CAPE MAY — The pleasures of life are relative.
For Coast Guard recruits who have spent the last three to seven weeks continuously fighting off the effects of little sleep and a tired body, with superior officers yelling within inches of their faces, the pleasures of a warm hearth, a home-cooked holiday meal and smiling faces welcoming them to relax and watch TV on a comfy sofa are more than simple pleasures.
They revitalize body, mind and soul.
“We’re very, very thankful for this,” said David Whitlock, 20, a recruit from Pensacola, Fla. who along with Henry Brousseau, 19, of Attleboro, Mass. spent Thanksgiving Day with the Gentek family of North Cape May.
“You have no idea,” he said, with a laugh.
Such is the experience of recruits who have the privilege to go off base on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day to spend time with families in the community through the Cape May County American Red Cross program Operation Fireside.
Operation Fireside matches up Coast Guard Training Center Cape May (TRACEN) recruits who come here from every corner of the country with local families for a holiday of relaxation and fun.
“Operation Fireside is a way for the recruits to have a home-cooked meal, and to spend the day in a home environment so they get that feeling during the holiday,” said Mary Grace Cantilo, executive director. “Many are six weeks into the program, some only two weeks into the program. It’s a great way to connect with a family. It’s a great thing for the family too, they learn about the Coast Guard.”
Recruits spend the holiday off base at local homes where they are treated like members of the family.
Many of the young 20-21-year-old recruits arrive in Cape May having never been away from home. Missing family and friends is common and a recruit’s eight weeks of training can include bouts of homesickness and depression. Boot camp isn’t easy.
Brousseau and Whitlock said they were both coming off one of the hardest weeks in the eight-week program.
“We can relax,” said Brousseau. “Boot camp is very stressful.”
Brousseau said his company has been on guard duty all week, which means that each recruit often only gets a few hours of sleep per night, on top of an unusually grueling week’s schedule which included midterm examinations and four personal fitness tests.
So for them, and for all of the recruits, getting off base and having a chance to watch television, go to a movie, talk about sports, call home, play with a family dog, or just relax while sharing a home-cooked meal over Thanksgiving or Christmas, is a well-deserved and much appreciated break.
The challenges of boot camp aren’t dampening these young men’s enthusiasm and pride at being part of the Coast Guard, however. Both are excited about starting their career and the opportunities that await them.
This Thanksgiving Nov. 22, local community members who participated in Operation Fireside took in 430 recruits from the Coast Guard Training Center Cape May.
For the Gentek family, this is the first year they participated in Operation Fireside. It started with Kristi, 17, who works at the local movie theater and had seen recruits on liberty enjoying their rare time off base as they walk around town and go to a movie or make a phone call home. She had heard about the program and thought it would be a nice idea to invite some of the recruits home to share Thanksgiving.
“I thought it would be interesting,” she said.
The family welcomed Brousseau and Whitlock Thanksgiving morning to relax at home with Donna, Dale and daughter Kristi, along with the family dog, and watch a game on TV on Thanksgiving morning, with plans to possibly head out to the Wildwoods for a walk around town, all culminating, of course, with a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal later in the day. They headed back to base at 8 p.m.
“We’re planning to do whatever they want to do,” said Dale Thanksgiving morning.
Donna’s son is in the Marines in Mississippi now. Having two young military men at home was a welcome addition to the family table, she said.
“They all call me mom, so that’s fine with me,” she added.
The Red Cross is now seeking approximately 150 families to match up with recruits for the Christmas holiday. A total of 360 recruits need to be placed for Christmas, said Cantilo, with 208 already matched up with local families.
Christmas is a bit different than Thanksgiving, said Cantilo, in that recruits are not picked up until noon. Thanksgiving is a longer day; but, like Thanksgiving, they return to base at 8 p.m.
Christmas gifts are not permitted back on base, so families often give recruits the gift of a phone call or two home, said Cantilo.
“Many families give recruits a calling card,” she said. “It’s really a social opportunity. Some sleep. Some families play a game of pool, or air hockey. It’s a chance to relax.”
Recruits in training weeks seven through three are permitted to participate in Operation Fireside.
Anyone interested in participating in Operation Fireside for Christmas should contact the Cape May County American Red Cross Chapter at 465-7382.
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