Well as the Company Commanders at Boot Camp would say, Carrissa and I have officially won the recruit lottery. If you don’t already know we have been sent to a small tropical island in the South Pacific called Guam. And to add to that I have been assigned to a 225′ Bouy Tender. (Cheers erupt)
If you’re wondering why that is considered a win, at least the Bouy Tender part, let me explain…
I was sitting in a small, tight desk at Recruit Training, in a modified position of attention of course, my name was plastered across the white screen with the big, bold letters “USCGC SEQUOIA, SANTA RITA, GU.” I quickly jumped to attention and sounded “ASH AYE!” My entire company of 101 sat waiting the smart comments to quickly follow from our CC’s.
“Ash, do you even know what the “GU” means?”
“Yes Chief Williams!”
“Well what does it mean?”
“Chief Williams, Seaman Recruit Ash, I believe it means Guam!”
“That’s right Ash, do you like to sweat?”
(Trying not to laugh) “No Chief Williams”
“You married Ash?”
“Yes Chief Williams”
“How do you feel about this?”
“Chief Williams, Seaman Recruit Ash, I feel stellar!”(Stellar is his favorite adjective)
“Alright, sit down!”
As I sat down the company tried to cover their laughter with fake coughing, but no one was fooled. We sweat for that later with a nice session of “slow squats,” well worth it in my opinion.
At this point I still had no idea why a Bouy Tender was so great, however, when I boarded my new office for the first time I realized why I had won! First off, it feels like a family. I work on the deck, and the deck force is made up of an awesome group of coasties. Secondly, I’ll be sleeping in a room with 6 bunks instead of 20-30 like the large “white” cutters. And also, the vessel is fairly new, and it’s set up to serve the crew very well.
It’s a totally new and completely over my head environment, but that’s how life goes. I believe that if you never get completely out of your comfort zone, you can’t possibly experience life at its greatest potential.
Carrissa and I feel abundantly blessed with our first assignment. Everyone here has been incredibly helpful, and have made this new experience wonderful. We thank God for guiding us along this adventure, and cannot wait to explore everything Guam has to offer.
-Andy
…Adventure updates to follow…
twoseethesea 
Wow, thanks for sharing ggese details! You snd Crissa are sure to have a “great adventure” ahead, with God as your Captain!
We pray it will be like a big family, as you get to know new friends ; as you look past differences and work to resolve differences, they will become like family, We lived on the island of Puerto Rico(a much bigger island, but still somewhat iscolated) for 4 years when Joe was little. There were challenges, but we made close friends with other believers and it was memorable!we will be praying! Please call if you want to talk, esp when Andy is underway! 609-214-5259
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“Lola Grissom used to say that your first meal together at the table makes the house a home.”
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When’s the next blog post? 🙂 xoxo
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hahahaha i just saw your comment, ciera! we obviously don’t check up on this very much.. it was andy’s idea, so he’s in charge of posts =P we’ll probably update it once he gets back in a few weeks! ❤
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