Xray-184, Graduated May 20, 2011

In order to be successful in it’s missions, the Coast Guard depends heavily on teamwork.  This places a huge responsibility on you.  Your company in basic training and your first station will be staffed by a variety of people from around the country, and possibly around the world.  It is imperative for your team’s success and your own sanity that you know how to get along with all these people, no matter how different you may be.

This is not always easy.

Harbor in Downtown Newport

I’ve been getting used to the rhythm of life here at my station in Newport.  I’d say I’m settling in, but I’m still living at the station while I wait for my housing stuff to go through, so there’s still some time before I truly settle in.  I did get a chance to explore a bit over the holiday weekend, which I had the pleasure of doing with my husband, who came up to visit me.  Our travels took us along Broadway, America’s Cup Ave., and Thames Street.  The whole area is very beautiful.  We found plenty of good restaurants to try, and so many ice cream parlors, bakeries, and other goodie shops that we’ll probably both gain some weight this summer from them all.

By far the best discoveries of the weekend were Cold Fusion Gelato on Thames Street and the Newport Segway dealer, who also sells Dahon bikes, my preferred kind..  Both Eric and I love gelato, and the handmade gelato at Cold Fusion is incredibly delicious.  I foresee many trips there throughout the summer.  As for the Segway dealer, aside from my desire to rent a Segway just so I can experience it once, the fact that the place is also a Dahon dealership makes me incredibly happy.  My little fixed-gear Dahon Boardwalk got me around Somerville quite well.  Sometime during my stay here in Newport I’ll have to get a slightly better one so that I can take it over some of the terrain in the state parks around here.

I was also able to get some of Eric’s paperwork taken care of while he was here.  He’s now got his own I.D. card and is officially my dependent.  He’s signed up for my health insurance plan, and our housing paperwork is submitted.  Hopefully in a week or two I’ll be able to move us into our housing for the next couple years.

I think that both Eric and I will be improving our photography skills while we are here.  Newport is a very photogenic area, and we both have been taking note of places that would make for beautiful photographs.  Once I have a way to go out and explore more, I’ll start sharing them with all of you.  I count myself extremely lucky to have been stationed here in Newport.  I’m excited to get settled in and really get to know my new home.

Visual identifiers for O-1 through o_6

While I’m sure this isn’t the first thing most people would ask about related to basic training, it is a huge part of making your 8 week stay in Cape May a bit more bearable.  Required knowledge is exactly what it sounds like: the things you absolutely MUST learn during basic.  The sooner you know them the better.  Company Commanders can start asking you required knowledge questions in the second week of training.  If you don’t know the answers, you are only going to make things tougher on yourself because you will need to write performance trackers and get your share of Incentive Training (IT), neither of which are enjoyable.

How to Study

If you have a good recruiter, you probably heard them from this already, but if you aren’t talking to a recruiter yet or didn’t have a good one, I’ll repeat it here.  LEARN AS MUCH REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE AS POSSIBLE BEFORE REPORTING TO BASIC TRAINING.  Why?  Because basic training is a stressful and very busy environment most of the time.  You are rushed, running around, stressed, and possibly sleep deprived.  Those are not ideal learning conditions.  So I recommend using the time before you report to study, because for most people study conditions will be better out in the “real world”.

I would recommend keeping things pretty simple when studying.  You are looking to memorize this information, so repetition is key.  In my time being trained as a teacher, teaching, and tutoring, the easiest way for the majority of my students to memorize was to use flashcards.  While everyone has something of a reflexive reaction against flash cards, they really are helpful.  Here’s why:

1. Portability: There are a variety of physical and electronic ways to make flashcards, but regardless of the method you choose, flashcards can be taken just about anywhere.  That allows you to do a short 5-10 minute study session whenever you have the time.  If you are the kind of person who finds it hard to set aside set time to study (like I was before basic), then this is a godsend.
2. Cost effective: Physical flash cards only need index cards and a writing utensil (preferably pen so it doesn’t get smudged or faded while you are using them).  Electronic flash cards need an app for your iPod or smartphone.  Not counting the cost of the device, since you already have it, apps are free or cheap.  I use Mental Case on my computer and phone to do flashcards.  The phone app only cost me $5.  It cost me another $20 for the computer app, but that was my personal preference.  It wasn’t necessary for making my flashcards.
3. Easily randomized: If you constantly go over information in the same order, your brain learns it as one big chunk.  What that means is that if you have a list – like your 11 General Orders – your brain will need to go through 1-5 before you remember #6.  Flashcards, both physical and digital, can easily be mixed up.  By constantly mixing up your cards, you are studying the same information in constantly changing order.  This means you will learn the individual pieces of information rather than one big block.

What to Study

11 General Orders for Sentries: You will be standing watch both in basic training and afterwards as you start you Coast Guard career.  The 11 General Orders are your guide for what to do when you stand watch.  You MUST know these verbatim.  Even if you say “to” when you mean “from”, your CC’s will still consider it wrong and punish you accordingly.

1. To take charge of this post and all government property in view.
2. To walk my post in a military manner, keeping always on the alert, and observing everything that takes place within site or hearing.
3. To report all violations of orders I am instructed to enforce.
4. To repeat all calls from posts more distant from the Guardhouse than my own.
5. To quit my post only when properly relieved.
6. To receive, obey, and pass on to the sentry who relieves me all orders from the Commanding Officer, Field Officer of the Day, Officer of the Day, and officers and petty officers of the watch.
7. To talk to no one except in the line of duty.
8. To give the alarm in case of fire or disorder.
9. To call the Petty Officer of the Watch in any case not covered by instructions.
10. To salute all officers, and all colors and standards not cased.
11. To be especially watchful at night and during the time for challenging, to challenge all persons on or near my post, and to allow no one to pass without proper authority.

Rates and Ranks:  Do you know what an E-5 is?  How about a W-2?  Or an O-8?  What rate is a Senior Chief Petty Officer?  What rank are your Company Commanders?  You need to know all of this in basic training.  You will be given 1 class in it that lasts about 1 hour.  From that point on you are expected to address everyone on base correctly.  Do yourself a favor, learn your rates (like E-1) and Ranks (like Lieutenant) before you enter this very high stress environment.  Wikipedia’s main page on the Coast Guard has all of the enlisted and officer rates, along with their rank name, collar devices, and shoulder boards for officers.  I recommend this page because you need to know the collar devices and shoulder boards as well as the names of the rates.

The Guardian Ethos:  This is printed on an enormous poster that hangs outside of Sexton Hall, where you will spend your first week of basic training.  You will recite it many times at the top of your lungs.  You should feel pride when you say it.  You will also shout it out at your graduation from basic training, in front of your friends and family.  So know this one, even if only so you don’t terribly embarrass yourself on graduation day.  This is about the only thing you don’t need flashcards for.  It’s always recited like this:

I am America’s Maritime Guardian.
I serve the citizens of the United States.
I will protect them.
I will defend them.
I will save them.
I am their shield.
For them I am Semper Paratus.
I live the Coast Guard Core Values.
I am a Guardian.
We are the United States Coast Guard.

The Core Values: These are easy.  HONOR, RESPECT, AND DEVOTION TO DUTY.  This will be printed everywhere you go.  Your squad bays, class rooms, the gym.  Everywhere.

Anything else in your Helmsman:  Your recruiter will give you a small book called The Helmsman before you leave for basic training.  Anything else that is labeled required knowledge in this book (like the Phonetic Alphabet) should also be memorized.

I hope this helps you prepare for Basic Training.  Remember, it will seem terrible at first.  You’ll probably wonder why you did this and want nothing more to go home.  I almost quit 3 times in my first 2 weeks.  Be strong and see it through.  Training gets better as it goes along.  Just remember to give it your all and you will survive it.

Eric and I outside the municipal building in Manville

Well, it has been a little over a week since I graduated from Coast Guard Basic Training as part of Xray-184.  While a post or series of posts describing that experience is on the way, it’s not quite ready yet.  The week after basic was very busy and eventful.  Despite getting plenty of sleep for the last couple nights, the events of this week have still managed to leave me completely exhausted.

I graduated from basic training on Friday, May 20th.  That evening found me at David’s Bridal in Maple Shade, NJ, where I looked for and found my wedding dress.  This is only an impressive feat because the wedding was Saturday at 2 p.m.  So basically, I found a 100% ready to wear dress right after leaving basic, right before my wedding.  The dress was a simple strapless ivory dress with a short train.  The top had some beautiful detail to the fabric that I’ll share once I have pictures.  Add a sheer shaw to cover my arm up (it was looking rather ugly thanks to an allergic reaction to the bandages used to cover my smallpox vaccine), and some ivory heels and I was ready to go.  I got my hair cut on Saturday morning, and am now wearing a full pixie cut.  I wish I’d cut it this way for basic.  I was originally scared to go this short.  Now I’m glad I did.

The wedding was very nice.  Both Eric and I wanted a very simple ceremony.  (We joke that if we could have just signed the paperwork and been done, we would have.)  The mayor of Manville was good enough to come in on a Saturday for the ceremony.  My parents, sister, and grandmother came, as did Eric’s parents, grandmothers, aunt and uncle, cousin, cousin’s wife and their daughter.  The ceremony itself was short, and we took pictures inside and out by a little bridge and flowering dogwood.  After the ceremony, we had lunch at Alfonso’s, which is one of our favorite restaurants in Somerville.  Rather than try to cater something on such short notice, everyone just ordered what they wanted, which I think was much nicer.   Saturday was a whirlwind of a day, but a fun one.

Eric and I had dinner with our friends on Sunday, and went down to see my sister’s new apartment in Brigantine on Monday.  Tuesday was our day to run around getting errands done and preparing for Wednesday.  What happened on Wednesday?  Well, the apartment in Somerville got a lot emptier.

Wednesday was the day our move was scheduled for.  The movers came at about 10:30, and by 4:30 we had a virtually empty apartment.  We left some things there for Eric, since he isn’t moving up here to Newport until we have a house to live in.  The movers were wonderful and handled everything.  Our belongings are now in short-term storage until we have an address to have it all delivered to.  Wednesday night, we drove down to my grandmother’s house in Pennsauken so I could catch my Rapid Rover ride to Philly International Airport the next morning.

I got to Philly very early, which meant I was through security very quickly, since there were no lines.  I then went and relaxed for a few hours at the Liberty USO, had some breakfast, and awaited my flight.  The flight to Providence was very fast, and I was back on the ground before I knew it.  My Executive Petty Officer was in town for a meeting and picked me up to take me to the station.  The station itself is very nice, as are all the people here.  I’m looking forward to getting to work.

The first couple days have just been observing the goings-on, and getting some paperwork done.  After the holiday weekend, I will assume mess cook duties for a month before I start on my qualifications.  (I’ll try to do some work on my quals. while I mess cook, but the hours are pretty long, so I’ll be limited in what I can do.)  Thursday and Friday were quiet days, but things are picking up now due to the holiday weekend.  I’m off for today and Monday, and Eric is visiting me tomorrow, which I’m looking very forward to.

That’s been life since basic.  I’ll work on my entries about basic and get them up soon!

For anyone who wants to keep up with what’s going on with my company, there is actually a website that posts weekly summaries of each camp going through basic training.  I expect to be Company W184, but won’t know that for sure until I get there.  I do know my graduation date is set for May 13, 2011, so use that to find my company.  Posts happen at the end of each week, but you may not get the first update until the end of the 2nd week.  The first week is really just about us getting settled, getting our gear, and making sure we are up to snuff medically.  The real fun begins on the first full week: Week 2.  If you’d like to follow my company’s progress, you can find us at the Training Center Cape May Blog.

This will be the last post I make at least until basic is over.  I’ll save the large summary of basic until after I get to my first unit.  But don’t worry, I’ll check in with you all when I’m finished so you know I survived!

This may well be the last real update I can give you all before I leave.  I’ll try to leave a quick note on Monday before I head up to NYC.  But here I am, in my last weekend at home before 8 weeks of basic training.  It will be a busy weekend.  Tomorrow I’ll be dropping off my car at my parents, who will keep it healthy and get it inspected while I am away.  Outside of that, I need to do a little bit of laundry to get the last of the few clothes I need to bring clean, and a lot of packing.

I’ll be staying overnight at the hotel on Staten Island one last time before my official ship-out.  That’s because I have a decent amount of paperwork to do before I actually get to leave on my ship-out day.  Right now I’m technically on a special reservist contract – I sign the real, active-dtuy contract on the day I leave for basic.  I’ll also take my oath of office again in a ceremony open to family, and Eric will be there to see me one more time before I head out.  I expect it to be a rather emotional experience for both of us.  After that, I wait until all of us are done our paperwork, and board the bus to Philly International.  From there, I’ll take a second bus to Cape May with the rest of the people in my company.

The Craziest Week of My Life

I think that has hard as basic training will be, the sheer crazy of the 5 days immediately after is going to make basic seem tame by comparison.  Within the span if 5 days Eric and I will need to get married and execute a move to, well, we don’t know yet.  I won’t find out where I’m stationed until week 5 of basic training.  Which means that Eric is going to have to be responsible for getting most of the move taken care of.  I’ll only be able to receive and occasionally write letters to him to help organize stuff.  Worst case scenario (cost and time wise) is that we are looking at a cross country move.  But in some ways, the worst case is also the best case.  My job training will be in Petaluma, California, so if I can be stationed out west to begin with, I won’t have to pack up and move a 2nd time in 2011.

This is why I’ve been so focused on cleaning and packing so much, although I don’t have nearly as much as I wanted done due to various other commitments this week.  I’ve come to the conclusion that the transition from basic training to first unit is not designed with adults in mind.  If I was 18, 5 days would be plenty for a great good-bye party and then travel to my post.  But at 26, with a fiancé and apartment, 5 days isn’t anywhere near enough time to pull this off.  So Eric will need to do a lot of prep work, and there will need to be 2 frantic packing/loading days so we have time to move and unload/unpack the most important of our stuff.

I think I will just breathe a huge sigh of relief at the end of May when all this is done.  The next 2 months are going to be absolutely insane.

Being cut off from the entire world during the month of April in the United States means that you’d better file your taxes before you leave.  My complication with taxes this year was the little bit of freelancing I did last calendar year for a friend’s news website.  The company heads originally told us all we’d be receiving 1099 forms to report our earnings.  Then, there was an error on the forms and they had to be reprinted.  When mine still didn’t come, I contacted my friend, who went up her chain of command until she found out that I had not made enough money to get a 1099.  I’d earned $450, the cut off for a 1099 was $600 or more.  Of course, if I’d done one less job for her, I’m not sure I would have made enough to report it at all, but I was stuck in the middle.  Had I known I wasn’t getting a 1099, my taxes could have been done in February.  As it is, they got done last week, which possibly creates another difficutly…

My refund may not arrive until after I’ve left.  The IRS estimates that my refund will arrive by 3/25.  I start my 8 weeks of isolation from the outside world on 3/22.  Thankfully, it’s been automatically deposited in my bank account.  Unfortunately, I just have to trust that it gets there on time, and have no way to verify that it has.  Given that I’m depending on that money to pay some bills at the end of March/beginning of April, it makes me a bit nervous.  I’ll be writing to all the people I owe money to in order to explain my situation, and let them know that if they do not receive March/April payments from me, I will be able to pay them in May.

So yeah, my monthly bills were the last layer of this preparation.  After getting run around a few automated phone systems trying to see if I could defer payment until I was home, I decided I would automate my payments while I was away.  This isn’t so bad, but since I won’t be able to confirm that my tax refund is in the bank, it does make me a bit nervous of the possibility of an overdraft should things not work out all at the right times.  The refund I can’t confirm because I was waiting for a 1099 that no one told me I wasn’t going to get.  I have one thing left to automate: my student loans.  I’m still trying to figure out what my monthly payment for them is, since they’ll just be coming out of a grace period while I’m away.

I am looking very forward to being able to manage my finances again once I’m done with basic training.  Thanks to some lousy timing and lack of communication, it’s a bit more nerve wracking to leave my fiances for a few months than I would like.  I look forward to a near future in which my paycheck is direct deposited on the 1st and 15th (or nearest Friday) with perfect regularity for the next 4 years.

Saturday ended up being when I did the bulk of my prep.  I went down to visit my mother for the day.  I came back home with much shorter hair, and almost all the supplies I will need for training.  A few of my friends have been confused about why I cut my hair since it isn’t a requirement.  I did it for several reasons.  The first being that my hair is very thick.  When I let it get long, it takes a long time to dry after a wash.  I’d like to experience dry hair at some point in the day during training.  Also, if you opt not to cut your hair, you need to be able to ponytail or bun it so that it comes no lower than the bottom of the collar on a dress shirt.  My ponytail was quite a bit too long, and I’m not good at making sturdy buns that can stand up to high-impact exercise.  This also makes it easier to get ready in the morning.  All I have to do is run a brush through my now short hair, while other girls will be trying to bun it while half asleep at 5 a.m.  I haven’t decided yet if I want to keep it this way when I’m finished with training.  Only time will tell.

Otherwise, I believe all my shopping is done for the trip.  Most of it happened when I met my mother on Saturday.  A trip to Boscov’s took care of most of my clothing (a pair of long underwear and 3 white t-shirts), and a trip to Target took care of all the other odds and ends.  Yesterday I attempted to go buy my sports bras at Nike’s local outlet store, but didn’t find a single high-impact model available.  So instead, I matched up the 2 Nike’s I’d found at Modell’s last month (which they, of course, no longer sell) with the 3 high-impact models on Nike’s website and found them.  I’m paying a small fortune for these undergarments, but I’ve had a chance to test them in my home doing a wide variety of exercises, and the Nike Rival works very well for me.  They should be in my hands by Thursday at the latest, which gives me time to wash them before packing them up.

Most items you need in basic training are issued to you, so you don’t need to pack much.  The list of issued items is 2-3 times as long as the items you can bring.  Everything from gym clothes and running shoes, to laundry items, to notebooks and pens is issued.  Thankfully, they also give you a duffle bag to take it all home in.  Because the little bag I’m bringing will definitely not hold it all.  Probably the oddest thing is that you bring very little in the way of clothing to basic training.  Outside of undergarments, everything is issued to you.  The only set of civilian clothes will be the set you wear down.  I’m not even clear on whether I need to bring socks.  That will be cleared up with a call to my recruiter later today.

Over the next couple days, I’ll start packing up my bag.  I’ll also finishing automating my finances for the next 2 months, but that is a story for another time.  Probably tomorrow.

In addition, I am studying as much of the required knowledge for basic training as I can before I go.  I  know I will retain the information better if I am not learning it in a stressful environment.  So I am using flashcards (digital ones, that is) to learn the military alphabet, insignia and names of all the ranks, nautical terminology, and the 11 general orders for all military personnel.  I know basic training will be difficult, and the less I have to worry about early on when stress is highest, the happier I will be.

Well, back to work.  I have errands to run before I report to my tutoring job.  That job ends tomorrow, and then my full attention can be given to preparation for training and the first move, and seeing family and friends.  I’ll try to keep you all updated as things get closer.