Surviving Coast Guard Boot Camp (Page 2)

You will begin your adventures with the United States Coast Guard by arriving at the Philadelphia International Airport. Once you arrive, you are required to retrieve your bags, then report immediately to the USO which is located in Terminal D. If your flight is delayed and the USO folks have gone home, they will leave directions for you on the USO door.

Enjoy the bus ride to Cape May. It is the last bit of freedom you will have for the next eight weeks. In the Coast Guard, the fun starts immediately when the bus arrives at the Recruit Processing Center on Cape May. As soon as the doors to the bus opens, you will be greeted by that unique military animal which wears a Smokey-the-Bear hat. In the Air Force, they are called Training Instructors (TI). In the Army, this animal is called a Drill Sergeant. In the Marine Corps, he/she is referred to as Drill Instructor. In the Navy, it's Recruit Division Commander. In the Coast Guard, this screaming machine is known as a Company Commander.

However, you'll call them "Sir," or "Ma'am" (at least for the first two weeks).

In Air Force, recruits are required to address their training instructors and commissioned officers as "Sir," or "Ma'am." (The Army & Navy discourage calling enlisted personnel "sir" or "ma'am," even in boot camp). The Coast Guard kind of goes "half and half." Initially, you'll address the instructors as "Sir" or "Ma'am." However, during the second week of training, you'll take a class about Coast Guard rates and ranks. After that, you'll be required to refer to your instructors properly, such as "Petty Officer Johnson." If you mess up and are caught addressing your instructor as "Sir" or "Ma'am" after your first two weeks of training, your CC will be happy to remind you that he or she "works for a living," and reinforce his/her kind reminder with a little physical activity in order to ensure the blood is properly circulating in your brain.

When the bus stops, and the doors open, you will likely hear a variation of the following speech (screamed, of course -- It's rumored that Company Commanders have forgotten how to speak in a normal tone of voice).

"Welcome to Cape May. The first thing you're gonna do is shut up, sit up and take your hats off ... and GET YOUR STINKIN' LEGS OUTTA THE AISLE - look straight ahead, don't look at me ... you're gonna do what I say, when I say it and how I say to do it....... You've got ten seconds to get off this bus, and you've just wasted three!".

The good news is that you will only keep this particular Company Commander for about three days -- long enough for the "forming" process. The bad news is that this three days does not count toward your total seven weeks, and that the Company Commander you will meet for your actual training will be ten times worse.

As soon as you step off the bus, and the CC yells at you for a little while, you'll immediately begin the inprocessing tasks. You'll be issued a book known as the "Helmsman," and anytime you are not actively doing something, the CCs will expect your nose to be in the book. You'll spend your first hours of boot camp filling out forms, and giving a urine to test for drugs and alcohol. Females will also be given a pregnancy test.

Virtually every task you're ordered to do is timed; five seconds to write a name on a tag, ten seconds to find paperwork, etc. And a Company Commander provides cadence, like a countdown. If you make a mistake, you will be yelled at. It's that simple -- mistake equals yelling. It's all part of the process to add stress to the training; to break down the civilian in order to build a self-disciplined member of the Coast Guard.

Above Photos Courtesy of United States Coast Guard

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