Recruits Spend Thanksgiving Day Away from Basic Training Rigors

CAPE MAY – For Coast Guard Recruit Daniel Moltrum, the hardest part of basic training has been being cut off from the outside world not knowing how his wife and 5-month-old daughter are doing.
For Bradley Hite, it’s been the extended time spent away from home and family.
For Kyle Hicks, the hardest part of basic training has been the physical fitness aspect.
All three got a chance to forget those challenges as they and 346 other recruits spent Thanksgiving Day away from the rigors of basic training during Operation Fireside.
Operation Fireside is a program organized and run by the Southern Shore Chapter of the American Red Cross whereby local families, churches and organizations host recruits for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is in its 35th year.
Groups of recruits also spent the day at Macedonia Baptist Church in Cape May, American Veterans organization in Ventnor, Disabled American Veterans Chapter 44 in Del Haven, and American Legion posts in Woodbine and Wildwood.
“This willingness to support our Coast Guard men and women is an example of South Jersey’s commitment to both our service members and our nation,” said Capt. Todd Prestidge, commanding officer of Training Center Cape May.
“Most of them just simply want to take their boots off and call home,” said Prestidge.
Moltrum’s first call was to his wife, who currently lives with his parents in Modesto, Calif. Hite and Hicks called their girlfriends first.
“The hardest part of training is not the yelling, the activities, the stress; it’s all the activities outside of boot camp,” said Moltrum, 19. “It’s hard being cut off from your family and not knowing how they are doing.”
Like many others, Moltrum joined the U.S. Coast Guard to serve his country. “This is the best country in the world, hands down,” he noted. “But there are a lot of things that are bad going on and if I can make a difference and help stop the bad, that’s what I want to do. I want to make a difference.
“I’m young, and hopefully have a long life ahead of me,” he added. “If I enjoy it, I may want to stay in and eventually retire from the Coast Guard.”
His brother served eight years in the Coast Guard and Moltrum hopes he may be making a new family tradition with his enlistment.
“I hope to be home six hours after graduation,” Moltrum noted. After a short break, he and his family will pack up and move to Baltimore, Md. where he will serve on the USCGC Eagle.
“I consider it a real honor to have been assigned to this ship right out of boot camp,” Moltrum said. Nicknamed “America’s Tall Ship,” the Eagle is a training barque for future officers. It is 295 feet long, and is a German war-prize formerly SSS Horst Wessel. She is one of two active commissioned sailing vessels in the U.S. military, the other is the USS Constitution.
Hicks, 18, is from Leonardtown, Md. He has spent much of his life on the water, living near the Chesapeake Bay where he and his father often fish and boat.
His dad retired from the Navy after more than 20 years, and his grandfathers and a great-grandfather also served in the U.S. military.
“I’m assigned to the medium endurance cutter, the Bear, out of Portsmouth, Va.,” the recruit said. The crew will spend six weeks on patrol at a time, conducting counter drug patrols, search and rescue, alien migrant interdiction operations, fisheries enforcement and international engagement. Bear is 270 feet long and in October returned from a Caribbean Sea patrol. 
Basic training for Hicks has been “easier than he expected,” he said. “I had heard such stories about boot camp, but it’s really about the knowledge they are requiring us to know. They pack a lot in during our eight weeks of training. But I am looking forward to fishing off the back of the cutter during downtime.”
Throughout the day, the young men enjoyed home cooked food, and their first soft-drink and dessert since they started basic training, in between telephone calls home, watching football on TV, and chatting with their host family. They shared stories about their basic training, including “fire, fire, fire” drills during the first four weeks.
“These are drills that would happen at any time, often early morning, and we had to put our boots on, run outside and be prepared for physical drills. It’s relaxed a little more lately, but I’m sure we’re in for more before graduation,” Hite noted.
Moltrum, Hicks and Hite are six weeks into the eight-week training program with graduation scheduled for Dec. 11.
They also toured Cape May, its beaches and sights, and were amazed at how “fine” the sand was. After a visit to Cape May Point State Park, they walked Sunset Beach where they found Cape May diamonds and viewed the S.S. Atlantus, the concrete ship offshore.
“Cape May is awesome,” Moltrum said. “I probably would have had a different impression in my first couple of weeks here, but today’s tour expanded my impression. It’s beautiful with the Victorian homes. We don’t have anything like this where I live.”
Twenty-year-old Hite, from Jacksonville, Fla., echoed Moltrum’s sentiments about Cape May, saying he’s always loved “being on the water.” He is a reservist with the Coast Guard because he wants to finish his college degree before active duty.
“I’ve been interested in the Coast Guard for several years,” Hite said. He would speak with his maternal grandfather about his time in the Navy, when his grandfather was a deep-sea diver during the Cold War.
“I really got interested in the Coast Guard so I applied to the Academy when I was a senior in high school,” he noted. While he did not get an appointment, his desire to join the Coast Guard did not waver. Neither did his desire to earn a degree, so he enrolled at the University of North Florida, where he is a sophomore.
“I did things a little backwards,” he said. “A lot of people enlist so they can use their education benefits after active duty. I wanted to finish my degree first, so I’ll be a reservist before starting active duty.” As a reservist, he will spend one weekend monthly for drills and two weeks during the year for specialized, active duty training.
As the day came to a close, the recruits wrapped up last minute phone calls to family and friends, drank their last cup of coffee and prepared to re-enter the rigors of basic training. Boots were back on and tightly laced, dress blouses buttoned and caps snug on their heads.
“It was a happy surprise to be able to spend the day with a family,” the recruits noted. “Everything was awesome.”
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.