"In Long Beach my parent's drove me to the Coast Guard recruiting office. That's where new recruit's caught the bus up to Government Island in Alameda California."
For 40 years, Government island was the site of the Coast Guard's recruiting training center - boot camp. It is a 67 acre island, within the city limits of Alameda California. It was made from dredging the San Francisco Bay between the Oakland estuary and San Leandro Bay in 1913.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast_Guard_Island
"There was a place for docking the Ocean going cutters (150 foot long) on the Island which would go out half way between California and Hawaii to sail the Pacific for 30 days at a time. They were there to rescue any downed planes, or boats that were in distress.
"While I was at Government Island I was in Company Charlie 50. We were stationed there for 60 days.
"Our company's sleeping area was in the 2nd story of the barracks building."We were in groups, and each group had different training assignments every week.
"The first 2-3 days were basic skills testing to see where the Coast Guard which specialty school you would be sent to for additional training. In my section I received the highest grade in the electrical area, so I chose to go to electrical tech school in Connecticut for training in electronics theory and equipment.
"We then learned other skills which included swimming; 2 days worth of firearms training; and a weeks worth of working in the dining hall feeding the recruits who had come in ahead of us. We would clean and set up the dining hall, as well as serve the food. My duty was keeping the milk and juice bar stocked which was fine with me.
"We were also trained on military regulations, courtesies and protocols, and the history of the Coast Guard. There was drills for marching commands and drilling.
"I was placed in a holding company for 2 weeks after I had completed basic training. I was waiting for the new class to start at the training center [in Connecticut].
"At one point I was assigned to the officer of the day (OOD). I reported to the OOD office at 8pm to serve as a fire watch standard. I entered the office so quietly that neither officer hadn't heard me enter. Not having any other options I said "SIR- BRIAN C LINDGREN - 3640-37 - REPORTING TO DUTY SIR!" and scared them half to death. I stood the night 4 hour shift for 2 weeks after that.
"The only other duties left for me was night fire watch, or messenger service during the daytime. One night while on fire watch I saw a glow coming from one room in the barracks. I discovered that the First Class Petty Officer had fallen asleep while watching his portable Sony TV, that he had placed on his stomach. Not wanting him to turn and have the TV fall to the ground and wake him up, I crawled to the bed and gently lifted the TV off his stomach and placed it on the ground. The best part? - he didn't wake up!
"I then got a month's leave prior to reporting to Connecticut for electronics school. It was a push over as I had studied it the last year of high school and junior College.
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