I received a suggestion a few weeks ago to talk about drug testing.  As most people involved with the Academy know, cadets are randomly drug tested to stay in compliance with Coast Guard licensing requirements.  Testing has always been conducted regularly at the Academy, but this year it’s being done with greater frequency.  Starting this year, testing is being conducted twice a month, instead of just once a month as it used to be.  This is being done for a couple of reasons.  First off, the number of cadets in the regiment has been increasing over the past few years, so they need to test more often to fit more people in.  Second, it keeps people “on their toes” about drugs here at the academy, and hopefully deters people who may otherwise have gambled with their chances of getting tested when it was just once a month.  The tests are not scheduled, and are spaced unevenly and scheduled at different times and dates each test to make it even more of a deterrent from using drugs.

Not all cadets are tested an equal number of times.  Last year I was chosen to be tested for the first testing of the year.  I didn’t get tested again until the beginning of this year.  I have friends, however, who were tested multiple times last year, and some people have been tested more than once already this year.  It’s luck of the draw, so some people get to experience it more than others.  It’s not a big deal, but it’s annoying to be woken at 0530 to go get tested.  Really, drug testing is a very minor aspect of life at the academy.

I received a suggestion a while ago (sorry for the delay to whoever left it) to talk about what opinions are being expressed about the presidential election.  To be honest, I’ve been tiptoeing around the issue on my blog, since this is such a polarized election.  However, since today is election day and what’s done is done at the time that I’m writing this, I figured it might be a good time to discuss it.

Opinions seem to be quite strong in the regiment, or at least among the people I spend the most time with.  Most people appear to be McCain supporters, but people on both sides are not being ambiguous about their politics.  It’s definitely made for some very interesting and high-powered arguments and discussions among cadets.  I’m really glad to see it, since it means that people are taking a strong interest in their political system and in how the government works.

I’m writing this just after 7pm on Election Day, so the first numbers are being reported.  No matter which way the election goes, the atmosphere on campus tomorrow is going to be charged.

Holy smokes, he’s back!  Yes, after being cut off from the real world for two months, I am finally finished with boot camp and starting my sophomore year at MMA.  I’ve been back at Mass Maritime for two days now, having arrived at school yesterday morning.  Already I’ve noticed differences in daily life between being a fourth class and being a third class.

First off, the most obvious differences:  We no longer have cleaning stations and study hours.  I no longer have to check the cleaning bill to see if I have to be up at 0545 to sweep the decks or scrub toilets, and do it again that night.  I don’t have to keep my door open for two hours each night pretending to get work done while people file in and out of my room, keeping me from being able to focus.  As third class cadets, we pretty much keep to ourselves, and are left alone most of the time, which I like.

We also have fewer inspections, and the ones we do have are at more convenient times.  We only have three inspections a week (instead of six as freshmen), and they’re all on weekday mornings (instead of having one on Sunday night).  As a result, I get to sleep in a little later on mornings that I don’t have inspection.

Unfortunately, my academic work load has increased somewhat.  Mainly, I’ve noticed that I have a lot more reading to do than I did last year.  While I don’t particularly mind reading itself, I have a nasty habit of falling asleep when I am reading from a book for more than about 15 pages, so I’ll have to find a way to overcome that.

I’ve been enjoying watching this year’s fourth class cadets around campus, watching them do the things that we had to do - running any time they’re outside, squaring corners when they’re in the dorms, etc.  I’ve also been greeted as “sir” by at least a dozen fourth class in the past two days, even though I’m only a third class, so I’ve had to remind them that “blue-taggers” (my class has blue name tags) are not sir or ma’am, we’re not much different from them in fact.  I actually find it pretty funny.

This year we get liberty on Wednesdays, starting after our last class of the day until we have to sign in between 2300 and 0000.  While I’m really looking forward to having time to get off campus in the middle of the week, I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with the time, and foresee it providing a good opportunity to waste money.  Still, it’s an opportunity to take a break mid-week, so I’ll take it.

Not much else seems to be going on around here that’s worth reporting on, although tomorrow morning we have a meeting to vote on our ports of call for Sea Term 2009, so once I find out the final decision on those I’ll post it.

So usually I try to avoid writing these posts because I generally regard them as filler, but I thought it might be appropriate this week. We have some unique events going on over the next couple of days that I felt would be worthy of some introduction prior to my post-event write-ups that will follow (man, it’s just hyphen city back there, isn’t it?).

Tomorrow is Emory Rice day, which is our annual field day at the end of the year. The day starts off with a marching competition between the companies. Each freshman platoon in the regiment represents their competition, just as we did for Recognition back in September. This time is a little different however, because we will be marched by the upcoming company commander for our company, providing them with their first real experience in publicly leading the company as an officer. The afternoon is filled with activities aimed at providing us with some fun near the end of the year, such as an obstacle course done by ROTC and a rock wall. All activities are done by company, and are worth points towards Honor Company. I’ll explain Honor Company in a later post, so stay tuned for that.

Wednesday afternoon is Change of Command. Now that Coasties are over and we’re only weeks away from the end of the year, it’s time for this year’s graduating seniors to step down from their officer positions and hand the reigns over to the upcoming officers for next year. There’s a formal ceremony that will be held Wednesday afternoon on the Parade Field. Since I haven’t seen a Change of Command at MMA before, I’m not really sure the details of the ceremony. Since I’ll most likely have to be in formation for the duration of it I won’t be able to take pictures, but I’ll try to get some pictures to post from someone here at MMA (if there’s anybody reading this who’ll be here and would like to share their photos-maybe the Admissions office-I’d appreciate it, shoot me an e-mail).

Not much else to report from Taylor’s Point, except that the weather’s getting too nice for us to be indoors. I vote that classes start being held outside, who’s with me?

Mass Maritime has a multi-layer chain of command, due to the co-existence of cadet and staff officers and leaders. I’ve created an overview of the chain of command below.

Continue reading ‘MMA’s Chain of Command: From the President to the 4/C Cadet, and Everyone In Between’ »