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Whether saving lives at sea, stopping drug runners, or responding
to oil spills, Coast Guard members are expected to be Always Ready.
It's their service motto.
More than a slogan, "Always Ready"
personifies tenacity in Coast Guard members. It represents their
mental and physical acuity critical to protecting our homeland.
In fact, extensive wellness assessments of every Coast Guard
member begin long before they enlist.
The Boston Military
Entrance Processing Station is one of 65 MEPS nationwide where about
500 Coast Guard applicants are processed each year. Although the
Coast Guard is the smallest branch of the military, with about 3,400
people serving in the Northeast, the military entrance process is
similar for each service.
At the Boston MEPS, applicants
line up daily at 6 a.m. to be screened for military aptitude,
physical and mental health, and receive a background evaluation
before they swear-in to service.
Not everyone makes the cut.
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Petty Officer 2nd Class David Robey, Boston MEPS's Coast Guard liaison, sits at his desk
December 10, 2015. Robey is one of two enlisted Coast Guard members serving at the Boston MEPS where applicants are processed for military service. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Cynthia Oldham)
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Coast Guard petty officers assigned to the Boston MEPS
staff serve as go-betweens for recruiters and aspirant Coast
Guard members. They are mentors who answer questions, calm
nerves and sometimes serve as bearers of bad news.
“One of the most difficult parts of my job is telling
someone, whose dream is to join the Coast Guard, they don't
qualify,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class David
Robey, Boston MEPS's Coast Guard liaison.
Coast Guard
members are entrusted to safeguard our nation's borders and
save lives at sea. Regardless of desire, some people do not
harbor the mental and physical endurance to serve.
Robey, one of two Coast Guard petty officers assigned to
Boston MEPS, said only about 21 percent of applicants make
it through the Coast Guard entry process their first try and
some never make it through at all.
Robey said his
job is tough and incredibly rewarding.
“There is
nothing abstract about what I do,” Robey said. “I help
people begin Coast Guard careers.”
To assist
applicants with the medical portion of their entrance
process, Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryan Shoemaker
works with a multi-service and civilian medical team to
assess and examine each military applicant.
At the
beginning of each exam, vital signs are taken and
identifying information, like hair and eye color, is
documented for service records.
Each applicant is
examined for past injuries and receives a mental health
screening.
Coast Guard men and women regularly work
in harsh, unpredictable environments and must be emotionally
ready to deploy by air or sea in a moment's notice.
“The applicants are generally quiet, some are nervous,” said
Shoemaker. “I talk them through what we are doing and build
confidence about their choice to serve.”
He said
when he works with an applicant headed into the Coast Guard,
he inquires about their goals and what they are excited and
nervous about. He answers a lot of questions about what it's
like to serve.
“What the applicants go through in
MEPS is life-changing for them and their families,” said
Coast Guard Lt. Steve Arguelles, the executive officer at
MEPS who oversees the applicant process.
Arguelles
said a lot of the applicants don't comprehend the scope of
what lies ahead of them.
“One of the men or women
who process here soon could be the next soldier running
across the battlefield or Coast Guardsman saving a life,” he
said.
After a Coast Guard applicant completes
requirements at the MEPS, and is deemed fit for duty, he or
she will transition from Coast Guard applicant to recruit at
Coast Guard basic training in Cape May, New Jersey. Here,
recruits must demonstrate they are ready and able to save
lives.
Through a plethora of difficult physical,
mental and emotional tasks, recruits experience stressors
parallel to what Coast Guardsmen defy daily.
Routine
Coast Guard missions, like waking at 3 a.m. to save a
fisherman aboard a sinking boat or searching days for a
child who was swept out to sea in a rip current, require
durable emotional and physical stamina.
These types
of scenarios cannot be re-enacted in basic training, but day
and night, different stressful scenarios test recruits'
emotional breaking points.
After proving resiliency,
recruits receive long-awaited orders to join the fleet. Days
after graduating basic training, new Coast Guard members are
aboard rescue boats, underway on cutters and flying in
aircraft immersed in Coast Guard missions.
To
maintain healthful minds and bodies, and mission
proficiency, Coast Guard members, new and seasoned, have a
multitude of support available to them and their families.
Through resources such as the Coast Guard's health, safety,
and work-life programs, chaplains and critical incident
stress management professionals, Coast Guard men and women
embody mission proficiency and live Always Ready.
By U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Cynthia Oldham
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2016
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