Welcome to Week 02!
This week, Rob is in a lot of pain.
Now that November Company has been taken command of by their Company Commanders, the real training begins. And this is the steep part of the learning curve. Recruits are rather retarded in this phase of training. They are a bunch of individuals from different places and backgrounds that have been abruptly thrown into a blender together and expected to work as one. Obviously, this transition is not a smooth one. There is a lot to learn immediately. The Company Commanders waste no time. A lot of civilian habits need to be broken and kids weaned away from their former lives. The way this is accomplished is through a strict diet of stress and pain. At this point, most recruits are doing whatever they need to to avoid being yelled at or made to do push-ups. Doing exercises until you feel like you want to throw up and someone screaming in your face at until you want to cry are great motivators to learn quickly. Many recruits do learn quickly. Rob will certainly be in that category. But some don't. And unfortunately, right now, the entire company is punished for any errors. If one person is slow and misses a time objective, that means everyone missed the time objective. This is meant to build teamwork. The Coast Guard is such a small service with so many diverse and complex missions that teamwork is essential. Nothing would be possible without every person doing their part to achieve the common goal. The idea that we succeed together and we fail together is planted now and reinforced every day, in every way.
So if you're wondering what SR Cotter is doing at any given time this week, just assume he "pushing the deck" and there is a good chance you are right. He will be sore. He will be exhausted. And while he is doing his umpteenth set of crunches that day, he will be incredibly frustrated at the inability of others to catch on quicker. But that is part of the process. Soon enough each person will figure out what it takes to fall in line and make it work. The transformation that each company goes through in eight weeks, from a gaggle of wide-eyed kids to a tight-knit band of future Guardians is astounding and it has already begun.
Now that November Company has been taken command of by their Company Commanders, the real training begins. And this is the steep part of the learning curve. Recruits are rather retarded in this phase of training. They are a bunch of individuals from different places and backgrounds that have been abruptly thrown into a blender together and expected to work as one. Obviously, this transition is not a smooth one. There is a lot to learn immediately. The Company Commanders waste no time. A lot of civilian habits need to be broken and kids weaned away from their former lives. The way this is accomplished is through a strict diet of stress and pain. At this point, most recruits are doing whatever they need to to avoid being yelled at or made to do push-ups. Doing exercises until you feel like you want to throw up and someone screaming in your face at until you want to cry are great motivators to learn quickly. Many recruits do learn quickly. Rob will certainly be in that category. But some don't. And unfortunately, right now, the entire company is punished for any errors. If one person is slow and misses a time objective, that means everyone missed the time objective. This is meant to build teamwork. The Coast Guard is such a small service with so many diverse and complex missions that teamwork is essential. Nothing would be possible without every person doing their part to achieve the common goal. The idea that we succeed together and we fail together is planted now and reinforced every day, in every way.
So if you're wondering what SR Cotter is doing at any given time this week, just assume he "pushing the deck" and there is a good chance you are right. He will be sore. He will be exhausted. And while he is doing his umpteenth set of crunches that day, he will be incredibly frustrated at the inability of others to catch on quicker. But that is part of the process. Soon enough each person will figure out what it takes to fall in line and make it work. The transformation that each company goes through in eight weeks, from a gaggle of wide-eyed kids to a tight-knit band of future Guardians is astounding and it has already begun.