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Lieutenant Neil D
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“Lay aloft and harbor furl” is shouted through a brass megaphone by the mast captain, and dozens of cadets scramble up the Eagle’s ratlines and side step out on her yards. They are following a tradition as old as the U. S. Coast Guard Academy itself.
But why sail training in the age of nuclear and gas turbine propulsion, space-age electronics, and computer generation cadets? The answer requires looking beyond the Eagle’s obvious beauty and the nostalgic age of the tall ships it recalls. The answer lies in what is learned during the “Eagle experience.”
The experience begins when fourth-class cadets, who, as they near the end of their first summer’s indoctrination to academy life, step on board the Eagle for a one-week short cruise. These swabs have been all but turned inside out by this time, each waking hour of the past month having been a test of their mettle. Specially trained second-class cadet cadre taught them how to stand, sit, march, run, salute, eat, sleep, answer, keep quiet, stow gear, present arms, shine shoes, and a host of additional essentials of military life.
Up the brow they trudge with their seabags, render-
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the nervous salutes to the national ensign and officer of the ^ec^’ an<^ setting foot on the teak deck of one of .w°rld’s few remaining sail training vessels. What ^§tns now is a transformation to a new level of swab- °ne that requires something in addition to the imr ediate reaction to orders given. This transformation th0UCes ^oses self-reliance and confidence. Al- recu§h a week under way may seem short, each cadet theeiVes an unforgettable introduction to the realm of Mariner, and the language of the sea.
The cadets return to the Eagle after their fourth-d3 (freshman) year at the academy. What follows during that summer is a much more concentrated and length; process, lasting as long as five weeks. Each third-d3 cadet assumes the role of an enlisted person under t direct supervision of first-class cadets and permanent enlisted personnel assigned to the Eagle. During con stantly rotating watches and duties, third-class cadets clean compartments, wipe oil, peel potatoes, serve meals, chip paint; they also leam celestial navigati°n’
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,lrst a'd, visual signaling, watchstanding, and mar- lnesPike seamanship. During this cruise, they acquire a Sense of mission and appreciation of the value of team- ^0rk. Although constantly supervised, third-class ca- «s stretch their limits as they encounter new chal- enges. Where going aloft a few times as a fourth class jnvolved the suppression of extraordinary fear, it now , ec°mes a routine which builds confidence as each nd and foot hold means the difference between approaching adversity with a cool head, or, although sel
They do go up, despite the wind and the rain and the P‘ ching and the heeling. They do go up, because they n°w that they and their fellows and their ship are §ood and true and tough. And they climb back down hen the work is done because they all had the stuff it es to make it work. And they’re the better for it. e Coast Guard has no other training platform with
which so many cadets can experience so much at one time.
Cadets are again sent to the Eagle for their first-class (senior) summer, this time in the role of junior officers, having reached a point in their training where they must lead others in what they have been led to do. All is done under the watchful eye of the captain, the ship’s officers, and the regular crew. The members of the ship’s company will bite their lips from time to time rather than intervene as the upper class cadets sort out the best way to get things done properly.
In all, about 200 cadets, officers, and crew members will be on board for each training cruise. Days or weeks of sail-trimming evolutions and seagoing instruction are broken with port calls, allowing for diplomacy, social and cultural enrichment, and whatever else sailors do during a well-earned liberty. The Eagle often participates in tail-ship events such as Quebec 84, or visits ports in conjunction with various maritime events. There’s no denying the Eagle’s secondary public relations role and the large numbers of visitors at each port of call attest to the lure of this magnificent tall ship as thousands of visitors tour her decks and ponder her rigging.
Perhaps the debate over the value of sail training will never end. Neither will the debate over what makes
good leaders. Today, the Eagle is safer and far better equipped than when launched nearly 50 years ago. 1 Coast Guard plans to use her for her intended purp°se well into the next century, because the “Eagle experl ence” never leaves those who have sailed in her. B lasts a lifetime.
Lieutenant Ruenzel, currently serving as public affairs officer at t U. S. Coast Guard Academy, sailed in the Eagle during the Ber- muda-Halifax tall ships race in June 1984. The Eagle placed seco behind Poland’s full-rigged Dar Mlodziezy in the “A” class. Dur the first night of the race, the Eagle suffered a 50° + knockdown freak storm while 20 to 30 cadets and crew were aloft, taking in The following morning a similar storm caught the 117-foot tall s Marques unawares, sinking her with the loss of 18 people.
Proceedings / JunC