gglock08

Hello Everyone,

I am a 4th class at the USCGA. I completed Swab Summer about 3 months ago. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. You can also email be at george.g.glock@uscga.edu and I will be happy to talk.

Just for some background info, I also applied to the Air Force Academy, and before I was accepted to the USCGA I was going to be attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with an AFROTC Scholarship.

I am from Smithtown, Long Island, NY. I entered the academy from high school. I am majoring in Government. I obtained my private pilot license and I plan to go to flight school upon graduation.

I rowed Crew in the fall, and I am now in Rifle. Both are great sports. I am in the Bowling Club, Aviation Club, and Cadets Against Sexual Assault (CASA). I was in Hotel Company over the summer and I am now in Foxtrot Company.

If you have any questions at all, feel free to contact me.


4/c George Glock
USCGA
Very Respectfully,

Bossf51

Nice George...sounds like you are settling in quite well...we old folks have some knowledge but there's nothing like hearing it from the "horse's mouth" so to speak. GG is a good resource and a veteran of this site.

firmament

I am not saying that parents and older graduates are not helpful with important information, but when I first joined CC I thought the forum was to discuss with my peers who are applying or students currently attending the school. It seems there are more parents than peers on some boards. It is good to know if I have a question about the CGA there is someone to ask. Thanks.

trackandfield08

Hey George,

I actually have a couple of questions and its nice to have a 4/c one the board since I am applying to be a part of the class of 2013. I read that you rowed crew, how was it? Any advice for someone who is interested but has no experience? Also, on the website, it mentions that during the academic year, there is Sat. morning training from 8-12? What does that training typically consist of? Thanks for the help!

gglock08

Great questions trackandfield08. I will first address crew, then trainings.

Crew is known as the "cult" here at the academy. To be honest, I am not sure exactly why. Whenever a cadre asked what sport we were going to do, whenever someone said crew, they would reply "Oh, you're joining the cult?" One of my cadre were on crew. During SS, you will have sports period for about 2 hours twice a week. If you go to crew, there will be a BBQ waiting for you, and it's an amazing time to relax from the stress of SS. I'm sure other sports were good getaways as well, but crew has a lot of great people, and we're right on the water. You won't row during the summer - that will start in the academic year.

This year is the first year I ever rowed. I barely even knew how crew worked. Wait... we row backwards!?!? This year we had about 20 novices joined, which was great because we always had 2 boats out at once and we could race each other. I'd say at last 4/5 of the novices never rowed before. My good friend from SS rowed in HS, and one or two others rowed, but not are varsity good yet. This first season was all about technique and learning how to apply power with your legs. Lots of muscles you have never used before. And it's great because everyone is new and learning together. You become very close with the team.

There's not much to do to prepare for crew, because you probably don't have a boat or a team at your HS. However, ab exercises are best (get good at planks... it's good for crew and good for the academy). Lots of crunches too, and push-ups. A great exercise is squats because your legs are your main muscle groups in rowing, NOT your upper body. Order of importance goes legs, core, arms. That's the order you use when you're rowing. Also a nearby gym may have rowing machines. They may even live lessons with them.



Training. Most of them are, we consider, a waste of time but that's not for us to determine. They're really not that bad, though. Most of them at 7AM after formation when you'd be up anyway probably staring at your emails. They can also be at 1900 (7PM) but we don't have those too often. We often have Saturday morning Trainings. The time slot is 8-12, but that's not always the case. Saturday reveille is 6:30, but you don't need to wake up until 7:30 formation. Sometimes we have Damage Control training, but they usually let us out before 2 hours.There are rarely any trainings where it runs until lunch. Maybe one or two max a month. Also, most training times are with your Company Officer or Company Chief, which are nice because they're great people and it gets everyone on the same page. Oh, just to clarify... training isn't physical. It's always a lecture or powerpoint or discussion.

The worst training, unless you like it, is drill, usually on Friday 7AM - 7:45AM. It's basically a mini parade/formation with pieces (rifles). I'm in the Regimental Band and we play. It's not THAT bad. Friday evenings are Regimental Review from 4 - 5. We wear FDB's (the black uniform with gold buttons). They are REALLY sharp, but you get soooooo hot. Many people actually faint. If you don't drink water before it, you're guaranteed to faint unless you're lucky and there's a cloud blocking the sun. My roommate fainted at one of them. Other than drill, trainings aren't bad and you get the rest of Saturday off at noon until 1AM as a 4th class.

Well I'm going to get back to buffing my deck. I gave up my entire Friday to strip it all and rewax it. It took the entire day too!! Feel free to ask me more questions. You can also email me if it's something more private.

Have a great day.

Very Respectfully,
4/c George Glock
USCGA 2012

P.S. 4TH CLASS RUNNING SUITS WERE JUST APPROVED YESTERDAY SO WE DON'T NEED TO WEAR THE UOD (UNIFORM OF THE DAY) TO DINNER. SO HAPPY.....

Intel53

George - it is my understanding that a 4/C can go to Captain's Mast for posting to a social networking site. The USCGA may well consider this board a social networking site. You might want to check this out.

gglock08

Forums and Message Boards are not considered social networking sites. Social networking sites, like MySpace and Facebook, allow you to create a personal webpage and search for people by name. This site doesn't let you create your own webpage, so it's not considered a social networking site. For example, many companies have their own websites with message boards.

Also, a "social networking site" would be something with a friends list feature where you can create a friends list to keep in touch with specific peoples.

Thanks for your concern though.

Luigi59

Regardless, putting your real name out there might not be the best course of action for a 4/c.

My advice would be to lay low - the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.

Bossf51

Frankly I doubt whether many or any uppers read this forum...let's all take a chill pill in that regard. GG is doing a nice job here. He's not attempting to draw attention to himself and as long as he keeps inside stuff to himself I think he'll be ok.

militarylife

Your 1/c are reading this! In fact I would heed the advice of Luigi59 and lay low.
There are too many 4/c that need to be studying rather than giving advice. (as well meaning as it might be)
Putting your name out here is not a wise idea! There is a BIG difference between a company web site and CC; this is considered a social networking web site.

gglock08

With all due respect to everyone, we went over the internet policy time and time again. Unless you are a current cadet here, you wouldn't know the policy because it changes every year. If you feel so strongly about this, then instead of asking me a question here, send me an email. But I am here to help... and my grades are just where they need to be. If anyone has factual regulation that I should not be on this site, by all means present it, but don't tell people not to do things because you think there's a chance it's wrong. We learned that the hard way during Swab Summer... I will go up my chain today to confirm, however. Please continue to feel free to ask any questions.

Bossf51

Cheers to you gg. You know more about the CGA and its rules than anybody...I know MY 1/c doesn't read this stuff...he is too busy with his own career and helping his shipmates. Carry on, sir.

Luigi59

Perhaps you need to go back re-read what I wrote.

Nothing about it being wrong or against any regulation.

My concern is only for a new 4/c cadet putting his real name out on an internet forum as an advice columnist.

Do whatever you wish, take the advice for what you paid for it.

firmament

Why can't we all just get along? The CC forum is to serve a purpose, not for parents to decide which students can offer insights about questions in the posts, though I agree with L-59 about using a different tag. There are a lot of weirdos out there.

AcademyFan

I noticed that some of my friends who are 4/c at coast guard, disabled their facebooks. Is this a company or a school-wide policy, and what else are you not allowed and have to do. For ex. chopping, chow-calls