WEEK 06 MIKE-182

09NOV.09

Today begins a significant week in our training. Every recruit in MIKE 182 now knows where he or she is going to be stationed after graduation from CAPE MAY. This week offers us another chance of earning our company colors, which we failed to earn last weekend.

On Tuesday, we have a test on Manual of Arms by our own Chief Hampton. If the company impresses him, then the company’s image on the regiment will definitely improve and MIKE 182’s identity will be finally known, even by the blind.

In preparation for this test, we had some drills with our OS1 Ricketts in the morning and with BM2 Jansen in the evening to be on the safer side.

Also we had our firefighting class earlier today, which is also very important not only to our graduation but also to our job as Guardians. We learned about the different types of firefighting equipments and  the safest and fastest way to put on the gear. Another interesting class dealt with personal wellness and we basically filled out some information about our wellness.

10NOV.09

We have a lot of good news to share today with everybody on the regiment, at home and in the whole wide world. We want to make it known today that MIKE -182 got her colors. It was not easy but we made ir happen through our hard work and determination.

We started the day with firefighting at the GOFF HALL. After that, our firefighting instructors led by BM3 Stolz, informed us that MIKE-182 is the best first-timer-firefighting trainee company ever to display the type of expertise and master skills we displayed today, and that with just one time-instruction. To us, this is a great honor that an outstanding performance tracker has gone a long way to tell about.

As from today, whenever MIKE-182 marches by everybody on the Regiment would recognize us as the best firefighters ever to set their feet on TRACEN CAPE MAY.

From the firefighting, we marched down to the Squad bay with our OS1 Ricketts to get ready for Chief Hampton. A very critical test of our team work and as it may be, MIKE182 trashed  it scoring  09 out of 10, another record that only few companies have managed to set before us.

With that, MIKE-182 earned her long-awaited colors and 02 extra pennants to it. CRAZY!!

Now we are proudly and loudly singing around the regiment, flying our colors high, counting our days too on the regiment.

Now after all these glories of the day, we marched down to the swimming pool for water circuit exercise. Although we do not really understand what it was about, we had some fun doing it with our section Commander, Chief Hampton.

After that, we had a chow and went down to the Building 252 to meet our Yeoman, Petty Officer Brown concerning our travel arrangements to our new units. Now we know how much the federal government is also spending on each one of us, when we leave here in 02 weeks to our units.

Today teamwork and commitment we learned from our DC1 Wingate, OS1 Ricketts and BM2 Jansen, have meshed and we know they are proud of us.

11NOV.09

Today is a holiday honoring the Veterans? But for us we know only training and training on the TRACEN, CAPE MAY. The ESP broadcasted and streamed live from our regiment to the entire nation. It is such an opportunity to be part of this great show.

While the show was going on, we had to go do more firefighting and have one class called the LEGACY by our lead company commander DC1 Wingate. Very outstanding and extra ordinary guardians went the extra mile as a result of their commitment and devotion to duty, were the key players in this class: Douglas Munro, Petty Officer GOFF and Bruckenthal, to mention but a few, were ordinary people with extra ordinary legacies and acts of heroism they left behind. Even generations to come will never forget them.

Towards the evening, members of the boarding team almost sank our company’s ship by not convincing Senior Chief Martinowski that they have their required knowledge. As a result, we were ordered to the quarter deck to rescue the company, but after 03 minutes, Senior Chief Martinowski was completely convinced that MIKE-182 is not a bunch of noise-makers but very determined and squared away- ready-to-go company. Our evening routine continued until our DC1 Wingate came in to pass some information to the entire company. Our countdown is running and this time we are not opening any door for mistakes.

12NOV.-09

We are gradually coming to the end of our time here on the regiment as recruits. A lot of things indicate that MIKE 182 is through with the most part of the training.

Today we got our military ID cards, a powerful authority on its own and having in the hand gives us the feeling only we can explain. We are members of the world’s greatest military.

We also contacted our new units and sponsors to clear some questions and doubts that lingered on our minds till today. We got our travel arrangements made; tickets are reserved to enable smooth transition to our new duty stations.

We were also informed how much of our household goods, we are allowed to move with and to what limit the US government can pay to get them down to our new units. We are so honored and impressed with how we are being taken care of by the government.

Tomorrow there is a graduation ceremony on the regiment for KILO 182 and we are also preparing to help make their ceremony a success. We have to help visitors find their way to the parking lot and the halls. Even though the weather is not so clement, and a hurricane is lurking around the corner, we are not moved at all.

13NOV.09

We are getting busier and busier as our D-Day draws nearer. Starting off the day with watch standing for the graduating class: KILO 182 and still having to take care of our travels and contacting our sponsors and units, were enough to make an already rainy-hurricane terrified day, busy.

We felt for our Shipmates, KILO182 today. We think it was a very bad weather for their graduation and their visitors too. But life goes on!! TRACEN CAPE MAY is very ready for any occasion, come sun, come rain. Through the rain, we marched down to chow with our DC1 Wingate and BM2 Jansen. After that, we went to the graduation hall to clear the ground of musical instruments, seats and floor cover. We went to CYBEX later with Petty Officer Ricketts work out. Our dress uniforms inspected by our OS1 Ricketts. She felt so fulfilled to see us look good in those BRAVO Jackets. We cannot wait to wear them again.

14NOV.09

Today is a wonderful day to us. We have our on-base liberty to go on some operational tours of the US Coast Guard cutter Vigorous and a little tour of the regiment, marching and singing our cadence-songs with our BM2 Jansen and Petty Officer Morgan, our Training duty officer.

Before we set out for our liberty, our BM2 Jansen gave some briefing on what we could and could not do. Very important! Here following orders is very crucial. Not following them is very critical. We know the results.

While on liberty, we are able to go to the exchange and buy everything that is not forbidden for recruits, either eat or take them to the movie which shows later today. To some of us, it was an opportunity to eat some candies and snacks; we had not had the chance to eat since we got here. This is Liberty! We have the chance to call home and talk to some people we have not had the opportunity to talk to for almost 02 months now. It is very relieving to us and to our family members to know that we are doing fine and also for to know they are doing fine too. Towards the end of the day, we have a movie at the IDA LEWIS HALL. The movie is called THE PROPOSAL.

Despite the briefing we had, some of us still turned in a little bit late and our DC1 Wingate was not so happy about that. We are afraid too that if we don’t take care, we may endanger our chances of having our off-base liberty next weekend. God forbid if that happens!

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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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WEEK 04 MIKE 182.

This week started with some good news from our Company Commander  OS1 Ricketts. She told us that our lead company commander DC1 Wingate has given us 30 minutes of personal time to finish up anything that we are unable to accomplish during the day and wind down a little bit before taps.Good news that got us so excited that we almost expressed ourselves with words, but here Our company commanders already told us that it is unmilitary to say “thank you” in recruit training.

We were divided into 02 groups: Port and Starboard in order to get a lot of company business done, remember we have but a short time to get things done. Our company commanders are multi-tasking and they want to make us work like them too, so a lot of things have to be accomplished no matter what short time we have.

25 OCT 09

We started up the day so happily that some kind of liberty has been given to us. And so we marched down to the Marksmanship branch for our shooting indoctrination. There we learned how to properly handle a firearm  and shoot safely without violating the ranges’ safety rules. We learned that “the gun is as safe as you handle it”. After that class, we marched back to our Squad bay where we met our Lead company commander DC1 Wingate waiting for us. He had not seen us in almost 24 hours, and seeing him too brought us some motivation.  On hearing from him that he has missed us, we felt some chills, that you would feel when your father tells you something like that. To most of us, our lead company commander is like our father who is not only a mentor but a motivator; we are striving now to be like him one day. He told us that hard work doesn’t kill, Laziness does, he said. He does not want to hear that we parade around the Regiment dragging our feet.  Anyway, he took us to Chow and back to the Squad bay  for us to have some personal time because tomorrow is our shooting assessment. This exercise is an important part of our training here, not only for duty in the Coast Guard but also towards getting to our graduation.

26 OCT 09

Today is our shooting range test. We are having some mixed feelings of Excitement and Panic!

Excitement because if majority of us pass as marksmen and or sharpshooters, the whole company gets the range pennant for our guidon. And if anyone qualifies as an expert, he or she gets a medal. Very Exciting!

Panic because most of us have not shot  nor handled a gun before and getting comfortable with those “pieces” takes some time, unfortunately we did not have eternity to get used to shooting. But the good news is that at the end, most of us came out as marksmen, a handful was sharpshooters, some got some performance trackers for unsafe handling of the gun. That again sent some mixed feelings to our company commanders. We passed the test but we shot unsafe. Here we rise and fall as a company. Individualism was left at home before our trip to CAPE MAY. DC1 Wingate took us down to the photographer to get our official military pictures and portraits taken. For most of us this is another  moral boosting event that we are excited and cannot wait to show our families and friends our pride in our country,  duty, uniform and training. We think they are going to be very proud of us too. Our company commanders;  DC1 Wingate, OS1 Ricketts and BM2 Jansen are working tirelessly to get us squared away and fit for this job.

27 OCT 09

Today a lot of things happened. The second group- Starboard went out for their shooting exercise, while Port remained in the classroom for a lecture on Commitment by our company commander OS1 Ricketts. In this class, we learned how to be committed and ready to persevere with purpose. Some very outstanding and gallant Coast Guard members who gave their lives serving America and also showed us some examples of commitment and dedication to fatherland and humanity.

Another important class with our BM2 Jansen, dealt with Colors. Colors mean a lot to America and the US military. Some people think it just as a flag but we in the military see it as our Pride, our Patriotism and a call to honor United States and men and women of uniform who died serving America.

Also, we got our military or work emails set up, a step towards permanent parties of the US coast guard.

While we were away, our section commander Chief Hampton inspected our Squad bays and was not satisfied with them. A clear indication that we still need to work as a team. Petty Officer Wingate was disappointed with us. Now we have to work harder, show him more motivation to earn it back.

28 OCT 09

We took our physical fitness assessment today and it turned out pretty well, only about 07 persons have to go for some remedial to make up. After that, we had some classes that basically dealt with our assignments to our new units after training in a couple of weeks from today.

Mike 182 can hardly believe how far we have come. It feels like yesterday we arrived here. Now our assessments and all these activities are indications of the hard work of our company commanders. Tomorrow, we pick our new duty units and that will definitely bring the pictures the training has been trying to paint to us from day one.

 29 OCT 09

Today has been a very busy day for us. We started off the day with Remedial for those who had to swim and make up for physical fitness assessment. After chow, we marched to seamanship that we call HELM COMMAND. Basically, it is all about vessel navigation, command and control. We had some hands-on exercise to really feel it. It was very interesting but most importantly, we were assessed too and most of us had master command and control. From there we went to Building 251 for our Assignment class. We picked our new units today and submitted them to our Yeoman who is in charge of that. By next week, we would be able to know and contact our new units.

30 OCT 09

Today, we had indoctrination to pugil sticks fight and rope climbing. By Monday, we would be dealing with each other in the Pugil Stick ring. FS2 Chase is ready to set us up shipmates against shipmates.

We are looking forward to that fight.

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Week 03

The indoctrination week is just over and Mike-182 is beginning this week with Seamanship. As maritime guardians, we should be able know our vessels (boats and cutters), that we use in day to day operations. A lot of us have already begun to imagine what it would be like to be on duty on board these vessels.

19 Oct 09.

We had a class today that dealt with Bills the US government set up to support the education of those that serve in the armed forces. The class was taught by one Petty Officer Pascucci, by now one of our favorite instructors here at TRACEN Cape May. We learned how both the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post-9/11 GI Bill can be used to help with the monetary burden of educating ourselves and our families. Later in the day we were taught a class on sexual harassment and other such sexual crimes that can affect us whilst serving in the armed forces; this class was taught by Senior Chief Snyder (also a great instructor, but a sense of humor only goes so far as to keep 86 recruits awake throughout class.)

Although the classes don’t seem to have much bearing on drawing us closer to the goal of becoming guardians, outside of the classroom our Company Commanders drive us further than many of us thought we were capable of going. We are learning such things as Manual of Arms, Close Order Drill, and other such skills that serve to teach us proper military bearing and discipline so we can conquer any task put before us as we serve in the Coast Guard.

21 Oct 09

After our Survival Float class of the day before our classroom style classes seemed as though they might be rather mundane, but of course as always things are not as they seem. Our day began with a class taught by one of our Company Commanders OS1 Ricketts. The class was a building block on the Coast guard history class of the day previous taught by BM2 Jansen, another one of our Company Commanders. The class taught us just how important our roles in the engagements of the U.S. Coast Guard are. These missions became more clear after our history class of the day before, allowing us to realize just how important to the success of our nation the Coast Guard has been. Later in the day we took a course on Advancements within our service. Petty Officer Garcia taught us just what it takes to learn the jobs we wish to do, as well as earn more responsibility within our service. Our academic day ended with a class on Leave & Liberty, on that all of us paid keen attention to. Petty Officer Jansen clearly outlined for us just how often we get to take a vacation, and just how to earn the time off. We finally realized just how amazing serving our country can be (who else on the planet gets 30 days paid vacation a year?).

22 Oct 09

Today began what most of us view as our most practical training. Our first Seamanship class taught us the names and uses of the many pieces of hardware bolted and wielded to the decks of any boat or ship. We were introduced to our future responsibilities as deckhands by this class and our skilled instructor Petty Officer Stoltz.  This class was very important as a motivator, a beacon to point us towards the clear path to our collective goal.

23/24 Oct 09

Seamanship continues for us. Petty Officer Stoltz has proven to be an excellent teacher, as well an excellent motivator. He teaches us not only the importance of knowing the parts and types of the vessels used by our branch of service, but also how important it is to trust in your shipmates and work as a team. We began with a class on Vessels and Aircraft that taught us the many different ships, boats, and aircraft that service the U.S. Coast Guard. Knowing just what different vessels and aircraft we may have the opportunity to serve on, or to work around and with was and is an empowering thing.  Marlinspike class was next on the billet. The many types of line, their uses, and the basic knots uses by seamen were learned by all of MIKE-182. Good humor was shared by all as we were allowed to help one another master the knots taught by Petty Officer Stoltz. These classes also afford us the ooportunity to earn banners to add to our colors by working as a team to succeed overall, something for us to strive towards as a sense of pride for our company sets in. BM3 Stoltz also allowed for us to speak to and motivate one another. We learned just how important being a team is to the success to every one of us, and by the end of the day we were like “a whole new company”. This great transformation allowed us to earn an “Evening Routine” a chance every night to finish what tasks we were unable to complete, and take a second for personal reflection. Our classes also continued as we learned the basics of helm controls, watch/ lookout procedures and duties, and of course more practice on our knots, all in all a wonderful cap to our week. Finally we are MIKE-182, not a riff-raff group of recruits “playing Coast Guard”.

Good night and best wishes.

-historians of MIKE-182

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Company MIKE-182

Week 01

The USO office at the Philadelphia airport received 89 young adults from all corners of the United States, aspiring to be the future Guardians. These 89 people left on a bus, not knowing what to expect, not even thinking they would become the one and only training company MIKE-182 in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard. As the bus pulled up 03 Petty Officers were already waiting to remove them from the bus, giving them 03 seconds to get off the bus, not even willing to let them waste 05 seconds. Everything here is fast and accurate no time to play around because it is here that the premier maritime guardians, talking about the world’s best and greatest Coast Guard, have their home. Anything short of the best is not tolerated, because lives are saved every second and the Coast Guard cannot afford to lose any of those lives.

Our first few days here were for medical and administrative processing, where the 89 recruits were given a bunch of shots in both arms, dental exams were given, and eye glasses were prescribed. We also received our uniforms, physical fitness clothes, and academic supplies. The opportunity to wear the blue Operational Dress Uniforms became the biggest source of motivation for us. It wasn’t until 09OCT09 that the one and only MIKE-182 was formed and history was made. Now we, 89 former civilians began our transformation into military personnel. The question still remained who would be transforming us into members of the world’s best and strongest armed forces. When the ceremony finally came, our Executive officer and Training Officer introduced to us the best company commanders in TRACEN Cape May. It was then that work truly began for us. Stand straight and look ahead!

Week 02

MIKE-182 is learning fast, not just because many of us are college graduates or former professionals, but because our company commanders have gone to work. We are responding, although sometimes reluctantly because we do not always know if our responses will be correct or not, and not responding simply makes matters worse. Drills, academics, and physical activities have begun because MIKE-182 has only 08 weeks to complete our transformation. There are issues that need to be worked on: more discipline, meeting time objectives, responding instantly to orders from our company commanders, and maintaining our military bearing. To us this can be stressful and our company commanders understand that we are all humans so that’s why we had to have a stress management and suicide awareness class with the chaplain. What a topic! At least at the end we had a chance to de-stress all of the stress we accumulated over the course of the day. If all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, then all play and no work makes a Jack even more hopeless. Does that make sense? Ok. We are talking about class work. That takes us to our first swimming test, which a few of us failed, an indication that more work needs to be done. We are failing to work together as a company and more complaints and wrong attitudes keep popping up this of course, has disciplinary actions: we call this I.T. (Incentive Training). Until we work as a company and show our Company Commanders some motivation we will continue to have even more.

Another important class dealt with communication and human awareness, it was necessary for us to know how to communicate effectively. MIKE-182 is now a week old and no longer the newest recruits on the regiment.

14 OCT.09 A day of pieces..

We call this day a day of pieces because everybody got a piece of something: one thing, the same or another.

1.0 Mile run, 45 mins Cybex till our clothes were soaked with sweat, we learned Rates, Ranks and Grades. We got our “pieces” from the marksmanship branch. That made us have some feelings that only we will ever know. The Chaplain brought some pieces of headline news and of course a piece of prayer, a piece of advice to help us be more focused and in a better spiritual shape. Of course some piece incentive training and military bearings.

A lot of us got letters from home and became home sick but with encouragements from our company commanders, we are marching on, before “our ship stops and makes no headway in the water”

15. OCT 09.

In your mind, time is money, but in the coast guard, time is lives saved, any second wasted is a life lost or a life failed to save. Today, time objective issues put a lot of performance trackers on line. Oh Boy! Mike 182 has to be more careful, louder, so we don’t disappoint our company commanders and our section commander, who are giving us all they have. Although they are already feeling disappointed, we are determined to work harder and improve on those areas…with “shipmates! Move with the sense of urgency” and sweating thereafter, we just have to “Go fix it! And not be sorry for ourselves!

17. OCT. 09.

We met our mentor, a Lieutenant from the Coast guard Academy. She answered every lingering question and addressed every misinformation we had in the past. Our mentor was so impressed of our diversity, aspirations to be officers in the Coast Guard and our enthusiasm. It was cool to get to know her too.

After chow, we had a class from our company commander: military courtesies and drills, we also learned operational uniform maintenance. Although we learn fast, we still need to apply everything we learn, if we must graduate on the estimated day.

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