Home for the holiday Coast Guard Operation Fireside

Basic training with the U.S. Coast Guard is tough, but more than 600 recruits were able to take a break from their rigorous basic training and spend Thanksgiving Day with 100 host families and community organizations across Cape May County as part of Operation Fireside.

In week three of training, ECHO 208 Company’s 60 recruits spent the holiday at the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)  386 post on Congress Street in Cape May.

Operation Fireside provides recruits from the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May with a place to call home on Thanksgiving and/or Christmas Day. The recruits, who are away from home during the Coast Guard’s eight-week basic training, are matched by the Red Cross and the Coast Guard with local families willing to open their homes to recruits and with organizations that will provide a home away from home during the holidays.

The families, organizations, and recruits are paired at Training Center Cape May’s Flores Gymnasium before departing the training center. While the recruits are off base, they are allowed to eat as much as they want, call home, and relax before beginning training again the next day.

At the VFW, recruits were from as far away as the Island of Jamaica and as close as Forked River, New Jersey. “Thanks to the generosity of our entire Cape May community (Veterans Home Association, VFW 386, Auxiliary 386, American Legion Post 193, local businesses and organizations, and people who just love Cape May), the Thanksgiving Day holiday dinner for 60 Coasties is wholly paid for!” Jan Pask in a Facebook post.

Sixty recruits ate 135 donuts and two pumpkin pies in 45 minutes. They also drank about 25 pots of coffee, multiple hot teas, and pitchers of soda upon their arrival at the VFW. Recruits could be seen shooting pool, learning shuffleboard, and most were making calls to loved ones.

Veteran’s Home Association (VHA) member Bruce Brown of Cape May was in the kitchen loading ovens with hotel-size pans of turkey. “We have sausage and peppers, meatballs, garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing, and all the trimmings,” Brown said. “It’s Thanksgiving Dinner on steroids.”

Bonding in Boot Camp

Recruits Riley and Fiala asked to have their photo taken together so they could each share it with their mothers. The pair, new besties, were from Forked River, New Jersey, and a town further north, Beverly, New Jersey. They became fast friends and shipmates after meeting in boot camp.

Operation Fireside has placed recruits with South Jersey families during the holiday season since 1981. “I had a great Thanksgiving at the VFW in November 1997,” retired Senior Chief Chad Bowie said. “I was in Delta Company 152 and now live in California.”

“It’s about gratitude. This is an opportunity for our recruits to see that the community values them. But also, an opportunity for the community to be grateful,” said Captain Amanda Lee, the commanding officer at Training Center Cape May.

“It’s an amazing way to see community at work and just be grateful for the recruits and what they do for our country,” said Dianne Concannon, of the American Red Cross New Jersey Region.

Notes of gratitude

Deanna Brown of the VFW Auxiliary Post handed out note cards to the recruits as they arrived. “I asked them to write their name and hometown on one side,” Brown said. “On the other side, I asked them if they wanted to write something they were grateful for this Thanksgiving.”

“Thank you so much for hosting me on Thanksgiving during my Coast Guard Basic Training!” wrote one recruit. “It means a lot that you guys gave up time with your families to give us a place we can feel at home and welcome. I’m so grateful for the veterans I met who served before me. Thank you again for such a fantastic time and opportunity!” The recruit noted.

The visual of the efficiency of Operation Fireside’s motion is nothing short of amazing. Orchestrating the delivery of the entire recruit population into the VFW and homes in the Cape May County area is quite a feat. Getting 60 recruits out and back on time to avoid a penalty was graciously handled by volunteer drivers from the Cape May County Fare-Free Transportation organization.

All recruits were returned to the Training Center on time and are expected to graduate on December 30th.

“I asked the recruits if this was their best day since they enlisted, and they all answered with a resounding ‘yes’!” Jan Pask said.