01NOV09

Today we were awoken by Chief Hampton our section commander.  We were all confused as to why Chief Hampton was here instead of one of our company commanders. We got ready for morning chow, still wondering why our section commander was escorting us around the regiment. It was not until we returned to the squad bay after chow, that some of us realized what was going on. First, our racks we inspected without  any warning. Unfortunately, most of us forgot the Coast Guard motto “Semper Paratus” meaning “Always Ready”, because our racks were not ready.

Chief Hampton decided to give us a second chance, you would say, but this time it was a mission almost impossible. He picked 02 shipmates and took them out of sight from the company to discuss the assignment. When the shipmates came back, they were only allowed to communicate to us with sign language; however, they could verbally communicate with each other. We were instructed that on the parade field was a piece of paper with our company name, and 12 questions on it that needed to be answered. While that was going on, we had to assign people to memorize and recite required knowledge, and others to get all of the squad bays inspection ready within a certain amount of time.

Through teamwork and strong leadership we accomplished the mission within the time objective. Chief Hampton seemed satisfied with our efforts and talked to us on a much more personal level. He gave our company advice and ways to stay motivated as a team.

02NOV09

Today is our Smack down! We will be fighting in a ring, like gladiators with Pugil Sticks. We picked our fighting partners 02 days ago under the supervision of our company commander OS1 Ricketts. But, today at the fight all of our company commanders were present to egg on the competition, while FS2 Chase set up the fight against each other. The idea behind this exercise is to boost our morale as a team, but it was hardly without blood! It was fun for all of us and we were able to get all of our angers and frustrations out that have been cooped up the last few weeks.

Next, we had 02 classes, one that taught us the meanings of various pennants, and the other was on radio communications. We were taught about the proper ways to communicate with various stations, and how to respond to “Mayday” or other distressed vessels. Later that evening, we rehearsed our Order of Arms and piece nomenclature for our upcoming examinations. Our days left here are running short, so every chance we get we are practicing.

Our lead company commander DC1 Wingate gave us back our company pennant, life ring  and the motivational items that were present in our squad bays, becasue  we need to continue moving forward and coming together as a company,

03NOV09

We got our dress and ceremonial uniforms today. By the way, we would like to let you all know that at this point we are down to 82 recruits. For one reason or the other 07 recruits had to either go back home or were moved back into other companies that graduate later. With these dress uniforms in our racks now, we have something to remind us to keep our eye on the prize by keeping our military bearing. None of us would want to miss wearing these uniforms on graduation day.

After chow, we marched down to seamanship class. In the Coast Guard, radio communication is very important. We had to learn the terminology- Prowords, which are used for both incoming and outgoing radio communications. Later in the day, we worked on our boon dockers (boots) to get them ready for our operational dress uniform inspection tomorrow by our Battalion Commander, Senior Chief Wong. This exercise we did not take lightly.

04NOV09

This morning we were woken up for a 01 mile run to be squeezed into the schedule. Next we got our operational dress uniforms squared away for today’s inspection. We marched to gym for our lifecycle class, and were surprised by our commanding officer Captain Thomas, who worked out with us. After the workout she came around to each one of us and gave us a high five and told us good job! It was very reassuring to hear that from her.

Inspection time! Senior Chief Wong came around and inspected each of our uniforms as we were lined up outside in front of James Hall. We passed! DC1 Wingate told us that he was very proud of us at that point. From there, we went to seamanship call for our mid-term. Once again, it was a success. The class average was over a 90% which put us closer to receiving our color decoration for graduation!

Immediately after the mid-term, we had a class on Personal Flotation Devices for survival in the water during emergencies. We learned about the different life –jackets and tested the limited time an individual has to put them on when an actual emergency occurs.

05NOV09

Our new duty units were made know to us today by our company commanders. Most of us are going to our districts of choice. We were able to visit the Learning Resource Center to look up contact information with our units. Later on in training we will have more time to research the locations. We also had a class on Operational Risk Management, and Personal Finances. This was a very significant class for us because there are a lot of us who are just starting out on our own with finances. This evening, we were able to call home for 05 minutes to tell our families about our new duty stations.

06NOV09

 Today was a busy day. Unfortunately, immediately after chow, we marched to the clinic to receive our week 05 shots. These consisted of the yellow fever shot, and smallpox vaccination. The smallpox vaccination is dreaded by every recruit on base. It is a series of 15 shots which implants a live virus that will most likely make us sick in a few days. It is very important for our health, and graduation requirements, so there is no getting out of it. Next we had a class on the Housing Opportunities in the Coast Guard, which made us get excited because we are about 02 weeks away from graduation and moving to our next duty stations.

 Next week we will be tested on Manual of Arms and Close Order Drill so we have been drilling those any chance we can get. This evening we were visited by our company mentor Lieutenant Rodman, from the Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT. She was so happy to get lots of good news about how far the company has come. We were informed on the paths we might take after we leave here, be it Officer Training School, Coast Guard Academy, or to our duty stations. She advised us and encouraged us to keep focused and motivated to the end. She will be coming again right before graduation. Mike-182 is very happy to have the people we do around us who are committed to make sure we succeed.

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