Monday, November 10, 2008

Grandparents spoil their grandkids - By Captain Cari B. Thomas

Okay. All you parents out there remember taking your kids to your parents'
houses. Sometimes you left them alone for a night, for a weekend or a
vacation. For however long, though, it always seemed like the grandparents
were always too indulgent, rarely enough discipline and it took too long to
undo your kids bad habits.

Now certainly, I would never consider myself a grandparent to a recruit. As
a young 46 year old woman I can barely think about my daughter (a college
sophomore) being old enough to live on her own. But she is, and she does.
I miss her every day.

My daughter is a better woman, not only for our parents' indulgence as
grandparents, for the support of her teachers, the persistence of her
coaches, and for the discipline, structure and love that my husband and I
provided.

In the end, the transition from being civilians into military members is
hard. It comes with both the good and the difficult times, not unlike life.
But conducting operations in the Coast Guard sometimes goes smoothly and
other times, is very challenging. Every person at Training Center Cape May
has a role in that transition. Company Commanders operate under my
authority to provide discipline, structure and, yes, love to the recruits.
The medical staff provides a listening ear when recruits don't feel well.
The gym staff provides direction and supervision to improve their physical
fitness. The instructional and seamanship staff provide intellectual and
professional development. My job? Lead by example. Provide discipline
when needed. Be human once in a while. Have fun. If a Company Commander
sees a recruit who might not have used proper greetings or said thank you,
they can correct them. We all play a part in recruit transformation; you
will be impressed!

Although I do not normally comment on the performance of a single recruit or
company, I wanted to pass one thing along. November Company looked amazing
when they marched by Quarters A (where I live) in the pouring rain on
Saturday afternoon. They are progressing well; I look forward to running in
formation with them in the weeks to come.

The journals will continue. We do not edit their tone or content.

Your passion indicates your love and support - thanks for all you've done.
Keep the letters to your loved ones coming!

15 comments:

GoNov180! said...

Captain,

Thanks for your inspirational and supportive words. I look forward to meeting you at the Nov 180 graduation!

PS: I know the Nov 180 historian very well and I could not be more proud of her...

wgflgal said...

PROUD OF SR DORMAN, ROMEO 180! By my daughter's letters to all of us down in Florida, she's adapting well, has a new respect for her country and is planning her future. Thank you to all the personnel on Cape May who interact with ALL of the recruits during these trying and sometimes, difficult weeks. ROMEO 180 should be proud of their challenge of the obstacle course brought back after many years! God Bless America!

Anonymous said...
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The Johnston Family said...

My husband is in Oscar 180 and I am so proud of him and his company!! This journey they are on right now might be tough and they might have bad days, but they will be stronger and better when it is over! I am so proud of my husband and can't wait to see him Nov 25! Thank you to everyone at TRACEN Cape May for the wonderful job you do!

Anonymous said...

Many, many thanks for the pictures & jounal entries USCG TRACEN !!
HOOYAH!! Oscar got their colors!!!

Anonymous said...

To the SR whose father passed,
You and your family are in our thoughts and prayers.
The Mahoney's

jamiemom said...

when will we hear from tango 180

SFlow24 said...

I have a question. Since the Graduation will be inside is there a certain amount of people per recruit who may attend? Thank you!

Heather said...

I'm wondering what the recruits are going to do for Thanksgiving?

Peter A. Stinson said...

Captain, great post.

Hammer said...

Got a letter from our son and he said that for Thanksgiving, they are shutting the base down and the Red Cross is organizing a thing where citizens of the community invite the recruits to their homes for Thanksgiving dinner and such. Sounds very nice. My wife and I are very happy that our son will have a special day that day.

Anonymous said...

Yo hammer, I swear you crack me up!!! Shutting the base down.....

Hammer said...

Freethnkr. I told my wife that since I left that other tongue-in-cheek message about the Halloween candy that folks might not take my last post seriously, but, I swear, it's true. Our son's last letter said that the Red Cross organizes this thing where, in his words, they shut the base down and the recruits go to homes of people in the community for Thanksgiving dinner. I promise you, this is no joke. He really told us that. During our short 5-minute phone call, he mentioned it again, so I assume this is really going to happen.

Anonymous said...

Hammer
Thanks for the head's up on the base closure. You even got a new post out of training center for it!

Bowman3 said...

Thank you for all your kind words and support. My daughter arrived on Nov 18th (U-180). I miss her already. I'm so proud of her, I know she will succeed. Happy Thanksgiving to all the recruits in U-180.