Acronyms

AIM - Academy Introductory mission - a week-long summer program for students who have completed their junior year of high school. The program gives the students a sampling of cadet life during swab summer. More information about AIM can be found on the Academy website at CGA Admissions .

Battle dress - sticking your napkin into your shirt collar so as not to drip sauce on your blue trops.

Bean Sprout - A high school senior student who has been offered an appointment to CGA is invited for an overnight visit. The program is to help that student decide if they would like to accept their appointment.

BCG - Birth Control Glasses-standard military issue eyewear

Billet Night - night when first class cadets receive their post-graduation duty assignments

BOT - Board of Trustees

BOV - Board of Visitors

brace (brace up) - sitting, standing at attention-like rigidity; 4/Cs have to brace for meals

bulkhead - wall

Buses - Everywhere you go as a 4/c you have to march in a section, the section is called a bus.

bus driver - one person in a "bus" that calls orders

Carry-on - 4/C can walk without following the geometric contours of the hallway

CGAPA - Coast Guard Academy Parents Association

CGA Scholars - academy applicants may be offered a year preparatory schooling after the successful completion of which they enroll at the Academy. CGA Scholars attend either the Marion Military Academy or the New Mexico Military Institute. This program was formerly referred to as CGRIT.

clocks - Before formations, one 4/c mans each clock in the passageways of their company and spouts off the time to go until formation, the place that formation will be held, the uniform to be worn for that formation, and who meal security is if the formation is before a meal and any other indoc, like meals, etc. that the 4/c can say within 30 seconds. Every 30 seconds the process starts over again

Coastie - nickname for a member of the U. S. Coast Guard

colors - military-wide term for the American flag

combination cover - white and blue rimmed hat worn with the service dress uniform. This cover is worn for liberty, weekends, duty, or drill. It is traditional to put a picture of a loved one on the inside of the cover. Another tradition is to kiss a person who puts on a cadet’s cover.

company - at CGA, the Corps of Cadets is divided into 8 companies of about 130-140 cadets each. All four classes are mixed into each company, and each company has a mascot and specific regimental duties: Alfa Alligators - health and well-being; Bravo Bulls - training; Charlie Cobras - honor; Delta Dogs - drill and ceremonies; Echo Eagles - public affairs and transportation; Foxtrot Flounders - operations; Golf Gophers - comptroller; Hotel Hellions - morale

company clocks - when all of the 4/c in a company must evenly split themselves up between all the clocks in the company wing area and say all of the information that is stated during clocks in unison. Often used as a team-building exercise by the Guidon

cover - hat

dark ages - nickname for that time period between winter and spring breaks, so named for the dreary, cold weather and short days

deck - floor

dining in - sit-down dinner for a company or a members of a specific group - restricted to ONLY group members

dining out - special function, usually a dinner/dance, for all members of a company or group and their guests

duty - daily watch, served in rotation by members of a company

EOW - Engineering Officer of the Watch - a position on most cutters, in charge of the engine room and most things mechanical or electrical

Eyes on the Boat - keeping ones eyes focused ahead and not looking around

Exchange student - cadets from the other service academies or Coast Guard cadets who spend a semester at the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, or West Point during their second class year

Firsties - cadets in their senior year at the Academy

Formal Room & Wing Inspection: weekly inspection of cadet rooms and common areas by either a Firstie, a commissioned officer, or a chief (or any combination of the three); these inspections are graded with the winner getting points in the Honor Company competition.

garrison cover - blue hat worn on a daily basis during the academic year

Guidon - Company flag, and by extension the 2/C who carries it in formation; that 2/C is also the designated senior 2/C for that company

Gumby - Nickname for the big red waterproof suits. You kind of look like Gumby and move like Gumby when you have it on.

hatch - door

head - bathroom

indoc (indoctrination) - the information required to be memorized and recited by fourth class cadets. This includes the Coast Guard mission, history, ranks, and more. The “Running Light” is the indoc “bible”

IT- Intensive training... punishment of exercises

ladderwell - stairs

late rack - excusal to sleep in

LDC - Leadership Development Center

leave - authorization for extended absence from the Academy, such as Thanksgiving, winter, spring, and summer breaks

liberty - authorization for cadets to leave the Academy grounds for a specific length of time (usually measured in hours); can be granted at any time by the Administration

LMO - last military obligation may be class, duty, sports practice, after which cadets can depart the Academy for leave or liberty

locker –closet

Long - getting the weekend off from your last military obligation (LMO) on Friday until the time that liberty expires for your class on Sunday evening (1800 for Swabs) (Monday evening if the long is over a Federal Holiday weekend). Long weekends are generally earned by cadets for accomplishments such as obtaining a star or volunteering for jobs around the Academy (such as usher duty at home football games); longs are also earned by upperclass cadets just by virtue of being a 2/C or a Firstie

Main Royal Yard Arm - is the yard arm holding the royal - the topmost sail on both the foremast and the mainmast Kids love it-parents worry.

main sail - The next sail down is the upper top, then the lower top, followed by the main.

nanook - cold weather cover (hat)

NAPS - Naval Academy Preparation School located in Newport, RI. It provides a one year academic preparation prior to entering the Naval or Coast Guard Academy. More informantion can be found on their web site NAPS.

NAPSter - anyone attending, or who has attended NAPS

Objee - the name of the Coast Guard bear. As recently as 1984, a live bear (Objee) was kept on the Academy grounds and occasionally roamed the barracks. A bit of history: By 1926, the bear had been the Academy's mascot for sometime in honor of the Cutter Bear, which had served in the Arctic Zone for years. However, it was during this year that a Cadet by the name of Steven Evans returned from leave with a live bear cub. He somehow talked the Superintendent, Captain Hinckley, into allowing the bear to stay at the Academy. The bear was named Objee, which was short for "objectionable presence." He had many homes throughout his tenure at the Academy, but the one he spent the most time in, and his last home was the old Academy observatory next to Billard Hall. Although he did not sleep in Chase Hall, Objee was often brought into the barracks and turned loose. He showered in the cadet showers, and was even allowed to eat in the wardroom from time to time. Cadet Objee was particularly fond of visiting cadets during study hour. Apparently he lived up to his name because finally in 1984 after 27 live Objees, the tradition was ended. Interestingly, the 'last live Objee' quite literally lives (as of 4/9/2006) at Widmark Farms in New York

OCS - Officer Candidate School - Training for enlisted or college graduates to become Coast Guard Officers. Held at CGA

ODU - Operational Dress Uniform - This is the uniform that is for 'routine' wear. They are all dark blue. Pants are tucked into the boots

OOD - officer of the day

overhead - ceiling

PC - Platoon Commander

PCTS - Permanent Commissioned Teaching Staff

PDA - Public Display of Affection

PEP- Performance enhancement program

PI - Personnel Inspection

piece - rifle

p-way - passageway - refers to the halls in Chase Hall

Rack - bed

RC - Regimental Commander - a 1/C who is in charge of the entire Corp of Cadets.

RCDO - regimental cadet duty officer - a 1/C

R-Day - Reporting-In Day. This is the day the new incoming class reports to the Academy

Royal - The royal is the topmost sail on fore and main masts. The cadets and crew will actually "lay aloft" and "lay out" onto the "yards" that each sail is attached to.

scuttlebutt - water fountain

SDB’s - service dress blues

short - one night overnight--- from the time liberty is granted on Saturday (usually 1200) until the time that liberty expires for your class on Sunday evening (1800 for Swabs)

shoulder boards - the dark blue “boards” fastened to the shirts of some uniforms that designate rank by the number, thickness and pattern of stripes

spewage - The question and answer stuff that cadets need to know - many of these questions are funny and have funny answers. Traditional spewage can be found in the “Running Light”

spout off - recite spewage

square corners - turn corners at a 90 degree angle - required of all 4th class cadets

square meal - eating by keeping one’s eyes in the boat and lifting utensils or glasses straight up to face level then to one’s mouth and returning the same way

star - cadet honor insignia worn on the left breast pocket of specific uniforms:
    Gold - academics - grade point of 3.15 or higher while completing a minimum of 15 semester hours with no               grade less than a C in any course of 3.0 or more credits
     Silver - military standing - outstanding military score based on performance report and reviewing superiors
     Blue - physical fitness - achieves an A on the physical fitness exam
     Bronze - improvement of total grade point average by at least .5 without failing any course

swab - a member of the current freshman class, particularly during the first summer of training. Swabs officially become 4/c cadets at the shoulder board ceremony after swab summer but traditionally remain swabs until they see a swab in the next reporting class

Topgallant - The next sail down is called the topgallant, but is actually pronounced "t'gallant".

Trops - the short sleeve blue shirt, long navy dress pants worn to class and out to the mall etc. It stands for Tropical Blue Long.

Short - one night overnight--- from the time liberty is granted on Saturday (usually 1200) until the time that liberty expires for your class on Sunday evening (1800 for Swabs)

Spewage-The question and answer stuff that cadets need to know - many of these questions are funny and have funny answers.

Waist - The main deck of EAGLE

Wardroom - Cadet cafeteria

XO - executive officer

100th Day - 100th day of the academic year. 2/C’s revert to 4/C status and have to brace, square meals, spout indoc, and complete orderlies. 4/C’s are ‘kings’ for the day

101st Night - night before 100th day. 4/C’s are reminded that they are only ‘kings’ for a day, not the rest of the year

1/C - first class cadet, equivalent to senior year. They wear blue collar tabs and one or more thin horizontal stripes on their shoulder boards

2/C - second class cadets, equivalent to junior year. They wear white collar tabs and have two thin diagonal stripes on their shoulder boards

3/C - third class cadets, equivalent to sophomore year. They wear red collar tabs and have one thin diagonal stripe on their shoulder boards

4/C - fourth-class cadets, equivalent to freshman year. They wear green collar tabs and have no stripes on their shoulder boards

· If you have ever had to sign a book to go to McDonald's...
· If you live in a building where the number of knickknacks on your shelf is a monitored activity...
· If your chain of command dictates the time between laundry loads...
· If you cannot remember when you last drove a car...
· If you can pack your worldly possessions into two Academy-issue trunks and a couple of milk crates.
· If the first thing you do in the morning is roll over and say to yourself "I hate my life"...
· If you think the reason we were issued four Winter Dress Blue shirts was "one for every year you're at the Academy"...
· If your social life consists of... What social life?
· If your idea of "doing your hair" is getting a nice high n' tight
· If you think of Connecticut College as "Heaven"...
· If your midnight snack is honey packets and skim milk taken from the Wardroom and eaten by the light of your computer screen after lights out...
· If your teachers have killed people and have medals to prove it...
· If spending Friday night cleaning your room is completely normal.
· If your life is dictated by a single email each day...(P O D!!!!)...
· If being late is a hangable offense.
· If painting a rock across the river in Groton is your idea of good morale...
· If there's a big statue of a Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus dancing bear right in the middle of campus. (GO OBJEE!!!)...
· Some mornings, when friends of yours at other colleges are still asleep, you're stumbling around in the grass with a rifle on your shoulder and a big, big knife...
· If you think the best scene from "Top Gun" is when the Coast Guard helicopter comes to pick up Maverick...
· If you're still trying to earn Gold Stars, Silver Stars, and Blue Stars, just like you were in KINDERGARTEN!!!
· If you've graduated from high school and are going to be in charge of a SHIP in less than two years, but you can't even decide for yourself when you can watch TV...
· If you're making less now than you did mowing lawns when you were twelve years old....
· If you look forward to going home so you can at least have the same freedom you had as a senior in high school...
· If you're constantly trying to explain to people out in public that, no, you're not a skycap, or a member of the Navy, or a member of the Air Force, or a bellboy, or a bus driver.. .
· If you're taking carpools to go places like you used to do in elementary school (libo vans).. .
· If you can remember an extended period of time in which you stood still, looked straight ahead, and didn't say anything...for hours at a time (4/c year, anyone...or maybe a Buddhist monk?)...
· If you have 900 brothers and sisters, you're the best and the brightest the country has to offer but you're treated like a slow child, and you have less rights and responsibilities now than you did as a Cub Scout or Brownie ....

· Buy a dumpster, paint it gray, and live in it for 6 months straight.
· Every couple of weeks, dress up in your best clothes and go the scummiest part of town, find the most run down, trashy bar you can, pay $10 per beer until you're hammered, then walk home in the freezing cold.
· On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, turn your water temperature up to 200 degrees; then on Tuesdays and Thursdays, turn it down to 10 degrees. On Saturdays and Sundays declare to your entire family that they used too much water during the week, so all showering is secured.
· Raise your bed to within 6 inches of the ceiling.
· Have your next-door neighbor come over each day at 5 am, and blow a whistle so loud that Helen Keller could hear it and shout, "Reveille, Reveille, all hands heave out and trice up".
· Have your mother-in-law write down everything she's going to do the following day, then have her make you stand in the back yard at 6 am and read it to your family.
· Eat the raunchiest Mexican food you can find for three days straight, then lock yourself out of the bathroom for 12 hours, and hang a sign on the door that reads "Secured-contact OA division at X-3053."
· Invite 200 of your not-so-closest friends to come over, and then board up all the windows and doors to your house for 6 months after they're inside. After the 6 months is up, take down the boards, wave at your friends and family through the front window of your home as they leave...you can't leave until the next day. You have duty.
· Shower with above-mentioned friends.
· Make your family qualify to operate all the appliances in your home (i.e. Dishwasher operator, blender technician, etc.)
· Use eighteen scoops of budget coffee grounds per pot, and allow each pot to sit 5 hours before drinking.
· Have your neighbor collect all your mail for a month, read your magazines, and randomly lose every 5th item.
· Spend $20,000 on a satellite system for your TV, but only watch CNN and the Weather Channel.
· Avoid watching TV with the exception of movies that are played in the middle of the night. Have the family vote on which movie to watch and then show a different one.
· Have your 5-year-old cousin give you a haircut with goat shears.
· When your children are in bed, run into their room with a megaphone, and shout at the top of your lungs that your home is under attack, and order them to man their battle stations. ("General quarters, general quarters, all hands man your battle stations")
· Make your family menu a week ahead of time and do so without checking the pantry and refrigerator.
· Post a menu on the refrigerator door informing your family that you are having steak for dinner. Then make them wait in line for at least an hour, when they finally get to the kitchen, tell them that you are out of steak, but you have dried ham or hot dogs. Repeat daily until they don't pay attention to the menu any more so they just ask for hot dogs.
· In the middle of January, place a podium at the end of your driveway. Have your family stand watches at the podium, rotating at 4-hour intervals.
· Lock yourself and your family in your house for 6 weeks. Then tell them that at the end of the 6th week you're going to take them to Disneyland for "weekend liberty." When the end of the 6th week rolls around, inform them that Disneyland has been canceled due to the fact that they need to get ready for Engineering-certification, and that it will be another week before they can leave the house.
· Sleep on the shelf in your closet. Replace the closet door with a curtain. Have you wife whip open the curtains about 3 hours after you go to sleep. She should then shine a flashlight in your eyes and mumble "Sorry, wrong rack."
· When there is a thunderstorm in your area, find a wobbly rocking chair and rock as hard as you can until you become nauseous. Have a supply of stale crackers in your shirt pocket.
· Put lube oil in your humidifier and set it on high.
· Set your alarm clock to go off at random during the night, jump up and get dressed as fast as you can making sure you button up the top button on your shirt, stuff your pants into your socks. Run out into the backyard and uncoil the garden hose.
· Once a month, take every major appliance apart and put them back together again.
· Install a fluorescent lamp under the coffee table and then get under it and read books.
· Raise the thresholds and lower the top sills of your front and back doors so that you either trip or bang your head every time you pass through one of them.
· Every so often, throw the cat in the pool and shout "Man overboard, starboard side." Then run into the house and sweep all the pots and dishes off the counter. Yell at the wife and kids for not having the kitchen "stowed for sea."
· Put on the headphones from your stereo set, but don't plug them in. Hang a paper cup around your neck with string. Go stand in front of your stove. Say (to no one in particular), "Stove manned and ready." Stand there for three or four hours. And say again (to no one in particular), "Stove secured." Roll up your headphones and paper cup and place them in a box.