Swab Summer: Transformation at the United States Coast Guard Academy

Markham Starr, author of Swab Summer, presents a talk and slideshow that follows incoming cadets through their boot camp experience before they begin their freshman year at the Academy. Beginning their Coast Guard careers with a pleasant breakfast with their parents, they're then bussed away for the rest of the day’s activities. By the time their parents see them again, they will have been shaved (except for the women), uniformed, and drilled into a passable unit that marches onto the Parade Grounds for their official induction into the military. From this point on, their summer gets noticeably more challenging. Starr also discusses what it takes and what it means to become an officer in the US Coast Guard.

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