cadet blogs

Tradeoffs

(Choosing the Coast Guard Academy, Class of 2012) Permanent link All Posts

I think a lot of high school kids write off the Coast Guard Academy because you don’t get out much during the week and you can’t drive a car. Even Admiral Burhoe will admit he went to civilian school so he could have a car his freshman year.

What people don’t realize is that there are tradeoffs. One of the things that I realized this summer is how close I became with the people in my company while we were running around with swabs. We had to wake up at 0500 and didn’t get to bed much before 2300 for three weeks. We were all exhausted, all playing angry, and we all smelled horrible. You would think under those circumstances, we would be ripping each other’s head off. Instead, I think my cadre section is where some of my best friends of this year will come from.

I don’t think you would find that at civilian school. A very wise LT once told us, that you will never live down the hall from so many good friends again. We all live in one dorm…we all eat together…we all say hi to each other in the halls. You can’t drive a car until firstie year, but 20 years down the road, I think I will remember my classmates and the experiences I had with them, rather than the fact that I couldn’t drive.

More about Steven.

Last Edited by Leann Strickland at 2/8/2012 3:09 PM