Recruit: Females entering!
Recruits: Females entering!
Kathy Felger: What's happened over the last
couple of months is we've had to modify
almost every aspect of training.
Company commander: Stop touching your face!
Felger: We still have the same mission,
to turn civilians into the future of the Coast Guard,
to the same standards, to get out there to
conduct Coast Guard missions.
[instructor yells]
But we've had to modify quite a few things.
Narrator: According to Capt. Kathy Felger
of the United States Coast Guard,
there have been zero confirmed cases of COVID-19
at the training center in Cape May, New Jersey.
But recruit training has seen drastic transformations
because of the pandemic.
The Coast Guard provided this footage
that shows what recruit training is like
during the crisis.
Felger: When they arrive, we do temperatures,
we look for symptoms,
we ask the same basic questions
under the guidance of the CDC.
They're monitored daily, and anybody that
does present symptoms, fever, coughing, et cetera,
will get tested for COVID-19.
Narrator: Upon arrival in Cape May, a new policy
known as restriction of movement, or ROM,
keeps incoming recruits quarantined for 14 days
before they begin their training.
And training looks a lot different from when
we visited Cape May in November of 2018,
long before physical distancing became the norm.
[recruits and instructors yell]
This is what it looked like
when recruits arrived in 2018.
And this is what it looks like now.
Felger: Our normal company size
is anywhere from 100 to 120.
And under this new process,
we're only bringing in 48 to 50.
And that's based on safety, basically,
and what we could isolate here in the event
that we did have an outbreak of COVID,
so we've reduced the size of the company significantly.
Company commander: That's an officer, right?
And how can you tell?
Recruit: 'Cause of the word.
Felger: So, during this two-week
restriction of movement period,
the staff that's working with them,
they can still instill the discipline in the squad bay,
but not in a intense, disciplinarian environment.
The lessons that they're getting are about
obeying orders, following rules,
learning their Coast Guard recruit regulations,
a little bit of light physical fitness.
So they're getting some of the content of the curriculum
in this period without the intensity.
Narrator: Once ROM ends,
recruits begin their regular six-week training program,
albeit with some limitations.
Recruit: Papa One Niner Eight!
Bring it on in!
Felger: After the two weeks, it's presumed, you know,
we've mitigated the risk as much as possible.
The company commanders will be maintaining
that physical distance.
If the company commander needs to engage
and be closer than six feet to a recruit,
they will wear a mask and engage that way.
[recruits yell]
Recruits: No discipline, no peace!
No discipline, no peace!
Felger: But the recruits themselves will still
be in close-quarters training.
That's part of the team building,
getting them to march together,
close-order drill.
Narrator: One place physical distancing
is strictly enforced is the galley,
where recruits eat their meals, or chow.
This footage from 2018 shows what chow
used to look like.
And this is what it looks like during COVID-19.
One of the biggest impacts is how the crisis
has affected graduations.
As you can see in this footage from 2018,
graduation ceremonies are normally an emotional,
celebratory occasion
attended by friends and loved ones.
But amid the pandemic,
it's a much different affair.
Each ceremony is livestreamed on Facebook.
On a normal graduation, we might have 100 views.
Recently, I think we had
up to 900 because all the families,
aunts, uncles, grandma, grandpa
are watching from home, having watch parties
instead of being there to celebrate in person.
That's been the biggest change for us.
And we don't see that changing for the foreseeable future.
[recruits yell]
We're trying to still put the same product
out to the Coast Guard, that we have
young men and women ready to operate,
ready to conduct Coast Guard missions.
And we have to be able to assure
that they're meeting those graduation standards.
So we have not really modified the product
that we're giving out, just the way
that they're training in some environments.
[recruits yell]