cadet blogs

What Sets Us Apart

(Choosing the Coast Guard Academy, The Cadet Experience, Class of 2015) Permanent link All Posts

Hello to all my readers and a late Happy Holidays!

It might sound crazy, but it is nice to be back “home” in Chase Hall for the spring semester. I can’t wait to get started on another challenging academic semester, or work toward getting full carry-on, or beating other boats in crew!

Christmas break was a lot of fun. I enjoyed spending time with old friends in North Carolina and my family in Florida. After my last final, 1/c Katie Priesing and I raced to North Carolina in an exciting road trip adventure. I spent the first week with my friend Sasha Seymore, who goes to UNC-Chapel Hill. In fact, I spent a night in his dorm at UNC before going to a basketball game, and I am proud/ashamed to say that I ended up cleaning his dorm room for him! There are different standards between Chase Hall and civilian college. Catching up with old friends was fun, but more importantly, it helped me realize why I came here. I came here to be a part of something more than myself—to help others—and, in my opinion, that sense of purpose sets the 1,034 cadets here apart from our civilian peers.

Additionally, it was great to spend Christmas with my family. My little sister had brought lice home while I was in North Carolina, which was fortunate for me, but unfortunate for everyone else! When I got there, it was all my little siblings would talk about… Florida was amazingly warm: I don’t think it even got close to the temperatures here in New London! My family enjoyed showing me all the sights in Pensacola: the Naval Aviation Museum (the CG aircraft are buried in the annex, of course!), NAS Pensacola, downtown, and the beaches. My favorite part of the break was the hours of sleep I got; I’ve stockpiled it away for this semester. Our new house was interesting, to say the least. It was sad to leave Pensacola, just when I had finally settled in and become used to living as a “normal” person.

Flying in uniform was an adventure, but the best/worst part was getting off the plane in Boston to temperatures of “10 above” (zero degrees Fahrenheit). I definitely felt that pit in my stomach when I saw the Academy again, but it’s worth it to be back with friends. Here’s to the start of a new semester! If you ever have questions, don’t hesitate to email me: Peter.M.Driscoll@uscga.edu.

More about Peter.

Posted by Leann Strickland at 2/17/2012 9:32 AM