Fireman Jennifer Sparkes and Fireman Michelle Gieg, newly reported junior personnel aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Alert, a 210-foot Medium Endurance Cutter homeported in Astoria, Ore., study their watchstanding qualifications on the ship’s messdeck while underway in the Straits of Juan de Fuca, Sept. 27, 2012. Sparkes and Gieg are members of the first mixed-gender enlisted crew aboard a 210-foot Coast Guard vessel.