Xiphos55

A perspective of an Aimster of last year:

I earned a spot at this program called the Academy Introduction Mission. Yes, I earned it. You don’t get to go just because you fill out the right forms and send in a check. You have to fill out an application, write three essays, get 5+ letters of recommendation, and a high school transcript/SSE. The admission rate to this program alone is about 50%. It is easier to get into than the actual freshman admissions, but not by much.

No, AIM not boot camp. Or space camp. Or a “college intro week”.

Ladies and gentlemen, this was the real deal. The Academy is a military college, and everything there is treated as such. On Sunday afternoon, you show up for check in. You are assigned to one of eight companies: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Hotel, or Golf. There, you are issued uniforms, water bottles, and a fun little book called the “bowsprit”. When I say fun, I mean fun for the cadre.

What’s that? You haven’t met the cadre? Oh. They are the Second Class Cadets (Juniors) that run the AIM program and Swab Summer. They are typically the ones yelling at someone else who may be quivering, crying, ****ing themselves, or any combination of the above. Oh, for those who don’t know, Swab Summer is the seven-week hell Swabs, or Fourth Class Cadets (Freshmen), go through.

Where was I…? Right, the Bowsprit. This is a 30-page book that you get to memorize things from. It also will never leave your sight for the whole week. At all times, when not doing anything else, you will be studying from the Bowsprit. Fun activities include memorizing the Mission, the International Maritime Signal Flags, the CG Cutter classes and their lengths, the CG Chain of Command, and other trivia. There are no coloring pages. You have a test at the end of the week.

Anyway, back on track. Sunday night, after everyone shows up, you are pleasantly chatting with your fellow AIM-sters, when one of the cadre walks in. “Alpha Company, get your stuff and follow me.” About twenty to twenty-five AIM-sters get up and mosey towards their things. “Not fast enough, HUSTLE!” They move quite a bit faster and grab their luggage. This proceeds with all eight companies, one by one.

After you have your bags, you are gently led up the steps and hill to Chase Hall, the cadet barracks. By gently, I mean you are being screamed at by the cadre. And you are RUNNING. FAST. By the time you get to your Wing Area, you are out of breath and looking unsure that you still want to do this. To combat this insecurity, the cadre proceed to tell you to hit the bulkhead (wall) stand at the POA, or Position of Attention. If you do it wrong, you are yelled at. You then have three-zero seconds to find your room and put your things in it. Not thirty seconds, three-zero. This is a military program, remember. After your luggage is in your room, you learn about marching, squaring corners in the barracks, and keeping your eyes in the boat. This essentially means you must move at all ninety-degree angles in the p-way (hall) and stick to the center at all times. Keeping your eyes in the boat is equivalent to staring straight ahead and not moving your head. You are screamed at if you eyeball the cadre.

After this smooth transition into military living, you have zero-five minutes to change into your uniform, which consists of issued cover (hat), T-shirt, shorts, and personal socks and athletic shoes. By the time zero-five minutes has elapsed, you had better be on the bulkhead and counted off. This is done by the first person in line saying “zero-one, sir!”, the next “zero-two, sir!”, so on and so forth until you get to the magic number: the current company head count. After the magic number has been reached, you sound off with “Sir, Charlie Company all present and accounted for, sir!” And a note about sounding off: you had better be loud, or you get to say it again. Think screaming at the top of your lungs--that’s almost loud enough.

By the way, if you were late, you receive a wonderful gift from the cadre: IT. This stands for Intensive Training, or something. No one knows, because they’re too busy noticing how much it sucks. Once, we had to walk around the barracks with a full water bottle outstretched in our arm. This may not sound so bad, but you try walking around with almost three pounds of water on the end of your arm for any length of time. It is difficult. We had to do this because someone forgot to fill up their water bottle all the way.

Also, another cadre favorite is the pushup. Not regular pushups, which most people have no issue with, but very slow, very intense pushups. All the way down, so that you’re barely a hair’s width from the deck. Now hold it...hold it…hold it… UP! No camels or seals in this company, no sir! Hold it some more…a little longer…almost there…DOWN! “Zero-one, sir!” Two of these make your arms start to feel like rubber-flavor Jello. Ten will destroy you.

After getting ITed for being late, you head down to dinner. You double-time (run) down all p-ways, ladderwells (stairs), and outside in the quad. For the ladderwells, you have to stay to the outside, square all corners, and hit every step on the way down. Once in the quad, you form up with other companies and wait for formation to start. While waiting, you are tested on indoc (memorized things) by the cadre. Mostly, you have to scream the Mission: “Sir, The Mission of the United States Coast Guard Academy is to graduate young men and women with sound bodies, stout hearts and alert minds, with a liking for the sea and its lore, with that high sense of honor, loyalty and obedience which goes with trained initiative and leadership; well grounded in seamanship, the sciences and amenities, and strong in the resolve to be worthy of the traditions of commissioned officers in the United States Coast Guard in the service of their country and humanity, sir.”

After the attendance has been taken, you run into the wardroom. All this time, you are expected to loudly greet all senior cadets you know. This includes anyone above you (everyone). “Mr. Slater: sir, good morning Mr. Slater sir!”. You need to know their names, but you are not allowed to take your eyes out of the boat to look at them. You will get very good at peripheral identification of the cadre, otherwise you will hear that dreadful phrase “what did you just call me? Do I LOOK like Mr. Such-and-such? Pushup position TAKE.”

To eat in the wardroom requires permission for all things. To sit down at the table, the AIM-ster in the “hot seat” asks the cadre at the head of the table for “permission for my shipmates and I to be seated please, sir.” Similarly, you must ask for “permission to bring the food aboard”, and “permission for my shipmates and I to begin eating”. While eating, you must remain at POA, keep your eyes in the boat, and square your meal. This involves sitting upright, not touching the back of the chair, keeping eyes dead forward, and lifting food straight up from your plate, making a ninety-degree angle, and putting it straight into your mouth. You don’t eat a lot that first night.

After the meal is over, the Cadet in Command gives “abandon at random”. This means that everyone gets to leave when they feel like it. Except you, the other AIM-sters, and the Swabs. You must wait exactly 180 seconds, and then sound off with “Sir, 180 seconds have fleeting flit into the dark ages of the past since the cadet in command gave abandon at random. May I please be excused, sir?” If it is not loud enough, you do it again. EVERYONE screams this at the same time, but your cadre must be able to hear YOU.

After dinner, you make your way back up to the Wing Area, and have Cadre Time. This is where the cadre have free time with the company. Mostly they quiz you on indoc, but that first day you learn how to properly stow your clothes (folding them exactly right), and make your rack (bed). Then you are allowed zero-niner (military nine is called niner) minutes to shower, change into the gym gear you will sleep in, and hit the bulkhead and be counted off. After that, you brace up while Taps is sounded at 10pm, you sing the Alma Matter, and hit the rack.

Tomorrow morning you have get up at 6am with Revile, have three-zero seconds to hit the bulkhead and count off, then run down to the athletic field, and do Cals (calisthenics). These are brutal by the way. If you are not doing the exercises well enough, you are sent to the fifty-yard line for some IT. After Cals, you run back to the Wing Area and shower, change into the uniform, and go to breakfast. And the best part is, DAY ONE has only started.