Saturday night into Sunday was a sleepless one. For staff, that's your lot. You average about 3 hours of sleep per night. It got to you, especially when I had to be woken up one time (by the Cadet Deputy Commander too...) in transit to the barracks from the Nuclear Missle Radar Facility.

Well, Sunday was cloudy, and that made it a dismal morning, but, faithfully I got out and did a few laps around the barracks, then hit the showers for the last time that week. For staff, free time is a blessing.

Chow that morning was served at the best place on base. Coast Guard HQ. They had spectacular food and a perfect energizing meal ready for you. It perked you right up for the rest of the day. Another small note: As staff you can bring your own personal food, and that me and my roomates (The flight Sergeants of 191st Cadet Training Squadron) did; Especailly brought was the 3 liters of Mountain Dew. In the mornings, that was our best friend. (Editor's Note: Ewww...)

Returning to barracks, we went through a few arrival procedures and cadet staff was given their assigned locations to "Guide" cadets in. Though, "guiding" is more like antagonizing the cadets, yet if they survive this first day, the rest should be no problem. The culture shock happened Sunday, and it was unavoidable.

Lunch was served at the coast Guard HQ again, once again with a meal that rivals the Olive Garden. We returned, and the officers all changed into their Blues for cadet arrival. And it didn't take long for them to start arriving.

I really feel bad for that first cadet who showed up. He was the earliest and that was good, but he (or was it she?) endured every trap the staff can muster. That cadet hit every one of the staff on their way to their room. It must have been a sad.

Thankfully a greater volume of cadets started to pour in, so no one cadet got the full force of the staff member's tricks and pitafalls. I was stationed to first walk the hallways and get cadets into their rooms and dump their stuff for a contraband check. It was contortedly fun, and I was always keeping my eye out for my flight members, who were in a few consecutive rooms that held 4 cadets max, but only 3 were allowed per room due to only 3 lockers present in each room. I told my cadets flat out that this was going to be the toughest day, and that I didn't want to see any cadets dropping out. They answered with a crisp "Yes, Sergeant!" and that was my cue to leave.

During that first day, you were required to call the room to parade rest and stand at the foot of your bed when an NCO other than the Command Chief (Encampment 1st Sergeant) entered the room. That was done numerous times to try to frustrate the cadets, and occasionally, it worked. The thing to do was stand just outside the cadet's rooms within millimeters of the "line of Demaraction" as it was called between the hallway (Called a "Bay" here in Massachusetts) and their rooms. The Command Chief was notorious for doing that.

There was humor in that first day. To get through the line of cadets extending from inprocessing, a staff member needed only shout "Make a hole!" and the cadets would part. One time, due to my extensive movement around the barracks complex, I used that command frequently. I earned the nickanme "Sergeant Moses" after one cadet's comment of "He parts cadets like the Red Sea."

After contraband check, My flight commander and I decided to meet with the cadets a few minutes before running them through with encampment proceedures.

Now, it is every sergeant's fear to get several short, young, inexperienced airmen. That makes training doubly hard, but nowhere near impossible. I was fortunate to have several mature, tall people in my flight (they towered over me) in my flight in addition to a variety of experienced cadets. Though the highest grade cadet in my flight was a senior airman, two of my cadets ere in JROTC (or eqivalent, in fact one was a major) and several other professional deparments. I was fortunate to get a solid and good flight to work with.

The rest of sunday was used drilling, and basic barracks maintenance classes. Lights out gave the staff its first brief respite. It had been a long day.