The Coast Guard’s new ethos has reached a milestone. In October, Tango-202 became the first company to recite the new ethos during graduation from boot camp at Training Center (TRACEN) Cape May in New Jersey. Adm. Linda L. Fagan, Commandant of the Coast Guard, announced the new ethos in the release of the 2022 Coast Guard Strategy on Oct. 12.
As Tango-202’s honor graduate, the day was bittersweet on many levels for Fireman Maya Hannah. And graduation forced her to juggle a host of emotions. Proud as she was to have completed basic training, she was sad to lose the close friends and “strong bonds” they built in boot camp. Excited as she was about her guaranteed District 13 assignment, which takes her to Coast Guard Cutter Alert in Oregon, she knew it would be tough to be away from her family for the first time.
A native of Foster, Rhode Island, Hannah decided the Coast Guard was the place for her after having been accepted to several colleges. As her senior year in high school wound down, she knew she wanted the structure of the military and greatly enjoyed a station visit with her local Coast Guard recruiter. “I want to gain skills [during my service] that I can use later in life,” she explained. Hannah will be working in the engine room on the Alert.
Petty Officer 1st Class Scott Scarpinato, the lead company commander of Tango-202, is excited about the new ethos. “The major point [of the new ethos] was to make it more inclusive, and so the adding of ‘we’ is a lot more inclusive. That’s one of the things we’re trying to push in bootcamp—that we’re a team,” he reflected. A marine science technician, Scarpinato has been in the Coast Guard for 15 years and is going into his third year as a company commander at TRACEN Cape May.
“Tango has a special place in my heart,” he added, “because it was the first company I was lead company commander for. I was learning just as much as they were.”
The service’s new ethos was the perfect end to a meaningful boot camp experience, according to Hannah. “I think the new message in the ethos is really great. It put into words what they were teaching us all throughout boot camp, that we needed to work as a team.” The ethos took on special meaning given the unique experience she and her shipmates in Tango-202 shared. Initially, the company struggled to work together.
The challenges of boot camp taught Hannah a great deal about leadership and prompted her to take charge and help bring the company together, she said. “We had a lot of other people who were great leaders,” she noted. Their hard work and success were an exemplary reflection of the service’s new ethos.
Reflecting on her time at Cape May, Hannah said, “you create great friendships and bonds in boot camp. No one else really understands it except for the people you were in boot camp with.”
To watch the Tango-202 graduation here.
The new ethos is below:
In Service to our Nation
With Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty
We protect
We defend
We save
We are Semper Paratus
We are the United States Coast Guard
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