New Job ~ !

Reported to my new job at Coast Guard Pacific Area Telecommunications on Coast Guard Island, Alameda, Ca.

Goodbye SCC

Command Center,

I wanted to take a moment to give a heartfelt thank you for the warm welcome I received in coming to the Command Center family and for the memorable experiences I had working here. It has been a pleasure being a part of team Sector San Francisco Command Center.

Speaking from some experience; there is an excellent group of people working here. Remember, the job will always be here, but it's the people and most importantly, the way that you treat each other, that makes the difference.

Be excellent to each other,

v/r,

OSC David Jenkins

January 03rd marks my twentieth anniversary in the United States Coast Guard.

My Coast Guard career is almost old enough to drink legally ~ !

Excerpt from last January 03rd (cause I have nothing new or original to say about it)

You may not know this, but Webmaster2525 (who is also a Chief) and I both joined the Coast Guard on the same day. I think that he and I played pool together (possibly in Baltimore???) while waiting for the Coast Guard bus to take us away to Coast Guard Recruit Training Center, Cape May, New Jersey.

Mile Mark

January 03rd marks my nineteenth anniversary in the United States Coast Guard.

Excerpt from last January 03rd (cause I have nothing new or original to say about it)

You may not know this, but Webmaster2525 (who is also a Chief) and I both joined the Coast Guard on the same day. I think that he and I played pool together (possibly in Baltimore???) while waiting for the Coast Guard bus to take us away to Coast Guard Recruit Training Center, Cape May, New Jersey.

Greetings from Lexington, Kentucky

I'm currently in Lexington, Kentucky, having a great time and finishing up a two week course; "Command Security Officer training", which isn't really very important to the rest of the story other than it's the reason I'm here. The course is offered by the Lockmaster Security Institute - which is civilian, so we get to wear civilian attire. It started off being "business casual" but by the second day they told us that due to the hot weather we could wear shorts as long as we didn't wear t-shirts. A couple people forgot that stipulation by the end of last week and it's pretty much full on shorts and t-shirts. Today, somebody finally broke the no open-toed shoes rule.

The best part is that they put us up in the Homewood Suites. And, Homewood Suites has a contract w/Gold's gym which is two and half miles down the road. I've been to the gym everyday w/the exception of last Friday and yesterday. As of yesterday though, I have been going to the gym nearly every day for a full two months (Not that you could tell). The other day there were three steroid boys (calm down Webmaster) taking turns with 100 pound dumb-bells in either hand. For a few seconds I sat there dumbstruck as they took turns yelling at each other, "Today's your day, it's all you, come on, don't embarrass me...", before I resumed my struggle with the 35 pounders.

Lexington is really beautiful. I was really surprised. For some reason I pictured dilapidated farm houses, toothless hill-billy families w/the one unexplainable Daisy Duke-like daughter, rusted out old Ford pickups, and moonshine. It is the bourbon capital of the world, to be sure - but not the cheap ass swill I had imagined. Most of the bourbon sold in the entire world is produced w/in ten miles of where I'm sitting at this moment. Unfortunately, I missed the bourbon tours this past Saturday... Seems I wasn't able to get out of bed when the caravan departed. Also, the other day, the main road back from the school to our hotel was closed due to an accident. We took a detour which took us through rolling hills and picture perfect stud farms (calm down Webmaster) - beautiful horses and big money.

Well, that's all for now. I hope ya'll are doin well.

CSO School

Departed for CSO School in Nicholasville, Kentucky.

New Job

Began in my new position as Command Security Officer (CSO) at Coast Guard Sector San Francisco ~ !

Home

Arrived home @ 3AM Eastern Std. (My internal clock is currently set to GMT -5)

Yesterday was a long day.

In case any of my classmates stop by my web page, I would like to say hello to:

Tim
Rod
Selena
Caran
Travis
"Book"
Paul
Kathy
CDR Valley
The Algerian contingency
Jeff
and last but not least, my Air Force brethern, "The Williams"

And, a special thank you to the National SAR School instructors of Class 11-06.

v/r,
OSC David Jenkins

Travel Day

Today is a "Travel Day". Two flights w/a layover in Atlanta Georgia. I'm on my way to attend National SAR School at the Coast Guard Training Center in Yorktown, Va.

Mile Mark

Dear Dead Graphites,

January 03rd marks my eighteenth anniversary in the United States Coast Guard.

I never dreamed I'd see the day that I would come to be regarded as "Old Guard".

I take that back. I did. I just thought that it would be different.

You may not know this, but Webmaster2525 (who is also a Chief) and I both joined the Coast Guard on the same day. I think that he and I played pool together (possibly in Baltimore???) while waiting for the Coast Guard bus to take us away to Coast Guard Recruit Training Center, Cape May, New Jersey.

ABC News names USCG "People of the Year"

D11 Members and Field COs, Just in case you did not hear about it yet, you are all to be congratulated for being selected as members of the Team identified by ABC News as "People of the Year - The United States Coast Guard." The article is in the Newsclips below. What a great outfit we work for. It's doubly nice when we are recognized for the great service that we provide to this Nation. Be proud of the role you play everyday as part of this incredible team. With respect to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we can all take pride and share in the accolades that have been showered on our Service because of our response. Whether your role in this event was operational, support, or pulling that extra duty back home so that others could deploy to the stricken Gulf region, you all deserve a great big pat on the back! Bravo Zulu! Have a Happy and Safe New Year!

K.J. Eldridge
D11 Commander

People of the Year: U.S. Coast Guard

Dodgeball!

After our all hands meeting the Command Center challenged the Station to dodgeball! Everyone had a great time, especially when I was taken out at my most vulnerable spot; a headshot straight to the glasses. Knocked 'em clean off my face.

Next all hands morale event: Cage wrestling!