01NOV09

"Juliet-182 Final Act"

It's surreal. We're less than 05 days away from graduation. It's almost like back in high school before graduation. No one knows what to expect or what's going to happen, but everyone's excited and wants to be a part of it. Our company commanders have assured us that as long as we don't do anything "stupid," this week will be smooth and easy. Hmm...Smooth and easy, that sounds familiar. So Juliet was the Langston Hughes poem after all. How long does a memory last? Most would say it depends on what type of memory it is. It could be a good memory, a bad memory, or something that was only apparent in the moment. It goes without saying that recruit training is a memory that will forever be engraved in the minds of each and every one of us. Not because of the location. Not because of the people. Because of the purpose. We all came here for a particular reason. Whether or not that reason remained the driving force within us throughout the duration of bootcamp is irrelevant. I know that we will all leave here with a sense of pride. We recognize that all of this had a purpose. It doesn’t negate the fact that we all acquired a sense of destiny as if we didn't volunteer for this. As if the decision was never in our hands and the decision was made for us a long time ago. A call to serve our country, and I'm pretty sure all of us have indeed found solace in our servitude. There's no way any of us will ever take for granted the experiences we've encountered here at Cape May. All of them have been priceless and unique in their own right, but none more important than the camaraderie that we've experienced in these short 08 weeks. So, if Friday, the morning of 06NOV2009, is indeed the last time we will all be in the same place at the same time than let us make this experience a memorable one. A good memory. For there is no room for regret on the path to success. Each and every lesson, whether try and fail or try and succeed, ends up being a valuable lesson learned and was just as important as the next. Let us be remembered as a great company. Not great because we did things better than other companies, but because we were the best that we could be and we stuck together throughout this grueling process. All the tasks conquered and all the problems solved. Our blood, our sweat, and our tears will paint the portrait of a beautiful woman with long flowing hair, pearly white teeth, and a grin on her face. She'll be wearing a t-shirt that says "Juliet-182." Someone will one day walk up to this portrait and see the shot glass and the empty gin bottle in front of her and say "Chief Ruchs, Chief Ruchs, where ya been?"

"Alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much." That is Juliet-182's motto. Semper Paratus. That is the Coast Guard motto. We are the United States Coast Guard. We are Juliet-182.

Farewell, Juliet-182.

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25OCT09

"Juliet-182 Act V" or "Rough Seas"

Imagine being in a canoe 16 feet long, 4.5 feet wide, with 73 strangers in the dead center of the ocean as if you were dropped there from the heavens. Each person given an oar and a map, and told "now make it home." If you can imagine that, than welcome to recruit training. Now, we were rowing along just fine, shore line in sight, until out of nowhere, a cruise liner tagged "USS  Week 06" came by and destroyed our course heading. Now, when we started this, everyone wanted to stay dry. Now we're soaking wet. So, we've got to pull ourselves together, get back in our rickety old boat, and get back on the path to dry land. We know that we can do it, we just have to acquiesce the task at hand. Not surreptitiously, but abruptly and with "snap." We have to realize our potential, like...now! Because right now, that's all it's turned out to be. Potential. Ever heard this melody? "You've got to live a little. You've got to die a little, break down and cry a little. That's the story of, that's the glory of love." Now, have we died a little? That's for sure. Have we cried a little? Probably more than a little. Yesterday, we more than lived a little. So, now we personify a novel, sweating enthusiasm and tasking exuberance. But our exuberance faltered because we were drinking from the fountain of liberty too early. Now that our bellies are full, our minds content, and our hearts at peace with just being here, we know we can make it. We just have to execute our plan of action. Everyone should be jealous. For example, if Juliet was a sports team, Chief Ruchser, our "coach," would be like Phil Jackson or Bill Belecheck, the absolute best in our humble opinion. So, does that mean the lower echelon coaches of the world walk around all the time with a chip on their shoulders? Maybe. Everyone wants to beat the best, but we are unbreakable. Through all the technical difficulties and the hard times, we have maintained our respect for each other. A tight knit group, close we've become and though we will disband soon, close we will remain. If you give a mouse a cookie he is going to want a glass of milk, and if you give Juliet liberty, probably gonna want a week off. Knowing that's not possible, we are going to do everything we can to ensure that we get off base liberty. We have plenty of practicals and finalizations to recruit training in this upcoming week 07 that will prove to be challenging. Knowing this company, difficult usually takes a day impossible takes a week, and we will succeed.

We are Juliet-182.

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10OCT09

"Juliet-182 Act III" or "Ep, Ep, Eppright"

What measures a man? Is it standing tall, broad shoulders, being fearless at all times? Some say that pride is the sign of a foolish man. Well, Chief Boatswain's Mate Eppright has a lot of personal pride, but "foolish" is nowhere close to a word I would use to describe him. Here are a few words I would use; wise, leader, professional, and most of all, honorable. Chief Eppright, in our eyes, personifies the Coast Guard core values, Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty, as all of our company commanders do.     

We're half way done. We have successfully completed week 04. As we take a step back and assess our progress, is the glass half full or half empty? Looking towards the future, does our company have an optimistically beating heart or a pessimistically dying soul? We have been toying with our pacemaker these past few days and if we continue on this path we will push the electromagnetic pulse button (AKA Chief Ruchser) in too far and it will undoubtedly kill us. We don't look for pain, we search for gain. Sometimes the easiest lessons are learned using the toughest methods. The Marines say "Pain is only weakness leaving the body." If that's the case, Juliet-182 only continues to get stronger. Pain is a great equalizer, and probably just what we needed to get back to form. The standards held by all 04 of our company commanders have been distinguishingly outlined in permanent red ink. Furthermore, we have all been forewarned, as we should not have to look to our Company Commanders for motivation. If anything, we should motivate them each and every day. They should leave the 02 deck of James Hall every night thinking "I love my job. I can't wait to come back in tomorrow." I'm sure that's not the case. Hopefully, they know we are trying. Ultimately, it will be our perseverance that propels us in our pursuit to graduation. As the rollercoaster peaks, we are prepared to start the down slope of recruit training. This is what the first half has told us, we will be a big deal. We will march like a group of gorillas searching for food. Nothing will stop us. From here on out, we have to get back to striving for excellence. We can march across the finish line as a company, or we can each be individually afforded our moment of glory. Although, the only way to ensure that we all finish is to go together, SR Webb marching the unit, SR Cook calling the cadence, and Juliet-182 strutting across the field with reckless abandon.

Goodnight, Juliet-182

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27Sep09

“Juliet-182 Act 1”

To be or not to be. Almost amusingly, it makes you think cliché or not cliché. It’s crazy; we’re on the verge of our third week of training, yet it seems as if we have been here for months. To summarize week 02 of training could quite possibly take hours. So, to make a long story short, we will give you the abridged version. Do all sagas end happily? Do all of them have some tragic overtone? Would Juliet 182’s story be a Disney fairy tale, a Shakespearian tragedy, or will it be smooth and easy like a Langston Hughes poem? Only time will tell, but I know this week has definitely begun to define us as Guardians. At the beginning of the week we were still trying to account for so many unknowns. Many of our questions going unanswered due to fear propelled by reticence. Our personal time very much truncated due to our busy schedules. Lack of sleep fueled lack of focus. Lack of focus fueled lack of performance, and if we fail to perform, in the wise words of food service specialist first class Harmon, “stand by.” So, we try to avoid just standing by. Our performance has drastically changed in these long 05 days. We learned to maintain our discipline in the galley and our marching is coming along nicely. Now, don’t get me wrong, we aren’t the “marquee” marching company on the regiment. On the other hand, we’ve learned to live our lives by the alliteration “proper preparation promotes prime performance.”

No one is perfect, so we are not trying to be perfect. We are simply striving towards excellence. How fitting, that this particular company would be called Juliet, a woman historically known by many as being strong, independent  and willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve what the heart and mind desire. We will continue to have pride. We will find solace in our service. We still don’t know who we are, but we know who we want to be. We will find definition in our dedication. The sooner we learn that the world doesn’t revolve around us, the sooner we will become guardians. Guardianship means finding salvation in selflessness and throwing away civilian colloquialisms to maintain our military bearing. They say God created the earth in six days and he rested on the seventh. Well, if that’s the case, today was truly divine.

We follow the path that was set before us by past Guardians like Douglas A. Munro who made the greatest of sacrifices to save the lives of others. We will work hard so you may live free and in our efforts to maintain that fact, we are willing to die hard. Semper Paratus. For you, we are always ready. 

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