Coast Guard

Dude , IMHO
dont do it . Its not worth it . The military sucks .
I went to this military school when I was younger It was like pretraining for the real thing. If I even enlist I can become an Officer no prob.
but just trust me FUCK THE MILITARY

&&
you cant even smoke . for like the amount of time ur enlisted i think .

 

You can expect to straighten the fuck out and learn a lot of discipline.

But I doubt it's as bad as the marines.

 

Hey,it's better than the army.

 

have you thought about college while in the coast guard? If they have programs, could definently take advantage of that. A college degree can never hurt, and if you're willing to join already w/o considering that, then more power to you. I respect you for your plans to enlist, whether it be the army, the national guard, or the coast guard, you're putting others before yourself and thats very honorable.

I wish you the best of luck, and i hope this will be a positive and maybe a life-changing experience for you

 

Hey buddy, just caught this thread.

I was in the coast guard when I was 19. It was a about a year after I grad high school when I finally shipped out. However, I was promptly discharged for underage drinking. I went to boot camp at Cape May, NJ and at the end of the 7th week of training, just a few days before graduating they let you go off base into the town to do whatever. Well me and some other recruits got a hotel room and had some beers, some other lame ass recruit told on us and we got caught. Couldnt lie about it, so I told the truth, and they decided to make an example out of us for the training center and release us from service.

But dont let that story give a bad judgement about the coast guard!! They are friggin sailors, and party more than a lot of the ppl on this board do. We only got that punishment because we were in training, out in the fleet they are no strict and are pretty laid back, they are a relitivly small organization so where ever you get stationed or on what ever ship, everyone knows everyone. After my discharge I worked with a guy that was in for 4 years but got out because he had to blast a guy in the chest with a riot shotgun while boarding a fishing vessel. He told me the only time he got drug tested was when he got injured, no random drug testing during his enlistment.

Now I am not suggesting you smoke every day, but smoking occasionally shouldnt really be a problem, if your gonna be in a "trouble" situation, just dont get caught. Being in any military service, its going to be a different experience and your not gonna have as many oppurtunities to go wild, but thats not necassarily a bad thing. Everyone has to grow up and be responsible, an everyday smoker can be responsible, but in my opinion a weekender or couple-times-a-monther has a better chance of staying out of trouble. Just act conciously and youll be good to go.

The cg is very respected and they will take care of you, youll get to experience a lot of different places and things, as well as gain some skills. So you wanna cook? They got that for you, you will cook and cook and learn so much about it, and not only is it free, they pay you to learn, a long with giving you the GI bill which you can use to get civilian training in that field once you get out. I am going into the Navy now, and will be specializing in photo journalism, and will very likely be going to San Diego which is gonna kick ass. Dont listen to these jerks telling you the military is all shit, they set you up well man.

 

Always glad to help man, good to hear your stoked about joining. Boot camp is simple for the most part, at first its gonan seem like straight outta full metal jacket, racks lined up on each side of the room, recruits standing at attention while the company commander walks up and down screaming at you. They have upgraded theyre facilitys to mimic life on a cutter (a large ship), and you have a coffin rack which opens up for you to store stuff in. You will get IT, incentive training, which is as a result of someone or the whole company screwing sometihng up, atleast once a day, sometimes 3 or 4, where you do a lot of push ups, sit ups, and even some times you use your piece, which is a disabled rifle that weighs about 9 pounds pushing it up and won, away from yoru body then back, after a couple of those, that 9 pounds feels like 30. I would highly recommend getting in better shape before going to basic. Running isnt a problem, you have one timed run the entire time at training, you have about 12 mins to run a mile and a half, only one fat guy didnt make it the first try, everyone else passed. The physical part is actually pretty minimal, they dont want you to get injured while at training, but evvery other day you go work out at the gym they have with all this great equipment, and you work out with a partner and record each others progress. All in all its a cool experience, yeah you can fail, some people freak out about getting yelled at, and being away from home and waht not, and they may either get discharged, or get reverted (going back an entire week in training). Just really man, whiel you are there, do what your told by the superiors and DO NOT do anything to get in trouble, like sneaking around at night, sneaking food out, trying to talk to lower level recruits, just dont do it, people get kicked out and reverted for doing things like that. Whiel your at boot camp its gonna be regulated and strict like that, but it isnt like that once you grad and go out to the fleet, its very laid back and you have alot of freedom. If you have any more questions, ask away, I can tell you just about anything you need to know about the coast guard.

 

Swimming, there is one assessment your first week. A few people will fail this one, its really not that bad though. If you fail, you will start remedial swim where for a week, you wake up an hour early and go practice swimming. This is actually cool because the instructors aernt all down your throat, and will talk normal with you and you get to talk to other recruits at this time. You will retest after a week, and probably pass.

The hardest part of bootcamp as a whole, is probably the adjusting. When you get there, your way far away from home, in a place youve never been before, with people you dont know, and with people acting mean to you, your company commanders thats is. They are yelling at you and intentionally trying to put pressure on you, and at times giving you expectations you cant really meet. After about the 4th or 5th week, that eases up a little bit. Its really just the pressure, meeting time limits, not losing things, keeping all your shit in order, being "squared away", its definitly the military man no doubt about it, but those standards are only in bootcamp, once you make it through that, the coast guard and most military branches are a lot more laid back and real wordish. Physically, the hardest part is probably going to be IT, once again that means incentive training. If youve lost your belt, or forgot to bring a certain book to a class (you have A LOT of classroom, learning things like rates and ranks, when to salute, etc.), even itching your nose at the wrong time, youll be hitting the deck doing push ups. They are really just testing you, and knowing that your body will eventually not be able to do any more physical push ups, as long as you dont quit and lay your chest on the floor, theyll stand you up and say good job, its all about not quitting.

 

good luck man, it shouldn't be too bad. When your done with it you will be proud of yourself.

 

Just to let ya know, the first or second night at basic training, youll be receiving another drug test. Once you know the date you will be shipping out on, be sure to not smoke a full 30 days before that. A guy in my company told me he was worried about his drug test, because he knew he shouldnt smoke right before boot camp, but couoldnt hold back, and smoked like 6 days before we all got there. In the third week, he got called out of a class session, and never returned.

Some of the info Ive given you might seem over welming, but take it from me man it is well worth it to have a better life. If you have any doubts about going in, just think about why it is your considering going in in the first place.

 

I had a teacher who was in it for like 20 years, told me ALOT of interesting stories.