Reservist Magazine is the award-winning official publication of the United States Coast Guard Reserve. Quarterly issues include news and feature articles about the men and women who comprise America's premier national maritime safety and security
Issue link: https://uscgreservist.epubxp.com/i/498190
As reservists it can be easy to sail through our career as passengers, though this is not the reason why we initially joined. Those Coast Guard characteristics that drew us to this service are the same attributes which buoyed us during those early days at recruit training and remain in our head and heart each time we choose to reenlist. We joined to protect, to defend, to save and to shield. We vowed to be Semper Paratus, Always Ready for disruption to and extraction from our civilian lives with little or no notice. What we asked to do is not easy. It is a juggling act where each and every ball in the air is of great importance – duty to service, duty to employer, and duty to family. Yet the duty of all Coast Guardsmen, reservist and active duty alike, is to remain ready, always. We are required to be ready in such a way that when orders are given, transition from our everyday world is not only possible but carried out with minimal disruption, because we have prepared, because we are ready. When deployments come they can be as varied as the missions the Coast Guard has been tasked to complete. Yet few circumstances take us out of our element as much as orders to sea. While few reservists have the chance to serve aboard cutters, time at sea is the heritage substance of our service. Many life lessons can be drawn from the rigors of life at sea. In reality, nearly each act of maintaining a heading while under sail can be furled into a metaphor that will guide us long after our time at sea has come to an end. The Coast Guard Cutter EaGLE is more than a magnificent square rigger with tall sails and a storied past. It is a training ship for future officers and all who choose to learn her lessons. It is through this lens that we dispatch to our fellow reservists some observations and insights gleaned from the ocean's tutelage through the vessel EaGLE. To you we send, Postcards from the Sea. 20 RESERVIST � Issue 2 • 2015