CAPE MAY – Coast Guard Capt. Todd Prestidge’s next duty station, when he is relieved as commanding officer of Coast Guard Training Center Cape May in June, will be at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington. For the sea-going skipper, who, early-on set his goal as overseeing the service’s lone recruit training site, it’s a career move. Regardless his heart will remain with “The Coast Guard’s Hometown.”
As Prestidge addressed the Cape May County League of Municipalities April 26 at Oyster Bay Restaurant here, it was apparent how close his ties were to the city and county that became, during his command, a Coast Guard Community.
He recounted the May 2015 festival which formalized the county as a Coast Guard Community, when Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul F. Zukunft leaned over to him and said, “You’re onto something here.” “I said, ‘Yes, sir, we are.”
Prestidge, who is one of the first officers recruits meet when they report to the center and one of the last they see departing for their duty stations, noted during his three-year tenure, about 8,000 or roughly 20 percent of the service’s 41,700 active-duty members were trained in Cape May. That translates to 42 recruit company graduations annually.
The captain rehearsed a passing thought he had about the upcoming change of command ceremony. He noted that a senior officer will address the incoming commanding officer to relieve the present commander. At that time, the new commanding officer will say, “I offer you my relief.” “I jokingly said to (Mayor) Ed (Mahaney) the other day, “What if I just said ‘no? What if I said I’m not leaving?”
Back in 2001, when Prestidge had command of a buoy-tending ice breaker on the Great Lakes, his commander urged all his ship captains to read a self-help book, then to write down all their goals, personal and professional, spiritual and physical. After that, they were to read them aloud to their peers, accepting criticism for them.
One of those goals, Prestidge said, was to be commanding officer of Training Center Cape May. I wanted to be a captain. “That was my career goal,” he said.
Then, relating how careers go in the military, Prestidge said, “It is up or out. So, if you do not make the next pay grade you leave.”
When he was a junior commander, at the O-4 level, in 2012, he was told he would be assigned another sea-going command. Still, he would not let go of the goal to become commanding officer in Cape May.
Offered his pick of ships, including even the newest one, he said, “Thank you, I am honored by this opportunity, but what about Cape May?” “He said, ‘You’re not going to Cape May. What didn’t you hear the last time?’”
“In 2013 he called me and he said ‘All right, you’re going to Cape May,” said Prestidge. Often asked “Why Cape May?” Was he from New Jersey? “No, I’m from Texas,” he said.
Prestidge recounted that a group of friends would annually gather at Steve Sides’ Poconos A-frame for a weekend, and would also visit Cape May. Sides is a friend and Coast Guard Academy classmate who married Cori Osborne from Court House.
“What better place to leave a lasting contribution to our service and influencing its culture?” he said of Cape May. “We can’t hire an admiral off the streets like you could hire a CEO,” said Prestidge. “You can’t buy your way into the senior ranks of the Coast Guard. You have to start from the bottom. You can’t start out as a master chief, and it doesn’t matter who you know. You have to start as a recruit and maybe 26 or 30 years, if you can stick it out, you become an admiral or master chief.
“What contribution are you going to pay forward? I thought there was no better place for me to be if I really believe in my service than to influence the future of our youth. So that’s why I wanted to be in charge of our boot camp,” Prestidge said.
“It has been my absolute pleasure,” he added.
Speaking of many in the service, Prestidge said he heard them say, “Of course Cape May is a Coast Guard City.” They were surprised to learn it was not. When the city and county decided to strive to become a Coast Guard Community, it was a formidable task, he acknowledged. Only 15 other communities in the nation have attained that status.
He noted that annually about a dozen home-port cities will make an application to attain the coveted status, and very few survive the process.
Prestidge thanked Mahaney, Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton and Freeholder Will Morey for accepting the challenge that helped the status become a reality. He added that the county nomination package “sailed through” the process.
He said the actions of Cape May County people, who are among the first to salute young recruits and thank them for their service are “indelible” and remain with them throughout their career.
“That is why Cape May is so important to our Coast Guard,” said Prestidge. “The first experience is a lasting impression. That’s why Cape May County is so important, and I knew that coming in.”
How will success of the designation be measured in the future? When items that state, “Cape May County the Coast Guard Hometown” are sold next to other souvenir items. “Because then our logo is next to your logo and you are just as proud of us being here.”
Four-by-six-foot signs have been approved that will be posted in each of the county’s 16 communities declaring, “Welcome to Cape May County a Proud Coast Guard Community.” Similar signs will be posted on the Garden State Parkway, Prestidge said.
Lower Township – Who are these people that are obvious experts on trash cans and leaf pick-up? Maybe they don't have any trash to put out or leaves in their yard!!
