posted February 10, 2009

ALFA 181 WEEKLY JOURNAL
Graduation 3/13/2009

Alfa-181 week 03

The beginning of this week was rough. Many of my shipmates had a hard time. We were stressed, sick and pushed farther than we thought we could be. We got together and decided to get serious as a team. Since our motivational talk, we've been doing a lot better. We've been very team oriented, and have had only a few slip up's.

This by far was the best week for classes. We learned knot tying, where they taught us the five basic knots of seamanship, the bowline knot, square knot, clove hitch, slip clove hitch and round turn and two half hitches. How to navigate a ship, using a simulator, we got to drive different vessels and reply back to the commanding officer. Deck and vessel seamanship, was a blast, we learned every part of the ship and what it's called, where it is and some of the sailor slang for it. Coast Guard history was very interesting; we learned all the major figures and events of the Coast Guard that led us till today. Our favorite was SM1 Douglas Munro, who gave his life to help many injured marines returning from war. We learned all the ships and aircrafts the Coast Guard uses, learned how to identify them from their masts, and their colors. Our favorite class this week by far was the survival swim, we got to put on mustang suits, and the entire company had 02 minutes to do it. We were all ready and secured helping out our shipmates in no time and had time to spare. We then got to jump into the pool and learn the floats we need to know if we ever have to abandon ship.

On Sunday, it was a great break from the cold weather and we got to go for a nice long run. It was on special commission, due to the fact that 03 week recruits don't run as a company on Sundays. But Chief Garry pulled some strings for us and we got to run proudly behind our colors. Not one of us fell behind and we sang cadence as well as every other company out there. The weather was about 65 degrees, so it was the nicest day we've had here by far.

Every night when we take our muster, we are now getting regular mail. It's the best time of day for most of us, and we really appreciate the support we are getting from all of our families. We do however request you don't send any care packages.

This week in Alfa, we are going to the range to qualify for marksmanship. The company has been split in to two separate groups for this assignment, for more personalized training experience. The entire company is striving for the marksmanship award. Also we have a blood drive on Friday, and the entire company, including all our company commanders have signed up to donate blood. We have 64 of 64 who are willing to help the cause and that makes me proud that we have such a good hearted group. In Alfa it's not quantity, its quality and we've got quality.

Trying to be the best we can be.