Quebec 181

Greeting,
The journal for Quebec 181 is posted at www.uscgbootcamp.com.

Whiskey 181

Good Morning,
Recruits who arrived on June 16, 2009 formed as Whiskey 181 on June 19, 2009.

Please send letters of encouragement to:

SR (FIRST AND LAST NAME)
RECRUIT COMPANY W181/Munro Hall
USCG TRACEN CAPE MAY
ONE MUNRO AVE
CAPE MAY NJ 08204-5083

The company commanders assigned to Whiskey 181 are: YN2 Garcia, BM2 Hall, and BM1 Bailey.

Graduation is scheduled for August 7, 2009.

v/r
USCG

A note from the commanding officer

Shipmates, 
I had a recruit from November Company ask me about the history of the term "Cutter". I knew that one type of a sailboat is a cutter, but wasn't sure how that came to be of use in our service. Rather than make up some story, I promised him that I would put the answer onto the blog page. So here it is, as found on our historian's web page:

What is a Cutter?
The Revenue Marine and the Revenue Cutter Service, as it was known variously throughout the late 18th and the 19th centuries, referred to its ships as cutters. The term is English in origin and refers to a specific type of vessel, namely, "a small, decked ship with one mast and bowsprit, with a gaff mainsail on a boom, a square yard and topsail, and two jibs or a jib and a staysail." (Peter Kemp, editor, The Oxford Companion to Ships & the Sea; London: Oxford University Press, 1976; pp. 221-222.) The Royal Navy's definition of a cutter was a small warship capable of carrying 8 to 12 cannons. By general usage, the term cutter came to define any vessel of Great Britain's Royal Customs Service and the term was adopted by the U.S. Treasury Department at the creation of what would become the Revenue Marine. Since that time, no matter what the vessel type, the service has referred to its largest vessels as cutters (today a cutter is any Coast Guard vessel over 65-feet in length).

I also cut my speech short for Oscar Company due to the weather and heat conditions in the gym today. If you are interested, here is the entire speech as it was supposed to have been given that you can download.

Oscar... be safe. A shipmate from November-181 was in a serious car accident yesterday on the way to the airport to get to his first unit. We understand he's going to survive, but I can't overemphasize the need for safety.

The Master Chief and I just formed Whiskey 181. They impressed me with their enthusiasm and spirit, but I know they have a lot of work to do. They'll be the senior company on Coast Guard Day (August 4th) which means they can take turns dunking me and their company commanders into the dunk tank! This, of course, presumes that they earn the right to attend CG Day... I'm confident they will.

I am meeting with a group of Coast Guard Academy cadets this evening; we are training them to help them get ready for their own leadership roles as the new "swabs" come to begin their training at the Academy. A "swab" is a first year cadet and they are trained by the second class cadets that are beginning their third year at CGA.

We hosted Army recruiting command staff today. We often share best practices among the various services... we also wished the Army Happy 234th Birthday!

Tomorrow morning I'll be at Cape May Point running with Quebec 181 around town. That should be fun... in the afternoon, my husband and I are "Paddling for a Purpose" to help raise money for a local scholarship fund. Hilarious will describe the process of getting in and out of the kayaks in a graceful manner.

Hope to meet you all at the various graduations of your loved ones! Keep those cards and letters of support coming. It means so very much to them to hear from you all and your words of encouragement.

v/r Cari Batson Thomas, Captain
Commanding Officer
Training Center Cape May

Oscar 181 - Graduation Speech

Graduation - 19 June 2009

Good morning, friends and family.  Welcome to Cape May. Good morning Oscar Company, Welcome to the Coast Guard.

My first task this morning is to wish someone a happy birthday.  Now, don’t worry we’re not going to be singing! The US Army is 234 years old.  That’s even older than me or Chief Ruchsher.

Since 1775, the Army has defended our nation with honor, courage and commitment.  From our deployed soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan to those who work in flood relief and other national emergency situations, we say thank you for defending this nation and earning the right to wear the uniform of our country.  We are proud to serve alongside you… Happy Birthday, and Hooah!!!

There’s a lot going on around the Coast Guard… from the latest headlines:

From Pensacola, FL:  Coast Guard search for a cruise ship passenger, a 50 year old woman 75 miles off the coast.

From Hawaii:  Three Coast Guardsmen are aboard a U.S. Navy ship on a voyage west of Hawaii to enforce rules governing fishing in federal waters.

From Oregon Coast:  The U.S. Coast Guard rescued two brothers, 6 and 7 years old and their dog from a 300-foot ravine.

From Canada:  We’ve made US and Canadian joint law enforcement teams along the maritime border permanent.

Coast Guard Port Security Unit 305 returned home from a six-month deployment to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

From Louisville, Kentucky:  The Coast Guard has cleaned an oil spill that leaked an estimated 1,200 to 1,500 gallons of diesel fuel into the Ohio River.

From San Juan: The Coast Guard and reps from the Dominican Republic Navy discovered illegal migrants traveling to Puerto Rico aboard a 20-foot grossly overloaded boat, and reportedly had been at sea for more than six days after becoming disabled and adrift.

From overseas:  We have six ships still serving in Iraq and a ship that just left Libya, the first time a ship of the US military has visited in over 40 years.  This same ship, working for Commander, Fifth Fleet has been working off the Somalia Coast, detaining pirates and letting commercial shipping transit safely through the area.

In Alaska, the Coast Guard completed its sixth 2300 mile flight in support of Arctic operations and exploration.

This is some of what Oscar Company can look forward to when they get to their first duty station.  Your Coast Guard is on watch all over the country and all over the world.

While here at recruit training, they’ve learned how to stand a watch.

They learned how to work together, and they had some fun along the way.  Interestingly in our lunch together yesterday, one shipmate told me he wished that boot camp was longer.  Now I told him that I could make his wish come true, but in hindsight, he guessed that he’d rather get to his first unit instead.  I also heard stories of loss of things like military bearing, the creation of the newest Cape May recruit hair salon that begins with gel and ends with more gel, and the testing of the capacity of uniform pockets to hold far more gear than they were ever intended.

They may have been smart but they were also a little slow, according to their company commanders.  Again, I think they were just slow so I might keep them here longer because they love recruit training so very much.

Oscar, if you remember when we first met just a short seven weeks ago, we talked about three words.

Commitment, courage and character.

I encouraged you to make a continual commitment to improving yourselves and one another.

I told you to graduate from recruit training that it takes courage…

courage to try things that you had never done before, and courage to overcome adversity, homesickness and dealing with one another in such close quarters.

Finally, we talked about the importance of character… doing the right things the right way, even when no one is looking. 

You’ve done well in your voyage through recruit training displaying commitment, courage and character.  You’ve begun to understand what it means to be a Guardian.

In the Guardian Ethos it says that for the maritime public that we serve, we will protect, defend and save them.

Oscar Company, you can never forget.  Not only does this apply to the public, but it applies to one another.  You must protect, defend and save your shipmates. You must be their shield.

Your time has come and your mission is complete.  You got off that bus and you were a mess.  And now here you are, and you are amazing!

As you leave us today,

Do your best at your unit, have a good attitude and some fun along the way. 

And remember to check your pockets… you’ll never know what you might find!

Semper Paratus.

- Captain Cari B. Thomas

Commanding Officer, USCG Training Center Cape May

Victor 181

Good Morning,
Recruits who arrived on June 9, 2009 formed as Victor 181.

Please send letters of support to:

SR (FIRST AND LAST NAME)
RECRUIT COMPANY V181/Healy Hall
USCG TRACEN CAPE MAY
ONE MUNRO AVE
CAPE MAY NJ 08204-5083

v/r
USCG

Quebec 181 Manual of Arms

v/r

USCG

Uniform 181

Greetings,

Recruits who arrived on Tuesday June 2, 2009 formed as Uniform 181.

Please send letters of encouragement to:

SR (FIRST AND LAST NAME)

RECRUIT COMPANY U181/James Hall

USCG TRACEN CAPE MAY

ONE MUNRO AVE

CAPE MAY NJ 08204-5083