Lt. Governor Tours Coast Guard Training Center

CAPE MAY – Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno learned first-hand Aug. 7, just how important the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center is to the economy of the county, state and nation. Capt. Todd Prestidge, commanding officer of the center, explained the operation of the training center, then escorted Guadagno and the official party into a recruit squad bay then to the Base Exchange.
Guadagno, who was acting governor because Gov. Chris Christie was out of state, spearheaded a task force gaining insight on how vital are the Garden State’s military bases.
Accompanying Guadagno was Brig. Gen. Michael Cunniff, N.J. National Guard and commissioner of the N.J. Department of Military and Veteran Affairs, Paul Boudreau, a task force member and president, Morris County Chamber of Commerce and Michele Brown, CEO of the state Economic Development Authority and task force member.
Underscoring the importance of the base and its personnel to the county and city was Cape May Mayor Edward H. Mahaney Jr., Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton, Assemblyman Samuel Fiocchi (R-1st) and Assemblyman Robert Andrzejczak (D-1st). Mahaney noted that the city considers the base as one of its three prongs of economic stability, the others being tourism and commercial fishing. Thornton noted that they center generates some $168 million revenue in the county.
“Eighty percent of our workforce starts here,” Prestidge told Guadagno. That’s because the center graduates 45 classes per year, between 3,000 and 3,500 enlisted recruits. Men and women train together and are ready for the fleet upon graduation, he said. Between 600 and 1,000 attend those graduations, he said, and added for many of those family members from around the nation, the visit here is their first to the East Coast.
Prestidge lauded the entire community, city and county, for welcoming the recruits and the station company and their families.
He underscored that the welcome Guadagno received from him was “Welcome to Cape May” not to the center alone. Such a welcome, Prestidge noted, is offered to all who come onto the base.
In Munro Hall, a recruit company barracks, Guadagno learned of its namesake, who died saving Marines during World War II. She then went to the second floor where Prestidge explained the living space filled with militarily-made “racks” (bunk beds) and how recruits are trained to stow their gear in precise fashion.
Diversity, too, is part of the service, he explained. When new recruits reported last week, they came not only from the Continental U.S., but also from Puerto Rico.
“They are ready to represent the Coast Guard when they leave here,” Prestidge said. He cited the six hours of liberty granted to late-stage recruits. “They represent us in the public,” he said, noting many are familiar with the sight of uniformed “Coasties” on Washington Street in Cape May as well as in the Rio Grande shopping area.
Prestidge made special mention that the Cape May County Board of Chosen Freeholders and Mayor Mahaney has taken extensive measures to ensure the recruits are well received. Freeholders, he noted, provide free transportation to the recruits on liberty on Saturdays to Washington Street and to Rio Grande.
He noted, too, that many city and area merchants offer military discounts.
Sunday afternoons are special, too, Prestidge noted. That is when recruit companies jog a three-mile loop through the city accompanied by their company commanders unless rain or snow prevents those runs. Those companies “sing out their Jodies” (calls) as they march through the streets. Many bystanders will clap and cheer them on. “It’s very patriotic,” he noted. Some motels even post videos of those marches and broadcast those videos on their websites. Because of that feature, many parents of recruits eagerly watch those broadcasts in the hope of catching a glimpse of their son or daughter.
Prestidge also noted the center has a fully-staffed fire department which helps augment local departments in event of a large fire.
Guadagno said the ongoing effort by Cape May County to become a Coast Guard Community helps to underscore the importance the county places on the service. Such an effort, she said, could help in any future congressional deliberations on possible base closings.