week this is ECHO-186 signing off.