CG Recruits Vote for Favorite Video

CAPE MAY – “And the winner is…” Those words were echoed Dec. 17 when more than 200 Coast Guard recruits from the Cape May Training Center attended the Top 10 Video Premiere and cast their ballots “the old-fashioned way” for their favorite service video of the year.
The American public gets an opportunity to cast votes on Facebook (www.facebook.com/uscoastguard) or YouTube (www.youtube.com/user/USCGImagery) starting Dec. 22 when the videos are released nationwide.
“Most Coast Guard operations and missions aren’t caught on camera,” said Capt. Todd Prestidge, commanding officer of the center. “Much of our work occurs in the black of night during the most brutal weather conditions or thousands of miles away from U.S. shores in some of the most dangerous places on earth. This gives the people we serve an opportunity to see what Coast Guardsmen do every day.”
One of the operations that was caught on camera showed a sea turtle rescue conducted by two guardsmen from Cape May this past August. One of the people on the rescue boat videotaped it, and after adding some interviews with the rescuers, it was submitted to Coast Guard Headquarters for consideration.
The recruits cast a paper ballot since they are unable to access the Internet during basic training.
“We got a call from a pleasure boat that a leatherback sea turtle was entangled in some commercial fishing gear and was distressed,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Garrett Dailey, one of the rescuers.
“It was about 30 miles off shore, so we got underway, picked up an official from the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine and went right to the spot that was called in.”
What they found was a sea turtle that weighed approximately 800 pounds and measured about 5.5 feet across. “It was very distressed. We had to figure out a way to not hurt the turtle, and not get hurt ourselves,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class James Pappas, another rescuer.
Leatherback sea turtles are the largest of all turtles and the fourth heaviest modern reptile behind three crocodiles, according to the National Geographic website.
“We sat beside it; it had lines all over itself,” recalled Pappas, who has been in the Coast Guard nine years. “There was one wrapped around his front fin that had started digging into its flesh. Another line was wrapped around its neck. We also had to be careful not to get the lines swept up into our boat’s propeller.”
Within about three minutes, the creature was freed and swam off apparently unhurt.
“We sat beside it, and carefully cut away the lines,” said Dailey, who has been in the Coast Guard seven years. It was his second sea turtle rescue and Pappas’ first. Both have been stationed in Cape May about 2.5 years.
“These videos promote the Coast Guard’s missions,” explained Chief Warrant Officer John Edwards, external affairs officer. “It’s also a great way for the American public to interact with the Coast Guard through social media.”
It’s the second time that a Cape May video has been selected as one of the Top 10.
“The videos also give our recruits a chance to see what they will be doing very soon,” Edwards added.
Recruit Nickole Wood, who graduates from training Dec. 19, agreed. “I’m actually really excited after seeing these videos because it gave me a chance to see some of the work we could be doing.”
Wood, from Yorktown, Va., will spend Christmas with her family before reporting to special missions training at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C.
At 28, she joined the Coast Guard “to travel, for the benefits and to go back to school. I am looking at working in operations, intelligence or as a yeoman. The videos really helped show what I could be doing.”
The winning video? The Cape May recruits selected “life aboard a cutter” as their favorite.
“I’m told our recruits have a penchant for picking the winner,” Edwards said, “so maybe this will hold true.”
And how did the video of the Cape May sea turtle rescue fare? The local recruits selected it as their third favorite.
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.