~My Bootcamp Baby!~

Coast Guard Recruit Company November 184 weekly journal posted Feb. 15, 2011

	TRACEN Cape May, N.J. U.S. Coast Guard
November 184 weekly journal Graduation 3/11/2011
We began our week by being split up into two groups, port and starboard. One group went to class another went to the range. On Monday port side went to the range to learn about weapon safety, weapon parts, and at the end they shot the simulator gun. Starboard side had colors class. The colors class was very in-depth, moving, and emotional for all of us. Our color class was like no other color class, our Lead Company Commander takes colors to heart. On Tuesday it was reversed, port side went to colors class and starboard side went to the range. Tuesday morning we began with FIRE FIRE FIRE in the drizzle. It was a nice way to wake up. Our inspection was today, we all passed with flying colors, Chief Garry said we had the best squad bays on the regiment. Highest scores he has ever seen from a week 04 company, even week 07. Chief Garry and Master Chief Carlson talked to us about striking Damage Control and Machinery Technician rating. There are openings on many cutters for those jobs that need to be filled. Once again FIRE FIRE FIRE, one of our shipmates can't stand still during morning muster. Our classes today were very important, we went over housing, Basic Housing Allowance, living on cutters, and our upcoming new way of life. We learned about different jobs that the Coast Guard offers. We are still fighting our cold but we are starting to feel much better. We had our PF Assessment today, most of us passed, few of us have to go to morning PF Remedial to get into shape so they can pass. Every Wednesday Chaplain comes in and talks to us about current events going on outside the regiment. Also our "Da Vinci Squad" was formed today, they will design our hoodies and banners. Thursday was a big day, we saw snow on the ground, it uplifted our spirits. We had our seamanship test on how to tie 5 proper knots in under 20 seconds each knot. We also had a helmsman test, it was to test our ability to respond to commands. Our biggest adventure was filling out our dream sheets. From Hawaii to Alaska, we each put down 4 choices and prayed we get our best choice. After our dream sheets went to back to the bunker to do more squad bay maintenance , we have a new standard to upkeep. We did MOA followed by our midterm study session. Friday, midterm day, we were all nervous. We ended up passing with a company average of 96, we earned our academic pennant. After the midterm we hit the gym to lift weights to burn off our stress from the midterm, this is before we knew our results. We had a blood drive today, a lot of us donated blood. Thank you Red Cross for cookies and pretzels. We had a lot of down time which we used wisely to upkeep our squad bays. Saturday we learned pugil stick fighting. We fight each other on Monday, full pads of course. We had a grand jury today, we rotated people between our squad bays. Female and Male Black Pearl was formed. Its for recruits who are lacking in motivation. On Monday night was start watch at Saxton Hall, its where all new recruits come in. Sunday is our day to catch up on everything that we didn't get to do during the week. We use our divine hours wisely. We went to the exchange today to pick up items we needed such as soap, shaving cream, razors, etc. We went for a nice run off base, we saw what Cape May, NJ looks like. Next week we are going to find out where we are heading after basic training. Cross our fingers we get the assignments we want. Our day ended with uniform maintenance because tomorrow we have a big inspection to make sure we know how to take care of our uniform. Hopefully we do well. Week 05 is upon us, time to lock it down and push on through.