In light of our current pending potential Category 5 hurricane, making way towards somewhere along the southeast coast of our beautiful country… I was reminiscing with my family this weekend about my days in the Coast Guard.
Hurricanes are a normal part of life in the Coast Guard. Since I was primarily on ships during my time, I viewed hurricanes as a life/operation disruption. When one would hit the radar, we’d be tracking it constantly, and making plans to change our current course to avoid it. What would be worse, would be those times we had just pulled in after a long patrol, and every member of the crew was just craving family time. Well, if a hurricane had the potential of coming near your ship in port, you got underway. If you miscalculated the path and made the poor decision to stay tied up, and the hurricane did any damage to your cutter (or worse put your cutter up onshore), there’s a very high chance you’d be relieved from command and heavily disciplined. So every intelligent captain would get their ship ready, and get underway.
So although it was a bummer to get underway during the time you had promised your family you would be home, the worst part was that you never got to avoid the storm like you wanted/planned. As you know, hurricanes cause major destruction, and for people in the Coast Guard, that means rescuing people in the storm.
The worst one I can kind of remember being involved with, was back in 2001-2002 when I was the Executive Officer on the Coast Guard Cutter DRUMMOND out of Cape Canaveral, FL. I can’t remember (or find on google) the name of the storm, but it was a rough one. We got underway several days before it hit land to ensure we could navigate away from its path. Unfortunately, as the storm started hitting the coastline of FL, we got a report that an anchored-dinner-cruise ship had become adrift in the storm. They needed us to respond as the closest vessel 3 hours south. So we turned and headed north into the storm.
I was on watch driving, which is good—I needed to be able to see the sky with how sick I felt. The swells were huge. I don’t remember how big technically, maybe 20’… but I can still feel it. On the bridge of our cutter there was a radar with 2 handles, one one each side of the screen. I stood at the radar and braced myself for each swell. Each swell would start as we’d drop down into the belly of it, which felt like we were heading down a steep hill of a roller coaster. This drop would make me push down onto the handles to keep myself from falling into the radar. Then, we’d ride up the other side of the swell, so I felt myself wanting to fall backwards towards the back of the cutter, like we were on the verge of flipping over backwards (although we weren’t close). I’d have to use the handles to pull myself towards the radar on the uphills, as my body weight pulled away from the equipment. The painful part was when we’d reach the very top of the wave; we’d slam down to the bottom of the swell and it just completely jarred every bone in your body. Then it would repeat… downhill, uphill, slam down… downhill, uphill, slam down… for hours. Your body hurt, your hands hurt, you felt nauseous. Each of us had a standard clear bathroom trash bag tied to our belt loop filled with puke, banging against our legs. It was rough. So, anyone who has asked me if the Coast Guard was like being on Baywatch (which is a common question I get)…. ummm, not quite as glamorous.
Of course, right before we got to the drifting ship, we were notified someone was able to help rescue them sooner, so they called us off. So, we headed south, back to our port. That was the only time I felt “land sick” during my time in the military. It was like my equilibrium was so screwed up, it took several days before I stopped feeling nauseous.
Anywho, just a friendly-reminder to stay safe during this weather, and don’t forget to hug your Coastie-friends braving this pending storm. They are truly answering the call, when no one else can or will.