A week in the life: Coast Guard Training Center Cape May

Photo By Lt. John Edwards | Petty Officer 3rd Class Elmer Vucetich, a Kill Devil Hills, N.C. native and strength and fitness instructor at the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, N.J., instructs recruits on using the shoulder press machine, Sept. 28, 2015. Strength training is part of the physical conditioning our recruits go through during their basic training. (U.S. Coast Guard Photo by Chief Warrant Officer John Edwards)  

CAPE MAY, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES

09.28.2015

Story by Chief Warrant Officer John Edwards 

U.S. Coast Guard Training Center Cape May

CAPE MAY, N.J. - This week we will take an in-depth look at what life at Coast Guard Training Center Cape May is like in our “Week in the Life” series. As home to the Coast Guard’s only accession point for enlisted personnel, our mission, to turn the recruits of today into the Coast Guardsmen of tomorrow, is just as unique as our story. Our goal for this week is to share with you the importance of all the many aspects that make this unit such an integral part of our service’s culture of Honor, Respect and Devotion to Duty.

Here at the training center, we strive to meet our distinctive mission by focusing on three attributes: Be the Coast Guard’s hometown by making this the best place to live, work and visit in the Coast Guard, set the standard of professionalism for our service and to exemplify what it means to serve something greater than our selves.

“Training Center Cape May is where the Coast Guard’s track line starts,” said Capt. Todd Prestidge, commanding officer of Training Center Cape May. “We embody the standard, we teach the standard and we keep the standard safe for generations to come.”

Behind the 3,500 recruits that graduate annually, who are both ready to serve and ready for the rigors of our service, is a fleet of dedicated men and women committed to ensuring the integrity of our culture and to ensure that we can accomplish our mission. From the members of our facilities engineering department who maintain our infrastructure, to the members of our in-house fire department who constantly train and respond to emergencies both on and off base, to our Auxiliary volunteers who conduct public tours and represent our service with pride and enthusiasm, to the instructors that turn America’s greatest volunteers into “Coasties”, you can easily see how multi-faceted our unit is and just how much pride goes into everything we do.

This week I will be taking you along on a day-by-day visual display of what happened on or around base. You can expect to see how we support our members by ensuring they have facilities that run in optimal condition, as well as how we support our community through various programs that result in great relationships with our partners. I plan on showcasing our recruit-training program in several milestone moments as well as giving you a look at how we welcome the newest members of our Coast Guard family in a way that truly shows what it means to be part of something special. It’s going to be a great week and I hope you enjoy coming along for the ride.

So, with that, let’s get started.

• Date Taken: 09.28.2015
• Date Posted: 09.28.2015 11:33
• Story ID: 177388
• Location: CAPE MAY, NEW JERSEY, US
• Hometown: AGOURA HILLS, CALIFORNIA, US
• Hometown: BUFFALO, NEW YORK, US
• Hometown: KILL DEVIL HILLS, NORTH CAROLINA, US
• Hometown: SELMER, TENNESSEE, US