Operation Fireside Mission Accomplished, CG Recruits Feast, Rest on Thanksgiving

CAPE MAY – More than 400 U.S. Coast Guard recruits got to talk with families and loved ones and reconnect with the world they had been cut off from for as much as six weeks when they spent Thanksgiving Day with about 120 local families who hosted them as part of Operation Fireside. 
Coordinated by the American Red Cross Southern Shore Chapter, Operation Fireside has placed recruits with families during Thanksgiving and Christmas since 1981.
Between both holidays, 160 families are hosting recruits for Thanksgiving and 290 recruits for Christmas. Currently, the Red Cross has a “long” family wait list for Christmas.
In addition to the host families, the Millville Elks provided Thanksgiving dinner for recruits. This was their second year as hosts.
“I think the hardest part is adapting to the separation from our families and loved ones,” Recruit Matt Johnston, 20, of Blythewood, S.C. said, “and so little communication with the outside world. Especially because we are a generation of instant and constant communication.”
Johnston’s thoughts were echoed by recruits Carson Krainian, 21, of Camden County, N.C., and Ben Brumm, 22, of Lodi, Calif. All three are in the sixth week of basic training at the Cape May Training Center, hoping to graduate in two weeks.
Brumm’s first call was to his wife of one year. Although they write letters regularly, the delay with “snail mail” leaves both wanting more contact to share details of what both are going through on opposite sides of the country.
“The first week we got to training was a big change for me,” Brumm acknowledged. “We were being shouted at by our commanding officers, and we had to respond quickly, loud, and you have to think fast and spit out the answers to the questions they ask.
“Weeks two to four were gruesome physically,” he added, “not so much with sit ups and things like that, but because sometimes we would have to hold our manuals for two hours reading aloud from the same paragraph. Or we would have to hold our canteens and keep our eyes straight ahead for hours.
“In the beginning, we didn’t work well as a team,” he noted about his squad, Romeo 193. “If someone screws up, we all pay. You have to mesh together as a team without talking to each other. There is a constant change in what knowledge we need to know as well; there is so much to memorize. I didn’t expect training to be so mentally challenging. It seems impossible at the beginning, but we keep adding on and learning more and more.
“And now, our squad works more as a team, than not,” Brumm said.
Brumm joined the Coast Guard because he wanted to “help others” and hopes to eventually land in law enforcement.
In California, he said, they won’t hire anyone in law enforcement under the age of 28. So after a variety of odd jobs and doing research about the Guard, he decided to join.
He, like the others, have four years of active duty and then four years of inactive reserves unless they decide to make a career out of it.
“Cape May is beautiful,” he said after touring the island, “but we don’t really get a chance to enjoy it. Today is a taste of freedom, which we are lucky to be able to have.”
After graduation, Brumm and his wife will head to Air Station Port Angeles, Wash. where he will be on the 210-foot cutter ACTIVE, conducting law enforcement activities along the West Coast.
Krainian grew up across the river from U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C. and saw the daily operation of the Coast Guard base.
As a tenth grader, he joined the Guard’s junior leadership program where he was exposed to the Guard’s core values of honor, respect, and duty.
“I tried college after I graduated, but I didn’t really enjoy it,” he said. “I bounced around with jobs, too, and finally decided to try the Coast Guard.”
For Krainian, who describes himself as a car buff, he misses the freedom to drive when he wants since starting basic training. He restored a 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1, which is his pride and joy and looks forward to the day when he can drive it at will again.
“The toughest part has been settling in for the long haul,” he noted. Krainian was part of an earlier squad, but missed his push-up goal by five and had to start over at week 3. He’s able to meet his goals now and expects to graduate in two weeks as well. After that, he will travel to the U.S. Coast Guard Portsmouth, Va., base to a small boat station to start his duty.
“This is the first time I’ve been away from the family for so long and cut off from them,” Krainian said. “The classes, training, night watch duties, all of it has been really tough. But one of my commanding officers told us that the time is always right to do what is right. That really resonated with me, and I know the time is right for me to be here.”
The time is right for Johnston, as well, although for him the separation from family and loved ones have been the most difficult part of training until he talks about the physical and mental demands. “During the first three weeks, I would go to services at the chapel each week and just cry. My dad is in our church choir, and the songs would remind me of him and how much I miss him. My girlfriend plays in the church band, and when I heard the music, it just reminded me of how much I missed my family and loved ones.”
Johnston, who said he is a descendant of the first Confederate general, Joseph Johnston, said he joined the Coast Guard after hearing about it at a high school Career Day and then researched it further. “I want to make a difference and leave a legacy,” he said. “Maybe I can start a tradition for my future family as well (of being in the Guard). I want my family to be proud of me, and I love the water, so this made sense for me.”
The Guard’s core values are also something that Johnston believes apply to life outside the military, as well as within. “One of the things I’ve learned being in the Coast Guard is that nothing is a given, it’s a privilege to have many things in life. I’ve learned not to give in during boot camp, and you can’t give up while you are on your fleet, or in life.
“I want to be able to support my future family, and the Coast Guard will give me a way to do that,” he said, as he is considering making it a career. “I’ll be able to see the world, travel some and make a difference.”
After graduation, Johnston will report to St. Petersburg, Fla., where he will be on the coastal buoy tender, Appleby. “These guys are my brothers now,” he said about Krainian and Brumm, and his squad. “We’ve grown so much since day one. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and what we need to do to come together as a team to get it done.
“We are succeeding more,” he added, “focusing on the win. What is important now? That’s what we need to focus on.”
Training Center Cape May is the Coast Guard’s only enlisted basic training site, and more than 80 percent of the service’s workforce receives basic instruction there to become Coast Guardsmen.
The recruits are trained in everything from firearms familiarization to basic water survival.
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.