Shipping out to Coast Guard Tuesday

[MrFreefall383 0]

I posted this in the fitness thread a few days ago, but I figured the more interesting and colorful commentary would be found here.

I leave for the MEPS Monday, ship out Tuesday afternoon to Cape May, NJ to be screamed at for 8 weeks. End goal here is to be turned into something useful wearing Coast Guard blues. I'm more than physically prepared, mentally and emotionally I should be more than fine, and financially everything is straightened out. Not much to worry about except my Company Commander.

Eventual goal is to earn the rate of AST, and the Rescue Swimmer wings. It's like the Holy Grail of Coast Guard insignia to me. Realistically, there's still a chance I'll fail, and I have to acknowledge it as a possibility. After my first assignment, as long as my flight physical clears, I have to prove myself worthy to become a Rescue Swimmer in the Airman Program by working out with current ASTs, and show that I can learn the basics of being a member of an aircrew.

Then, and only then, I go down to North Carolina to the AST A School, in a class of 24 or 12, depending on the time of year, and depending on how long I have to wait at the Airman Program for my slot to open up. And out of those candidates, no more than 50% usually graduate and earn the AST wings. Then it's another 3 weeks of EMT training in Petaluma, CA... just to make sure I'm serious.

Anyway, I like my odds, but I figure someone like Walt will have something creative to say about it. So on with the comments from the peanut gallery.

"If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

[wrightskyguy 1]

Walt's gone, but I'll fill in for him. I hope you have alot of short pants in your closet.

John Wright

World's most beloved skydiver

[airtwardo 7]

Here to living your dream!

The best of luck to you.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[someday 0]

its mental,
if you fail; its because you chose to fail.
unless you break your legs or something else.. then you can get re-cycled or go to sickbay for ever and get yelled at longer

[ladyskydiver 0]

Best of luck!
By the way...what does "AST" stand for?

Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

[SARLDO 0]

My hats off to you. Good luck in the puddle jumpers boot camp and Rescue Swimmer school. I was a swimmer in the Navy for the first 14.5 of my 23 years (so far) and got to do multiple tours of duty flying mountain SAR as well. There is no greater feeling than that of having saved the life of a fellow man or woman. Be strong and learn well. Your life will also depend on what you learn in training.

"So Others May Live"

Search and Rescue Limited Duty Officer, United States Navy (aka: SARLDO)

"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest" ~Samuel Clemens

MB#4300
Dudeist Skydiver #68

[MrFreefall383 0]

Thanks! AST stands for Aviation Survival Technician.

And to the statement that it's all mental, you're absolutely right. It is 100% mental. I know that if I fail, it'll be my own fault. Can't blame anyone but myself for falling short. It'll be a miserable situation if I fail, but hopefully I would learn my lesson and move on.

To SARLDO, my only motivations are saving lives, and proving to myself that I have what it takes to be an elite lifesaving professional. Nothing else matters. Already saved one life when I was a lifeguard, promised myself I would earn that feeling of satisfaction again.

"If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

[someday 0]

the lesson to learn would be "i cant handle it"
and that lesson sucks.

i would suggest choosing not to choose for 7.5 weeks because after 8, the yelling (for the mostttt part) stops and the real learning begins.

you can do it man! no matter how cold you are(since its winter) no matter how tired, one foot in front of the other you can do it!

[mnealtx 0]

I wish you the very best of luck... and thank you for your service.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[monkycndo 0]

I have a nephew that is a coastie. Graduated from the academy last year. He loves it.

Good luck on your new adventure.

50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

[psipike02 0]

Good luck man....I know how hard you've been working towards this and its awesome that you're going after your dreams/goals...

Keep us updated if you can, otherwise we'll see you at the end bro

I know you'll be ridiculously awesome, so tear it up!!

Puttin' some stank on it.

----Hellfish #707----

[Lastchance 0]

Good luck dude.

I may be getting old but I got to see all the cool bands.

[mwabd1 0]

It's nice to hear someone is setting and following goals, unlike the rest of us who are just looking for our next beer!

OH YEA........after spending 6 years in the USN all I gotta say is take your water wings..........those puddles get a little deep!!!

.......I hereby reject your reality and instead choose to insert my own!

[MrFreefall383 0]

Well I'll still be looking for my next beer, but I'll fail at that while looking for success as the type of complete idiot who jumps out of a perfectly good helicopter for a living.

And shit, I hope they give me water wings, the deeper it gets, the more afraid I am of all those monsters lurking in the deep. Water wings will make me feel much safer.

Thanks for all the kind words! And to psipike, you're right, I have trained pretty hard for this, so hopefully that will give me enough momentum to at least get to the Airman Program, and maybe even to A School. That will be the part where momentum alone won't cut it, so I'll have to be working even harder than I have so far. I'll definitely update you fine folks once I get out of Basic and start the real path to becoming a Rescue Swimmer.

"If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

[ExAFO 0]

Q: Why do you have to be 6' tall to enlist in the USCG?


A: So you can walk home after your boat sinks.

Good luck, bro, I salute you.

Illinois needs a CCW Law. NOW.

[MrFreefall383 0]

Thanks for the salute, and the joke worked for me. Thanks for the laugh!

"If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

[Amazon 7]

I do a lot of boating at the mouth of the Columbia River( always love taking friends out to watch the Coastie training and rolling their boats in the rough water I carry 6 survial suits and a 6 man Avon life raft even though I am not required to for my size boat. I take my survial very seriously ( EX USAF SERE Instructor). There is a VERRY active and well used CG unit there at Cape Dissappointment and a chopper group out of Astoria's airport.. I have never had to use the services of the CG.. but I do appreciate the things they do out there to protect the boating public.

Thank you for choosing such a challenging career.. good luck to you.
PS.. my 78 year old mother is still the secretary for her CG Aux unit in SC... and she still goes out on patrol with some of the other old farts

[MrFreefall383 0]

Hey, no reason not to take survival seriously. Self-preservation is the ultimate of human instincts. And as a former SERE instructor, you clearly know that better than anyone. Glad to hear some people take their survival seriously. As for CGAS Astoria, yeah, they've got a full compliment of 60's, and they're some tough bastards.

But considering some people don't take their survival as seriously as necessary, or don't plan on the unplanned, this should be a worthy endeavor. Oh, and once a Coastie, always a Coastie. I'll probably die with Semper Paratus on my lips.

"If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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There is a VERRY active and well used CG unit there at Cape Dissappointment and a chopper group out of Astoria's airport..

Familiar with them. They saved my dad's best friend when his boat became incapacitated and crashed into the rocks there...

'Matter of fact, I have an oil painting of Cape D hanging in my hallway.

We fish those waters too...or did, until daddy's boat gave in.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[ACMESkydiver 0]

Good luck, buddy. If there was EVER a guy that took his preparedness for training seriously, I'd say without a doubt it would be you.

We all know you'll do great and look forward to the Coast Guard welcoming the best Rescue Swimmer they have ever had.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[MrFreefall383 0]

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Good luck, buddy. If there was EVER a guy that took his preparedness for training seriously, I'd say without a doubt it would be you.

We all know you'll do great and look forward to the Coast Guard welcoming the best Rescue Swimmer they have ever had.

Ha, I appreciate the confidence, but I doubt I'll be the best Rescue Swimmer they ever had. I'm not nearly as powerful a swimmer as some of the guys out there. There are some guys who made saves years ago, saves I've read about, who are more or less gods among men. No way I'll ever be that good, but I'll do my best to get close.

"If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

[flyhi 24]

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depending on how long I have to wait at the Airman Program for my slot to open up.

We had a candidate earn a Good Conduct medal while waiting for a slot to open up. That's three years. May want to buy your own needle gun for the wait.

Shit happens. And it usually happens because of physics.

[sweetjava77 0]

Best of luck to you. You'll do fine! I'm a LTJG in the Coast Guard Reserves and I LOVE the Coast Guard. Maybe we'll run into each other some day.

Faith

[MrFreefall383 0]

Hey, I'd like that! Always good running into fellow Coasties. I just gave one 3 days extra leave through EAR for giving me information which led to my enlistment.

"If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

[MrFreefall383 0]

Well, back a little too soon, so I'll give you all an update. I got ****ed by MEPS. And more specifically, the medical department at MEPS.

Went to get my fingerprints done, but the guy at the fingerprinting station couldn't bring up my medical file on the computer system. He couldn't figure it out, so he sent me to medical to have them figure it out to make it quicker and get me shipped out. They couldn't figure it out until they looked at my paperwork... which they've had more than usual... and found out that my previous HIV test results had been cancelled, and nobody said anything about it. A memo was supposed to go out, but it didn't, and nobody double-checked it until today. So I pushed for an HIV test today, and fingerprinting, but the results from the bloodwork won't be back till at least Friday.

Now for the bottom line. If the tests come back by Friday, my recruiter's going to smash some heads to get me shipped out a week from today. If he can't, or if the tests don't come back, I have to wait now until March 4th.

"If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche