cadet blogs

March Madness

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

It’s hard to remember the thoughts circulating through my high school mind in the remaining months of my free life. I can guarantee you it wasn’t homework. I can remember my Mom spending late nights on the parent’s message board obsessing over what kind of socks to send me with and wondering if I would have enough toothbrushes, etc.

Here’s my advice to anyone who has recently been accepted – don’t sweat the little things. You’ll do plenty of sweating once you get here. Don’t worry about how tall your socks are or how many toiletries you have. You WILL be taken care of, and you will be made fun of. Every one of you is going to look 100% ridiculous to anyone on the outside world. It’s all part of the process. It’s easy to say this looking back, but let loose for those remaining months, because as much as you like to think that laid back high school senior attitude will reappear after the summer, it has no chance. You will never be the same after Swab Summer, but for most people, that’s a good thing. I know it was for me.

See your friends, make sure you connect with your parents before the seven weeks of mail correspondence only, but most of all, leave the worrying to us. You would be amazed the stress placed on your cadre, just so they can make it look easy. We always joke that your 2/c summer is ten times harder than Swab Summer. Enjoy those final months of not being in the military. Take it all in, because once you get here and get that killer haircut, you will never be the same.

More about Steven.

Last Edited by Leann Strickland at 2/8/2012 3:08 PM