cadet blogs

I’m not writing this for you. I feel as though I should start off with that. This entry, this piece of rhetoric it’s not for you. It’s not for prospective cadets, it’s not aimed at cadets or alumni, it’s designed for only one person: me. Tonight is my last night in Chase Hall, the building that I have begrudgingly called home for the last four years. It’s a bittersweet moment. I’ve wanted nothing more than to graduate from this place since the moment I stepped foot in it 1,423 days ago. Though there have been times along the way where I thought I wouldn’t make it…. Where KNEW I wouldn’t make it, and yet here I am: spending my last night in Chase Hall.

If you had asked me at any point from my first day of Swab Summer, up until last week what emotions I would have predicted would be coursing through my veins right now, I would have given you any number of answers: elation, relief, joy, wonderment, maybe even bewilderment, but the only thing I feel right now is sadness. There comes points in every life where we have to move on, but that doesn’t stop us from trying to cling to what we have. Maybe I’m alone tonight in my grief, but something tells me that the rest of my classmates feel it too. Tonight is the last night we will ever be under the same roof. Tonight is the last night we will ever be able to just walk to someone’s room and knock on the door expecting an answer. Tonight is the last time we will live just down the hall from 200 of our closest friends.

So where does that leave me? Right here, right now, writing this last journal entry, trying to sum up all the emotion running rampant in me. The Academy experience has not always been enjoyable, but the people I have met along the way have made it worth every second. Every moment that seemed completely unbearable was overcome with the help of a friend, a classmate, a mentor. I wish now more than anything that I could start the whole grueling experience over again, because now that I’m leaving it, I have a better appreciation for it all. I have twelve hours left of cadethood, twelve hours left of the greatest four years of my life… and I’m going to spend them with my friends.

God bless each and every one of them: my classmates, my friends, my brothers and sisters. I love you all, each and every one of you. We survived, and we survived together, and it has been the greatest adventure that I could have ever asked for.

Thank you.

More about Stephen.

So as I sit here procrastinating yet more work that I should be doing (New Procrastination level unlocked: level Firstie), it occurs to me that I've been negligent in my duties of writing for the cadet blog program, which helps me stay tied in with the incoming class.

As you begin your journey, I just want to pass on some advice to you that I've picked up over the years, some things that have stuck out to me: Some I've learned the hardway, some I've picked up watching friends and some are just platitudes. In honor of the greatest class to ever grace the Academy, I give you 13 lessons I've learned as a member of '13.

1) Never alienate a friend, especially when you will live with them for four years.

2) Nothing funny ever happens during Swab Summer. Your stories are not hilarious. Your memories are fooling you and if you ever tell that story to someone who is not an Academy kid they will stare at you and tell you you're crazy.

3) There is always time later to do your work, but there isn't always time later to hang out with a friend. So prioritize, but do it right.

4) There is NEVER a good reason to lie. To anyone. For any reason.

5) Cleaning for a formal room and wing is always better when you and your roommate blast the music and start late and end early... in the morning.

6) 3/c Summer on Eagle is what you make of it. If you really don't like it that much, block it out and just remember the port calls.

7) Every person deserves a chance to redefine themselves after 4/c year. This place does weird things to you that first year, so let people start new 3/c summer. Forget those grudges you held fourth class year, some of those people you hated with a passion, just might end up being your best friends.

8) Merchant Marine Academy is the worst school in America. Forget what Forbes says.

9) You will never stop being protective of "your" swabs.

10) You will never stop respecting and admiring your cadre... even when you get to be on a first name basis with them.

11) Cadating isn't always as bad as they say.

12) The longer you refuse to admit this place is your home, the longer you will be unhappy. That place where you grew up is just that, the place where you grew up. Home is where the Coast Guard sends you.

13) The mundane routine will soon fade, so that when you look back, all you remember are the highlights. The highest highs and the lowest lows... so make them count. Have an experience worth remembering. Make your memories now, so that 50 years down the road you can look back with fondness.

As you all get ready to embark on your journey I look back to my last month of my senior year and I think of where I've come since then. It's amazing the changes that can come along in four short years. Here I sit on the cusp of graduation. 14 weeks left in a 200 week training program and I almost envy you.

Almost... because for all the great memories and friends, one Academy experience in a lifetime is more than enough for anyone. Enjoy it. Remember it. Make it count.

More about Steven.

The Academy consists of a lot of clichés and simple statements. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” “Adversity makes you grow closer.” “It’s the people who make the difference.” “This place changes you.” None of them are the full picture of my experience here, but they do give a silhouette of this institution. In a week I will know where I will be stationed for the next two years. It’s really exciting, and in many ways fulfilling to see the finish line after almost four years here. I am holding on to the moments I have left with all my friends and sports, but I am also ready to try new things.

In many ways I wonder where the years went, how they flew by so fast, and then I look back and 4/c year seems a long time ago. High school? When was that? In a few years I can hear myself saying that about the Academy. Looking back, I can’t say that there aren’t regrets, but I’m so proud of all that has happened and so excited for the opportunity to use what I have learned in the fleet. As I finish my last season on the crew team, my last semester of college, my last time of living with so many friends, I hope I enjoy them as much as I can before they are gone.

Keep your fingers crossed as I find out where I’m stationed!

More about Jess.

Hello, everyone, I’m sorry that I haven’t written anything for so long. Last semester I was a Company Commander and Women’s Cross Country Captain, so things were busy, to say the least, and I never got a chance to write about my incredible 1/c summer training. I spent twenty-five days in Alaska with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and six weeks in San Francisco with CGC Dorado and CGC Tern – both amazing experiences.

Four classmates and I were lucky enough to be selected for the joint Coast Guard and Naval Academy NOLS sea-kayaking program. We met up with six midshipmen from the Naval Academy and our three NOLS instructors in Palmer, Alaska, and travelled to Whittier to begin our expedition in the Prince William Sound. NOLS was the single most challenging and rewarding month of my life. We kayaked nearly every day, learned self and assisted-rescues in the frigid Alaskan water, practiced wilderness first aid, and gained real-world leadership and decision-making skills. Each day we switched our leader of the day (LOD), so everyone got at least one chance to be in charge. We paddled along pristine rocky coasts on days so calm the water looked like glass. We fought through 25 knot winds and three foot choppy seas in a dead sprint to reach shelter on a day that we were exposed in the open Gulf of Alaska. We dodged icebergs paddling up Nassau Fjord to see the Chenega Glacier up close and personal. We feel asleep to the thunderous sounds of ice caving into the sea. My tent group one day woke up to the frantic yells of our friends alerting us that there was a bear less than 25 feet away from us. (That was an exciting morning. Never before have I exited my sleeping bag so quickly.) Due to a mix up with the whole wheat flour, we ate more spice cake than any human should consume in a lifetime. But I digress.

There is no way that I can put into words the magnificent feeling that I had when we woke up to a warm sunny day with nothing to do but paddle and explore the Alaskan coastline or the proud sense of accomplishment that I had when we completed a difficult crossing in bad weather, working together as a team and encouraging each other. Our three instructors and the ten cadets and midshipmen in our group are some of the finest people I have ever known, and I learned so much from them. When you are safe, warm, well fed, and well rested, making decisions and leading is easy. When you and the people you’re leading are exposed, cold, hungry, and tired, it’s much more challenging. I learned so much about peer leadership and how I personally react to stressful situations. I came back from Alaska as more confident leader, a better listener, and a tougher and more positive person. As an added bonus, I also got to experience one of the most beautiful places on earth and made some great friends.

Straight from Alaska I went to San Francisco, where I spent several weeks with the CGC Dorado, an 87’ cutter. I had a great time and learned so much from the crew. The very first day that I got there we were called out on a search and rescue (SAR) case 180 nautical miles offshore for an overturned vessel. Although we found the radio beacon that a Coast Guard C-130 had dropped, we never found the overturned vessel, which we believe was probably debris from the tsunami in Japan the year before. While I was there we escorted many high interest vessels up the San Joaquin River, provided security for several barges lighting off 4th of July fireworks, provided support for a Coast Guard helicopter conducting hoist drills on a nearby island, tested out the ship’s Gumby suits, conducted numerous fire and man overboard drills, and much more. The crew was incredibly hard working and a lot of fun.

After spending a couple weeks with the Dorado, I moved down the pier to the CGC Tern. On the Tern, I participated in a damage control (DC) course with the crew where we got to practice patching pipes and plugging holes on a specially designed practice boat and ran numerous drills. I learned about law enforcement and observed several practice boardings, planned a burial at sea for a former member of the Coast Guard, learned basic initial responses for casualties, and earned my In-Port Officer of the Deck (OOD) qualification. Again, the crew of the Tern was terrific, taking the time to teach me and include me on a lot of cool opportunities. Overall, I had a fantastic summer. I gained leadership experience and Coast Guard knowledge that I’m confident will help me when I (knock on wood) become and Ensign in eighty-days (but who’s counting?)

More about Julie.

The Academy recently made the front page of Yahoo in the form of an article entitled “Five Colleges You Can Go to for Free.” I’m here to tell you that that is the biggest misnomer that the Academy will ever get. You pay to be at the Academy. You pay for it in over 7,000 hours of lost liberty time a year, you pay for it in inspections and in work, you pay for it in the time spent looking after your division, performing collateral duties, you pay for it in cleaning for formal room and wing and preparing for personnel inspections, you pay for it in drill and in practicing for it. You pay for the Academy in lost summers spent half a world away from home while your high school friends return to the nest and party. You pay for it in being told what to wear and when to wear it, and most importantly you pay for it with that proverbial blank check you write out to the People of the United States of America that, upon your graduation you are willing to pay any price, up to and including your life, for them. So yes, your bank account will not be any less full for your attending the Coast Guard Academy, you will not exchange money for your education and tutelage at this university, but remember that it is not free. You are paying a price, a rather large one at that, but that large price tag doesn’t mean that the Academy is not worth it. It’s quite the opposite in fact. Every pain and hardship, everything you give up, is worth it for the friends you make along the way, and for the honor of serving.

More about Stephen.