Ears to Hear

Reflections on August 1976 from the perspective of August 2026

The cadre told us to stencil our serial number on all of our issued items. Most everything was a dark color, so they gave us a white pen. The problem was that it had runny ink, and it flowed under the edges of the stencil. So, a zero ended up looking like a weird, runny doughnut. Not good when it’s on something you wear around. “What am I doing wrong?”, I asked myself. I did that a lot.

When I look at all your pictures in the PDuddy posts, there aren’t any blotchy serial numbers on your gear, so someone must have found a better way to account for property. Bar codes, maybe?

The whole point is identity. Who does this belong to? Who is accountable?

Names do a better job than numbers of getting at identity. Names are loaded with meaning. I’ve been trying to learn your names by zooming in on your pictures. Swabs Keating, Capobianco, Glover, Gallard, Kim, Kennedy, Cochran, Rodrigo, Davis and Walker: you went to chapel last Sunday. Good job! Unless the primary motivation was doughnuts…JK.

Have you come up with any nicknames for your classmates yet? We had a lot of classmates with the same name, so Jim Sylvester became Sly. If you see Sly, please tell him Bob wants to get back in touch. Ralph (do you know what it means to ralph yet?) became Trucker (his last name is similar to the brand Peterbilt.) Baird didn’t seem as serious as his name, so he became Tex, even though he’s from Pennsylvania. Tex comes across like a country singer to me.

The nicknames became part of their CGA identities, and all of our names became part of our CGA 1980 identity. We wouldn’t be who we are without Trucker, Tex, Sly and Deacon Blues.

What identity is CGA 2030 giving? Serious? Goofy? Top dawg? What I think I see as I get to know you is that you are earnest, you make a good effort, and you seem to enjoy each other’s company. My stepdaughter is your age, and I’d say that the COVID experience shaped her. Every day that’s not in lockdown is a day to be seized. You seem to be having more fun than I remember having, too.

My sense is that you have all been called to CGA for a reason. Ada, Elliot, Annabelle, Bo, Spencer and every single one of you is an essential part of the whole. Could it be that it was meant to be from the beginning? That CGA 2030 has been uniquely designed for certain plans and purposes?

Based on my experience, I believe so. Vietnam and Watergate influenced us to question authority and be skeptical about rules and regulations We often ask, “Where’s the party?” I didn’t think that we’d have a Commandant in our class, and we didn’t. But we trained one: ADM Charlie Ray, CGA 1981. And Fred (Saco) often mentions how he was company officer to your Superintendent, RADM Rothrock. Wayward we may have been, but that equipped us to lead the Coast Guard through a lot of transitions. Because we were always looking for better ways to do things, we found them. Whenever you feel like it, you can thank us for our legacy. JK. Go out and make your own.

Where’s the party?

Deacon