N-182 HISTORIAN LOG                                                 Week 02

Monday  19Oct09

Today was the start of week 02 and let me tell you this is nothing like we thought it would be.  Most of us, if not all of us had a different idea of what we were getting ourselves into. We all thought it would be much easier.  It is not easy.  Let me rephrase that.  It is very easy to do what they ask, but not easy to remember to do it all at the same time, all the time.  For instance today we worked on marching.  It was easy to do, but not all together.  We could not keep in step and in a straight uniformed line.  It sounds easy to do, but not easy when you have to do it all together.  We as a group could not stay in step with each other or keep our straight lines like instructed.  Our Company Commanders routinely let us know that we weren’t doing what they instructed and we weren’t working as a team.  They made us pay for every mistake. We all know it’s for a reason even though we don’t know the true reasons yet.  We feel confident that we will, hopefully sooner rather than later, pull together as a team and start earning the honor and privilege of wearing the uniform of the United States Coast Guard and proudly serving our country.

Tuesday, 2ØOCTØ9

Oh the things that happened today; Marching, eating, marching, sitting, standing, marching eating, standing at the position of attention.  The position of attention entails puting your feet at a 45 degree angle heels together thumbs on your trouser seams fingers together in their natural curl while straightening your back and keeping your eyes forward ignoring completely any distraction, in some cases including the sweat rolling down your face.  It was buckets of sweaty fun.  Company morale is starting to waiver.  We learned a new definition of teamwork today, as when one recruit fails, we all fail. Duty and discipline became the name of the game as one mistake led to another until late when the moral was down at its lowest point we were able to muster together as a complete unit.  Many of the recruits have been jokingly asking why they signed up for this; I suppose this is a normal phase in a recruit’s life. The trail is long and the journey will be difficult but we can already feel ourselves changing with the stormy weather here in New Jersey and we can't help but ask ourselves what more change will we undertake, and in the end will we be changed forever?

Goodnight, November-182

Wednesday  21OCTØ9

It always gets worse before it gets better and the night is darkest before the dawn. The company had a bad day today, whether it was a question of exhaustion or the lack of discipline we all face, we could not seem to hold things together.  In this business every second counts, and seconds mean lives.  As it stands now "the days are long but the weeks are short" the motto we learned our first week, and holds true in the second, as we have transformed so much already from "civilians" to what we are now (whatever that is, or you can call it!).  We are entering a new frontier, where we are setting our differences aside and learning that our purpose now is to be Guardians of a blue world.

Goodnight, November-182

Thursday,  22OCTØ9

Breakfast may have been a blur of food, however shortly after our trip to the gym we were delighted with more surprises than just the typical new training exercises. Today was a very unique honor for any company.  We were able to meet a Vice Admiral in the Coast Guard.  Some Coasties never get the privilege to stand in the presence let alone participate in an open dialogue with a high ranking officer in the Coast Guard.  It turns out that we are now going to be sponsored by him.  Also present was his right hand man which happened to be a Master Chief (highest ranking of the enlisted ranks) from Coast Guard Headquarters.  After that however things got a little more blurry as we were rushed from classes to more reprimand, training, and more haphazard moments during the untypical day.  One person forgot to turn left then one person forgot to turn right and then we had to pay it all back.  We proceeded to sweat out more than we ever thought possible in a single day let alone a week at times.  The former couch potatoes are now starting to become almost carved out of steel as we pay for every mistake as a company.  The missing component at this time is teamwork.  We need to come together or we will just fall apart at the seams and right now the threads aren't that strong.  We need to tighten this up and we need to do more; remembering everything we do is relatively easy.  Doing it all at the same time under all the stress is the very hard part.  On a lighter side however the chow (food) here is very good.  In a military setting we get plenty of time to eat but not much time to savor. While thinking about the weeks ahead we lose sight of the moment and things begin to crash down all around us.  We lost our military bearing late at night and paid for it dearly by having to move all items from our rack (bed) one at a time from our sea bags back to our racks like mice trying to move a mansion.  Lessons like this teach us how important it is to observe all aspects of guardian training even the ones that seem the most insignificant.  Still we try to remember the power of the second as it only takes a few to determine whether someone lives or dies.

Goodnight, November-182   

Friday,  23OCTØ9

This morning we woke up to our first successful fire drill and company muster, we were all astounded that 66 recruits were as organized as we turned out to be. Then afterwards we decided to take a brisk jog around the parade field, and by brisk jog I mean fast run.  Later came a little incentive training since we seemed to forget our discipline and military bearing.  Breakfast is later this week, almost two hours after we wake up.  The food here always surprises us, especially after some nice morning cardio. You can pile your plate a half foot high and be surprised when 1Ø minutes later your stomach is still rumbling.  We started our watch training today, and are preparing to start our own self reliant security.  This for some recruits is a huge step into adulthood and others wish we had more than our wits and a lead filled deactivated M-1 Grand (Piece/Rifle) to defend ourselves in case of the unforeseen.  Our first full repetition weight session was today, leaving tired and  aching.  All for the best, what better life is there than "three hots and a cot" and leaving each week more capable than the last.

Goodnight, NOVEMBER-182

Saturday,  24OCT09

Today did not go to well for our company.  Good old NOVEMBER-182.  We did it again (by thatt, I mean upset our company commanders).  Well what can we say for ourselves except tomorrow we should be better.  The company is really down in the dumps these days as the loneliness and isolation sets in.  We all miss family now far away from us and even worse is the reminders of our life outside the military and some of the amenities we may have taken advantage of:  Sleep, work, Playstation,  XBOX or Wii what have you, hugs from friends, talking to mom and dad, girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands, and wives.  Even so that would be the problem we face.  Holding on to life as we knew it or letting go of who we were to become who we are going to become, Guardians.  Well, some of us will with this company and others won't be so lucky.  Then again, isn't this all a test?   Like a long job interview that you get paid for.  The company is losing sight of why we are all here and many still aren't taking it seriously.   The company is just taking a little time for the mind and thought process to catch up.  Whether it is good or bad, hard or easy we are becoming a family; a family that will one day join an even bigger family and do some of the greatest good that could ever be possible.  Service to our country but even more than that is the service to the men and women of our great nation.  Just service.  Service is the means by which all people should live their lives.  Service to others and then service to yourself.

Goodnight, NOVEMBER-182

Sunday, 25Oct09

Sunday is 'divine hours' day; these hours are our own personal free time, the only time we happen to get all week. We spent most of the time ironing for the first time in our lives; some recruits however spent their time in Sunday's religious services.  The rest of the time was spent cleaning off and polishing our boon-dockers (boots) or situating our racks for inspection, after all we represent America’s maritime guardians.  Today we were inspected by our Lead Company Commander and learned about personal values, and comparing our own, to those of the coast guard.  We decided to try to impress him today by being not only on time, but early for all time objectives, however sometimes things don't go as planned, and we showed we don't quite have the 'right stuff' just yet.  The military discipline desired is a little ways away, but tomorrow is a new week to try to get ourselves fit for duty.  Bring on week 03. The recruits in the squad bay wanted to send a special greeting of love and longing to our loved ones as this week we have started to have time to think of them.  Maybe not a lot of time, but more than in the past. It's hard not to count down the weeks before we get to see all of you again. Some people are counting harder than others.

Goodnight, NOVEMBER-182

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