Well, this is it for Kilo; the home stretch. Only a few more days to go with a legacy behind us. Each day this past week has held something important for us, it wasn't just Basic Training, but also in what we will be doing in the fleet. We got a basic exposure to First Aid and CPR which lead to scenarios in which small groups were tasked with assessing and treating various victims with almost every type of wound imaginable. It's always interesting to see who takes charge of those situations and how being a good leader AND a good follower is important which could lead to saving a life or not. That night we were practicing for the Close Order Drill Test scheduled for the following day. Comparable to the Manual of Arms test the previous week (which earned us On-base liberty), the Close Order Drill test earns Off-Base liberty. As you can imagine, we were pretty hard up for some genuine down time. Well our practice time the night before only lead us to becoming a puddle of sweat and our practice time being cut short. Most of us went to bed that night knowing that we were never going to pass the test and that we were going to be enjoying a beautiful day pushing the deck. The following day we got our game faces on, determined to not let what happened the night before bring us down. We all know how to march, it's just a matter of paying attention. We got dressed up in our dress uniforms (Bravo's), had a uniform inspection and then went straight into our Close Order Drill test. The pressure was there, but no one let it affect them. In fact, we were so locked on we had no choice, but to earn a perfect score!!! I believe the exact words were "your dress and cover is FLAWLESS. For the rest of the day, we all stood extra tall and knew that our score was a reflection on us and how we have started to come together as a team.

Needless to say, we earned the chance to go out on the town for a few hours and most of us spent it wisely. Simply being off the base and having the freedom to walk around and laugh with everyone was a great treat. The options seemed endless for some of us when we stepped off base, but for others they felt that they had nothing to do but hang out at Wal-Mart. Going out to eat was number one on almost everyone's list of things to do. A few necessities were picked up and a few non-necessitates, which mostly included candy. Some of the lavish things that we chose to do included eating lots of desserts, going to Starbucks, buying expensive hair gel or razors, and getting pedicures and massages. After talking with my shipmates, we all seem to agree that the best part of our Off base liberty was the recognition we all received from everyday civilians. A large percentage of us got our meals paid for, hands shook and we received more 'thank you's that we could count. I'm sure there are Hollywood actors that get recognized less than someone in uniform. It makes our job just that much easier to know that who we are trying to protect, defend and save are behind us in every way. After we returned from our outing our Lead Company Commander, AMT1 Quiggle, told us that the real reason for Off Base liberty is to see how we handle ourselves out in society especially when pulling into a foreign port. Petty officer Quiggle just wants us to make sure we know to represent the Coast Guard at all times. Thankfully, everyone had their heads on straight. The next, and final, hurdle was to dominate the Guardian Challenge which was just right around the corner.

There were rumors of what to expect regarding the Guardian Challenge, but in reality we had no idea of what to expect. We started our final week doing the Guardian Challenge at about 3am-4am, moving as fast as possible and then having to go about a mile to a mile and a half with rafts being held up over our heads. Once there, the real pain began: push-ups, sprinting in sand, army crawls, tug of wars, and, of course, more push-ups. Once the grueling handful of hours was coming to an end, AMT1 Quiggle sat us down and related to us real life stories which would help explain why his emphasis on moving fast and have great attention to detail is so prevalent.

Later that day, we lined up and got to raise our own company colors from the flagpole. With the most important tasks now under our belt, our company commanders got us new covers and placed the Coast Guard shield pin on the front so to tell the entire regiment that we are ready to move on to the next step: To becoming a truly great Guardian.

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