Coast Guard Recruit Company Foxtrot 186 weekly journal posted Feb 22, 2012

12Feb12

Week Ø3 was very eventful, we began our seamanship classes with Petty Officer Foley and continued to grow as a tea while practicing manual of arms with our Pieces and marching around the regiment.   We experienced our first Cape May snowfall and while we enjoyed the sight we were discourages by the mess the sale made on out boondockers.  Foxtrot is really excited about starting week Ø4.  The days really are flying by.  On Thursday we’ll fill out our dream sheets and Friday we have out midterm test.  We have come so far in a blink of an eye. 

 13Feb12

First day of week Ø4 and things are already starting to change.  We split the company up into two groups (Port and Starboard) with two different schedules.  Port spent the day in Goff hall at the range working on marksmanship, while starboard learned how to log into computers and use the Coast Guard e-mail system; we also learned how special the colors ceremony is.  We came together later that evening and took individual photos in dress uniforms.  It was a bittersweet moment to look like the real deal in our fancy clothes but we know we are not quite there yet.

 14Feb12

Second day of splitting the day into port and starboard sides.  Now that starboard had the chance to use the weapons simulator and learn marksmanship.  Both port and starboard compared their scores on the simulator and you could see the competition kicking in as we come together more as a team.  Valentine’s day was actually celebrated by foxtrot 186.  Some very creative fourth graders from an elementary school in Pennsylvania designed some beautiful Valentine’s day puzzles for the entire company.  Each puzzle had an inspirational heart filled message thanking us for serving our country.  Most of the recruits of Foxtrot 186 were very touched by this gesture from a group of fourth graders that none of us knew had taken the time to write us and encourage us.  It definitely lifted out spirits knowing there were supporting us.  All of the recruits of Foxtrot replied to the fourth graders writing letters thanking them for their special message.  It was definitely a different and special way to end Valentine’s day.

 15Feb12

We have been preparing our bodies for weeks and today we conquered the dreaded physical fitness assessment.  Our limbs are sore from all the pushups, sit ups and mile and a half run but our minds are relieved that it is in the past.  One less thing to stress about shipmates! Tonight we will dream about the impact tomorrows E-resume class will have on our lives.  The E-resume is where we pick an area or region that we want to be stationed, no guarantees though, we are at the needs of the service.  In a few short weeks we will be somewhere new and exciting, Alaska, Puerto Rico, maybe even a polar icebreaker doing one of the greatest jobs in the world.

 16Feb12

After weeks of swabbing decks, folding hospital corners, and cleaning everything we finally had our first squad bay inspections courtesy of Chief Howe, our section commander.  We made 50 out of 55 and for week Ø4 recruits that is not half bad.  Next time we expect nothing less than a perfect score.!

 17Feb12

Today we took our midterm exams and were happy to hear that we all passed! We also enjoyed jogging around the parade field at night while singing cadence.  Our legs were sore afterwards but it was nice to hear everyone signing together. 

 18Feb12

Today we had a chance to learn some fighting techniques with pugil sticks.  Pugil stick bouts are to build teamwork and let the competitive nature in all of us come out.  We were paired up with our shipmates of equal size and given instruction on how to conduct the bouts.  The idea is not to hurt your shipmate but to be competitive and cheer each other on as a team.  As excited and nervous as some of us were we looked forward to the challenge.  Unfortunately after only a few bouts Chief Johnson, our instructor, called the bouts because the pugil pit was a little to damp and slippery.  He told us it wasn’t worth getting hurt over but reminded us that we would have a few more chances in the upcoming weeks to try again.  The rest of the day was spent fine tuning our marching skills and our manual of arms.  We have more inspection coming up in the next few weeks and we are working hard at getting better and better with these skills.  Here we come week Ø5.