cadet blogs

Spring Break and Class Formal

(The Cadet Experience, Class of 2012) Permanent link All Posts

18MAR

So last week was spring break, and what a great break it was. I spent the week at home, spending time with my girlfriend who goes to school in Baltimore, seeing my family and relaxing. I bought gear for summer ocean racing, a fairly large investment that should be justified by the awesome experiences I am anticipating having this summer and future summers as well. It was great being home again, but pretty hard saying goodbye, knowing I won’t be back until August. Fortunately between then and now, the school year ends, I become a 3/c and the summer begins. There are only six weeks of classes left and that’s pretty exciting. The biggest obstacle between the 4/c and carry-on is Boards, an indoctrination test with company 1/c asking 10 questions from a 50 page packet of info including ship info, Coast Guard history, nautical flags and everything else there is to know about the Coast Guard. It is a lot to study, and I think a little bit of luck is involved. It will be a relief to get it over with.

I am looking forward to this weekend though, our 4/c formal, where our class crest will be revealed. My girlfriend is coming up for the weekend, we are planning on going out to dinner and spending an afternoon at Foxwoods, a big casino about 15 minutes away, which should be a good time. A few of my friends are staying at a hotel and we have a short the night of the formal, so it will definitely be fun. In the meantime I am in charge of finding ushers for the formal, which is proving more difficult than I anticipated. The corps is less than cooperative and less considerate toward the 4/c as a whole, which is aggravating at times, but we won’t be 4/c much longer, so we have to just let it go.

Anyway, the weather is getting warmer, slowly, and the sailing season starts today, so that’s cool. You all are probably getting close to hearing, or have heard your appointment decision. Congratulations to those who have been accepted, get ready for a tough, rewarding experience. To those still waiting, best of luck!

25MAR

This past weekend was another one of the most fun I have had here at the Academy. Saturday was our 4/c formal, the second I attended this year. Our class crest was unveiled; it is very cool, with CGC Eagle, CGC Bertholf and a bear constellation being its highlights. My girlfriend came up for the weekend and I used one of my longs for getting a star last semester to spend Friday night with her. After the formal, all 4/c had a short on Saturday night. When you get a star, either for military performance, GPA or physical fitness, you get a long to use the following semester. It’s a pretty good deal, as long as you can find a weekend to use it. Anyway, Sunday after the formal I went out with one of my top five shipmates, 4/c Shields and his girlfriend. We went out to Mystic for lunch and also saw the St. Patrick’s Day parade there. It was a lot of fun.

Tomorrow is my first mock boards test. Sometime in April are the real tests, tomorrow’s is about understanding the process and seeing how well we are doing at our memorization. I know the nautical flags, ranks, some history and some other random things, but there is still a lot of stuff to learn.

Sailing started and it’s pretty cold out this week but we have our Coast Guard issue foul weather gear to keep us warm. I know why they call this time of year the dark ages. It is very cold up here, I am wishing I could be sailing in Annapolis where its 60 degrees instead of 35 but I know from experience that summer will be here soon and will be very hot. Enjoy your spring breaks!

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Posted by Leann Strickland at 2/10/2012 12:27 PM