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Thanks for your comment Linda. Unfortunately I haven't had the time to keep up with TH-cam. I'm still posting the updated Chain of Command to the Facebook page because I know that recruits are always looking to get that information for studying purposes but I don't have time anymore to work on the TH-cam channel. I'm so happy that you enjoyed reading the Survival Guide! Your comment really made my day. I appreciate it.

@@USCGBootCamp thank you for the reply😊. Just got my DEPOT date 1 May! Can any of us who benefitted from this channel and your book help you in any way by following you on another platform? You poured a lot into the book and just thought if you have another business we can be patrons, I'm happy to oblige.

That's excellent news Linda! Less than a month away now. How are you feeling? Sorry for the late response. I don't go on here that often. Email is generally a better way to reach me. As for your question, I really appreciate that. That's really considerate and kind of you. It means a lot. I'm currently working on something related to fitness and living a healthy lifestyle. I'll let you know when it's finished. Thanks again.

Great question. You can only bring the Helmsman and the Recruit Pocket Training Guide. Any other material you'll be forced to pack in your bag and you won't be able to access it until after you graduate or leave by other means. So basically, you'll have access to it up through the bus ride to Cape May and then it's bye-bye. It's also a great way to attract attention to yourself so I wouldn't recommend it. If anything, just write notes to yourself on the Recruit Pocket Training Guide or staple a small page (the same size as the other pages) with notes to it.

E-4 is Petty Officer Third Class E-5 is Petty Officer Second Class E-6 is Petty Officer First Class E-7 is Chief Petty Officer E-8 is Senior Chief Petty Officer E-9 is Master Chief Petty Officer / Command Master Chief Petty Officer / Master Chief Petty Officer Of The Coast Guard MC stands for Master Chief. So CMC is Command Master Chief. Gold Badge MC is Gold Badge Master Chief. MCPOCG is Master Chief Petty Officer (of the) Coast Guard. There is no W-1. I hope that helps.

Static hold (isometric) endurance drops off quicker than reps and sets (isotonic) endurance. There are a few reasons for this but the easiest, non-technical explanation is that your body functions on the principles of adaptation and necessity. In daily life, you perform a lot of isotonic movements. For example when you walk, push open doors, pick things up, etc. In contrast, you don't perform as many isometric holds. Carrying shopping bags is probably the most common isometric hold that people do in regular life. For that reason, your body doesn't see the need to maintain that type of endurance unless you are specifically exposing it regularly to that type of stimulus. The specific length of time will be different for every individual, but generally speaking all individuals will retain their reps and sets strength/endurance longer than their static hold strength/endurance.

@@USCGBootCamp Thanks for responding. I had once hit 5 minutes. Sadly, it has gone away.

Thanks? I mean this is an older video. Have you see this one: th-cam.com/video/ayJjAKvkA2o/w-d-xo.html ? Even that one is old at this point but there are some cool things on there. Check it out.

Thanks for the support!

I respectfully disagree. It depends on the training background of the individual, as well as what their goals are. Plyometric pushups are a useful tool to build power and strength. One arm pushups are also a great exercise to develop unilateral strength and coordination. In addition, they challenge the transverse abdominis to a greater degree than standard pushups due to the stabilizing factor involved with executing the movement. Almost all exercises can be "dangerous" if performed incorrectly and if they are assigned to an individual for whom the particular exercise is inappropriate for. One arm pushups and plyometric pushups are not inherently dangerous. They are a tool that can provide immense benefits if applied correctly. Thanks for your comment. Happy training.

Haha! That's too funny. I heard that from a lot of people...where they'd try to mess with you by asking you what the 12th general order is...never happened to me but my CC's found plenty of other ways to mess with us.

Haha...yup. "So" easy.

It's because situps are done during the PFT (Physical Fitness Test), but for morning PT, you don't do situps, you do crunches as shown in this video. So the answer is that you do both situps and crunches but during different events. As for swimming, yes, you will swim in USCG Boot Camp. There is a separate swim test which involves a swim circuit and being able to tread water. You can read more about swimming in Coast Guard Boot Camp here: survivecoastguardbootcamp.com/coast-guard-basic-training-preparation-101/how-to-prepare-for-coast-guard-boot-camp-physically/swimming-in-coast-guard-boot-camp/

No. You do NOT need to say "on a field of blue".

I got your survival guide it's helped alot. Along the same lines of what he just asked E-4 through E-9 will the company commander expect me to respond to E-5 as. Shoulder Insignia ZERO TWO red chevron's below ZERO ONE white rating Insignia below ZERO ONE white crow Collar device ZERO TWO gold chevron's below ZERO ONE silver shield Besides that your book has helped me out above and beyond I have prepared myself in topics my recruiter never told me was going to be required. As well as got a better understanding on what to expect.

No problem. My pleasure.

Ha! Yeah, I haven't been on here in a while. I'm glad you graduated successfully. I hope you are enjoying being out in the fleet.

Glad it helped you.

Yes. No more "on a field of blue".

Hey Aaron! Great question. Quite the contrary. They will appreciate you showing up already clean shaven. Of course they aren't going to show you any sort of appreciation outwardly but you'll score brownie points in their heads. The more squared away you are when you get there the better for you.

Anything I can do to help. It's my pleasure. I hope that you were able to put it to good use.

I'm glad that you find them helpful and also happy to see that you are taking your preparation seriously. Let me know if you have any questions or anything. My e-mail is bootcampsuccess@yahoo.com. Best of luck to you.

When I was at Cape May we did Morning PT in both as well. Flutter kicks are a lot tougher with boots on. Great point! Thanks for sharing.

Absolutely! Thanks for sharing that. Great point.

One arm pushups are a great exercise! As I mentioned before, you just need to work the progressions to get to it.

Hey Tommy - This is a somewhat common question. As much as I would love to be able to offer the Survival Guide in an Official Hard Copy, it's too cost prohibitive. I looked into it and there is no way I could afford to order the amount of inventory that the book printers ask for as a minimum order. Even if I had the money, I don't have the space in my apartment! Haha... With that said, there IS a solution that has worked for other recruits and that's simply to print out the E-Book and put it in a 3-ring binder. I've actually had recruits e-mail me copies of their homemade hard copy and they look great. If you don't have a printer at home you could always go to a local library or something. I hope that helps. Let me know if you need anything else.

USCGBootCamp hi thanks for the reply! I bought the PDF version and it works just fine. Very helpful. Thanks so much!

Yes. At the time I made this video they were still doing the 'I request to know...' thing at Cape May, but that is no longer the case. There are a few things that are outdated in this video (but I update everything in the Survival Guide) and that's one of them. Thanks for your comment.

Are you still in? Just curious

Nope. Just helping future recruits at this point.

What rate where you?

I went in for BM.

Hey Foster E: To answer your question - absolutely not! It's never too early to start training. The sooner you start the better prepared you will be. I don't know your fitness background, but if you have little to no training experience under your belt then you will progress fairly quickly at the beginning but then you'll reach a plateau. Plateaus can take months and even years to break through so the sooner you begin, the higher of a level you will be at when you actually ship out. Your body also has "muscle memory" so if you start now and perhaps get interrupted in your training later (but resume at some point) it will be easier for you to get back to where you were. I highly recommend beginning as soon as you can. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks a lot for the info.

Anytime!

I've been slacking I know. It's coming...and come this summer I will be putting them out on a lot more of a regular basis. Work has been killing all of my time. I apologize.

Part 2 is now up and Part 3 will be issued mid-September so if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section. Thanks for your support!

It depends on the environment. When you are in the classroom learning environment, then yes, you can sometimes take notes. Key word being 'sometimes'. If you are in any other environment then no. For example, at some point early on your CC's will introduce you to some basic commands that they will call out while you are marching. They will demonstrate what you should do when they make those commands and how you should respond. There will be no place for you to take notes. You'll just have to absorb the information and apply it. On the flip side, you might find yourself in a classroom learning about different types of ships/boats that the USCG uses. There you can take notes. With that said, you have to keep in mind that even the classroom stuff will mostly be very hands on and you will learn by doing more so than taking notes. For example when you have knot tying class or when you are learning how to put out a fire. You'll get demos and explanations and then you'll just have to do it. No note-taking there. I would say that most of USCG Boot Camp is like this - more so than note taking and studying in the traditional sense. You will at some point take classroom style test though. We had a mid-term and a final. They gave us ample time to study for it though so you should be okay. I hope that helps.

USCGBootCamp thanks, good info. My memory sucks so I take notes, repeat details in my head, and study later. I'm a 39 year old paramedic hoping to get into the USCG reserves. I take a lot of notes at work. Having to study and teach has lead me to rely on notes and mental rehearsal. If I get in I'll probably check out your study material.

Sounds good brother. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help. Good luck!

Absolutely! As I've said before. I know what it's like to be in your shoes so I'm happy to help in whatever way that I can. I don't always have the answer, but I try to share as much from my own experiences going through Cape May in the hopes that it'll help you avoid the mistakes that I and my shipmates at the time made. Keep studying and training hard. If you have any more questions, you know where to find me. Semper Paratus!

I respectfully disagree and so do a lot of other well respected trainers in the fitness world. Unilateral training is a great way to build strength, improve muscle imbalances, and improve core strength (especially in the transverse abdominus). When you use the proper progressions to get to them, one handed pushups are an excellent tool to use in your training.

AWESOME! I hope you are prepared physically and mentally. Make sure you know your 11 GO's, Rates and Ranks, and Chain of Command by heart. If someone woke you up in the middle of the night from deep sleep and asked you for your 4th General Order, you should be able to recite it perfectly with no hesitation. If you can do that with the Required Knowledge then you are well on your way. Good luck and let me know if I can be of any help to you.

Yes sir I've been studying and running.

Hi David! If you pass the PFT but fall behind during morning PT you won't be sent home, BUT you may end up with the "red belt" and be sent to RAMP. It really depends on how much you are falling behind. The main factor is if you keep putting out, showing effort, that kind of thing. If your company is midway through a set of pushups and you collapse and after getting screamed at to get back up you still can't...or look like you aren't trying to...and it keeps happening...you will likely get "red-belted" - especially if you don't know your Required Knowledge on top of it. The CC's look at you as a whole. If you are doing really well with the mental side of things and you have a physical slip up like that they will be more likely to let it slide. I don't mean let it slide in the sense that they won't scream at you, but let it slide in that it'll take more of those instances for you to get the red belt. If you do end up wearing the red belt and you don't improve enough to have it get taken off, then you will get reverted to another company. Remember: They want you to graduate. They spent money, time and effort on you so sending you home is a last resort. They would rather work with you to get you to the point where you are able to graduate, but it's up to you to determine how uncomfortable that process is going to be. My advice is that if you feel yourself falling behind in PT, just keep showing effort. Look like you give a damn if you know what I'm saying. That's what they are looking for. I hope that helps.

Hey there ALLTINSOLDIER - Thanks for your question. It's actually a common one and here's my take on it. It's not really only "my" take, but it's really some good advice that was given to me by others and I'm simply passing it along. Like any decision there are pros and cons and you need to figure out which pros you like more and which cons you mind less. If you go for what you REALLY want to do (Maritime Enforcement) and you end up waiting 3 years to go to A-School, then yes you will be a Non-Rate for the duration of that time. You will generally be assigned to the same billet for the duration of the time you'll wait for A-School. It is VERY rare for this to not be the case. There are even some Coasties who serve their entire "4 and out" on a Cutter. The experience you will have as a Non-Rate will largely depend on where you are stationed after Cape May. You could be on a large cutter or a small cutter or you could be assigned to a sector job or an air station. All of these will result in different experiences. Unfortunately there is no cut and dry answer I can give you here. The big pro is that when you finally do go to A-School and graduate, you will be doing what you ACTUALLY WANT to be doing. Now assuming you didn't get a change of heart during your time as Non-Rate, that to me is huge - especially if you plan on staying in the service. If you simply want to do your initial contract and then get out then maybe I'd go with something that might not be your #1 choice, but that has a shorter wait list for A-School. Personally, regardless of your long term plans, I wouldn't jump at whatever has the shortest wait time because then you'll be stuck doing something you don't like (unless by coincidence your #1 or #2 choice happens to have a low wait time)...and well...that's not fun. If you plan on staying in the USCG, I would suck it up and just wait. A few years as a Non-Rate for many more years doing what you really want to do is a no-brainer to me. It beats rushing into A-school to do something afterwards (for many more years) that you don't want to do. That's the way it was loosely explained to me a while ago and I think it's great advice. I hope it helps you weigh out the decision.

This is also a good read: www.navytimes.com/story/military/coast-guard/2015/04/05/coast-guard-force-shaping-high-year-tenure-critical-rates/70823082/

Thank you man this was very helpful! I do believe i'm in it for the long haul so i'll shoot for the job i know i want.

Here's a question; I truly only want to be a BM, will this be an issue with the recruiter?

And is there a time in the year more suitable to land that specific job

Thank you Jeremy! I appreciate the support. The Survival Guide will definitely get you where you need to be if you apply the information.

Great question. As long as you meet the requirements (ASVAB / AFQT Score, Normal Color Vision, Normal Hearing, etc) then you can apply for it. Depending on the needs of the service at the time, the recruiter may steer you in a different direction but your main focus should be to make yourself as strong of a candidate as possible - regardless of what rate you are going for. The stronger your application is, the more freedom you have to do what you want. Recruiters - much like HR departments in the civilian world - like candidates that are flexible, BUT again, if you are a strong candidate and you meet the basic qualifications for your dream rate (in your case BM) then you'll have a strong chance at it. Work hard and follow your dream.

To my knowledge, no. It really depends on the needs of the service. I recommended this article to another recruit on this thread. You might find it helpful: www.navytimes.com/story/military/coast-guard/2015/04/05/coast-guard-force-shaping-high-year-tenure-critical-rates/70823082/

Hi Jordan! Thank you for your question. I've answered this particular question and variations of it several times. Since it seems to keep coming up, I think I will answer it on the next episode of "Ask Martin". In the meantime, feel free to scroll through the thread on this video and I'm sure you will find your answer...and stay tuned for the next episode because I'm going to feature you!

Hey Samson, I did receive your e-mail so I'm not sure why it appears that it didn't work on your end, but in any event, I will answer your question here so that others who are wondering the same thing can also benefit. It's actually a great question and it's something that I cover in great detail in Chapters 14 and 16 in the Coast Guard Boot Camp Survival Guide. I will copy and paste some of the relevant sections from those chapters below: So despite the fact that some of the bagged breakfasts and lunches you will get will be filled with crap food, the majority of the time you will be eating in the galley where the food is actually pretty good. I'm a very picky eater and I think there was only one meal my entire time at boot camp where I got nothing from the main food choices and just stuck to the salad bar. With that said, I recommend that once you are allowed to do so, you eat at least half of your calories from the salad bar - and no I don't mean by eating the lettuce leaves. The (lunch/dinner) salad bar usually has raw broccoli, beets, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, tuna, boiled eggs, and other stuff. My recommendation to you is to eat as much raw broccoli as you can as it has the most nutrition of any of the other veggies available to you. If you don't like the taste, eat it anyways. You don't like doing push ups at 0530 in the morning either but you will be doing them. Remember, boot camp is about survival and you want to give your body the best fuel you can give it. Throw in some tomatoes and beets as they are the next most nutrient dense foods offered at the salad bar. Tomatoes contain lycopene which is good for your eyes and beets are known to increase exercise endurance. For protein, the tuna is an excellent choice and the boiled eggs are great too but only eat the whites. In normal life I eat the yolks too, but that's because I buy cage free eggs that have very nutritious yolks. I'm pretty sure that the yolks of the eggs in Cape May will have nothing but cholesterol so stick to the egg white. Skip the cakes and puddings and sweet desserts. This not only does nothing for your body, but will also cause you to bring attention to yourself from the Company Commanders. As I mentioned in Chapter ONE FOUR, they do look at what's on your plate...(continued in the Coast Guard Boot Camp Survival Guide) I hope that answered your question. You can choose to eat whatever you want from what's available, and there are eggs at the salad bar so unless you're a vegan, that will probably be your main source of protein.

+USCGBootCamp damn ok man lol even eating there sounds tough

+USCGBootCamp thanks a lot

Hey Dylan: To be honest, it varies. Even for morning PT. I had 3 CC's. My Lead CC was a former Marine and generally a very fit guy so his morning PT's were always the hardest. If our Company wasn't doing that great in terms of getting our tasks completed on time, etc then he'd hit us even harder. One of my other CC's was an older gentleman who was about to retire (we were his next-to-last-company) and his morning PT's were always the easiest. I found that as a general rule of thumb, most CC's wouldn't put you through anything that they themselves wouldn't be able to do. I don't know if that's just basic human psychology but that's how it played out. SO, I can't put a hard number on it, but as a range, I would say on a light day, in the low hundreds, and on a tougher day in the higher hundreds. I don't think we ever hit a 1,000 in a day. I've done that on my own, but not at Cape May. A good conditioning drill prior to going is to do 200 pushups every other hour from when you wake up until you go to sleep. For example 9am-10am you do 200 reps. Then 10am-11am you rest, eat a light snack. 11am-12pm you do another 200 reps...and so on and so on until it's time to go to sleep.

Good video. When I was at Cape May in the 1970's I used to go into the steam room at the gym and do pushups to condition myself. I got to the point where I could do 500 good pushups outside without stopping. We used to do the "hand clap" pushups too. Other guys were amazed and said "Damn Man!" You can do it too.

It seems like as many times as you blink your eye.

Glad you made these huge, positive changes in your life. That's wonderful. Don't worry about where you are. Worry about staying consistent - day in and day out. If you do that, your body will gradually change for the better and before you know it, you'll be blasting through the 1.5 mile run like it's nothing. Keep up the great work and let me know if you have any questions or if I could be of assistance to you. Semper Paratus!

In hindsight, absolutely. When you're going through it, not so much. ;0)

Nice suggestion. I do have a similar video that covers this topic. It's called the two exercises that you must do before you ship out to Coast Guard Boot Camp. It helps recruits build the static shoulder strength necessary for the many brutal IT / PT sessions that CC's will put them through where static shoulder holds are administered.

+USCGBootCamp yea the position thay football refs do for the field goal signal is brutal i think theyd make is do that for like half an hour you would have to try and sneak in breaks when theu werent looking that was painful lol

+ImReadyD151 YESSIR! I'm sure you're killin it right now. Let us know when you get back and graduate successfully. Semper Paratus!

+Rick Davis Thank you for your service.

+USCGBootCamp And to you for yours.

+ImReadyD151 - April 5th is about 2 months away. 2 months is how long you'll be in boot camp so if you take your preparation seriously for these 2 months, the 2 months that you are there will be a lot more bearable. You WILL get roasted if you just "show up". As for tips, I cover a lot of that in the Survival Guide, BUT what I can tell you in a general sense is to break it up into chunks. It's A LOT of information and I know staring at it all can be overwhelming so create a lesson plan where you will commit to memorizing chunks at a time. For the GO's it's just repetition. Read. Say it out loud. Read it again. Read half the sentence. Read the full sentence. Repeat. Do a set of 30 pushups and immediately say it out loud. Keep focusing on GO #1 over and over again until it's embedded in your brain. Then move on to GO #2. Every 3rd or 4th time of repeating GO #2, start by saying GO #1 first. Keep doing it over and over until both are cemented in your brain. Then move on to #3. You get the idea. For the Rates and Ranks, just watch my video on it and use it to study. For Chain of Command, check out this page and scroll to the bottom: www.survivecoastguardbootcamp.com/required-knowledge-what-they-dont-tell-you.html I hope that helps.

+USCGBootCamp can I shoot you an email asking you some more questions?

+ImReadyD151 - Definitely. That's what I'm here for my man. Hit me up. bootcampsuccess@yahoo.com.

+ImReadyD151 We had one week to memorize them, all while in luxurious confines of the boots barracks. You can do it.

How is it now? Are you a USCG?

+clidelivingston - Hey Clide! It's not really "hypothetically", but more realistically, you'd be very screwed - particularly with Rates and Ranks + 11 General Orders. You could get away with learning the Chain of Command once there, but why would you want to? There will be so much other information thrown at you and you won't be sleeping very much to process it all, so there really is no good reason to not learn it now. I'm happy that you are taking your preparation seriously. Coast Guard Boot Camp keeps getting more and more competitive which means that someone that may have squeezed through in the past won't be able to now. Don't try to squeeze through. Plan on excelling. It begins with your state of mind and your preparation beforehand. Waiting until you get there is almost a surefire way to get reverted or even sent home if you don't adapt fast enough.

Thanks for the response. You have some really good input. I will keep studying.

+Philip Padila - Hey Phil! Thanks for reaching out. No, I am not currently serving in the USCG. Have a great day!

Oh ok. Thanks for all the 411. I'm about to go to BC.

+Michael Jaxon - Hi Michael! Happy New Year. Thanks for reaching out. It's always nice to see motivated young people who are already seeking out information. It's tough for me to give you specific advice without knowing anything about you besides the fact that you are 15 years old. With that said, in a general sense, I would begin following an exercise program that incorporates calisthenics, running, swimming, and mobility into your routine (if appropriate for your situation). Some form of activity 4-5 days per week that incorporates the aforementioned elements will start building a solid foundation so that as you get closer to going to MEPS, taking your ASVAB, etc, you will be in a good place (physically at least). Pullups, pushups, squats, pistol squats, various core exercises (planks, hollow body holds, etc), and once you get stronger - muscleups, handstands, and other more advanced movements - will all set you up for success. Again, I don't know your particular situation so some of these things might not be appropriate for you. Always consult with a qualified professional before starting or changing any exercise program to ensure you get the best results and that you don't hurt yourself.

+J Babb - Ha! I agree. I think CC's will sometimes find a way to mess with you here and there just because. I remember when I received my shaving chit, my CC's started yelling at me about not being shaved and when I tried to respond (completely correctly and according to protocol) they wouldn't let me finish and kept screaming and cutting me off. I tried several times and finally they just hit me with a performance tracker. I didn't do anything wrong but like you said - sometimes you'll never have the right answer. My CC's definitely had a lot of respect for me - and vice versa - and the incident I just described happened to me fairly early on. Before they determined that I was a squared away recruit.