UPDATE #1: Upon posting this article the military does what it always does, panic and kneejerk reactions. One particular reader wrote in to tell us we were using the wrong logo. Station Cape May is a different unit and falls under a different parent command than Training Center Cape May. Each unit has their own logo.
Some may be confused seeing a picture of the squad bay in TRACEN with the Station Cape May logo on top. We feel both chain of commands have problems. The horny chaplain is under the Station Cape May chain of command and the question of possible hazing is under the TRACEN chain of command. Both arrive at the doorstep of the Commandant of the Coast Guard.
We are sorry for the confusion, but that’s the reason why we used the logo of Station Cape May on a TRACEN photo. We thank the reader for revealing to us that we may have inadvertently created this confusion associated with the Station Cape May logo.
UPDATE #2: The United States Coast Guard provided proof of their petty vindictive nature. Recently, Megan (the subject of our story) was visiting family in Texas. As an Air Force retiree, she presented her retiree military ID card when attempting to enter a military installation in Texas. Immediately, the guards when to full alert.
The sentry told Megan that her retiree ID card had been declared as void due to misuse. She suspects that someone in the Coast Guard maliciously entered a falsehood into the security system that monitors and manages military ID cards.
If true, the United States Coast Guard needs to be sued for their evil vindictive methods and for failure to take appropriate action to stop sexual harassment by the horny base chaplain and for hazing of Coast Guard recruits.
BEGIN ARTICLE ABOUT OUR COAST GUARD…
The first Coast Guard female four-star admiral is Linda Lee Fagan. ADM Fagan assumed the job of Commandant of the Coast Guard on June 1, 2022, from ADM Karl L. Schultz.
One of the people who work for ADM Fagan is Captain Warren L. Judge who is in charge of Coast Guard TRACEN (Training Center) at Cape May, New Jersey. It appears that both ADM Fagan and Capt. Judge have been derelict in their duties, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
SOCIAL WORKER ARRIVES
The Coast Guard hired Sterling Medical Corporation to provide counseling services for both the Coast Guard Training Center and the Samuel J. Call (SJC) Health Services Department.
Sterling Corporation hired Megan, (as we will call her), on March 6, 2023, to provide counseling services for the Coast Guard. Megan was no ordinary social worker. She’s a twenty-year, retired Air Force veteran who is licensed as a clinical social worker (LCSW).
Unless the victims in our articles give us permission to use their real name, we generally always pick a pseudonym (a fictitious name). Even though many in the Coast Guard will know exactly who we are talking about, for the purpose of this and any future articles, we will refer to her as “Megan.”
Megan holds a master’s degree in social work and is licensed to provide diagnoses and counseling services to individuals suffering from mental, behavioral, and other emotional issues.
It wasn’t long after arriving at her new assignment that she began to realize she had fallen into a political cesspool, and wait for it, — an incredible amount of corruption and malfeasance within the United States Coast Guard.
PROBLEMS BEGAN WITH
A HORNY CHAPLAIN
Megan described how a USCG/Navy Chaplain wanted to use her body for ungodly purposes. He didn’t want to save her soul, he wanted to grab her ass. The smooth-talking impious chaplain began by inviting Megan to attend his sermons on Sunday mornings. It all went downhill from there.
He first began by stalking her. After church service, Megan went to her office intending to work about five hours catching up on some paperwork. Megan was the type of individual to cross the “Ts” and dot the “I’s.” The door to her office was locked as she clicked away on her computer listening to some music.
During the five-hour period she had to take a restroom break and got up to open the door. Standing there was the lustful chaplain with a shit-eating grin on his face. He had seen her car in the parking lot and knew she was probably there alone.
Right away, she was on guard. Any woman would be. Was he quietly listening through the door? Or, was it an innocent thing? Whatever it was, his sudden appearance startled her and her radar was at max deflection.
Megan had requested that he text her before coming to her office, something the libidinous chaplain decided not to do. Incredibly, the same thing happened again on another Sunday.
Once again, Megan went to her office to catch up on some paperwork after a Sunday church service, and once again the lascivious chaplain made another surprise appearance.
Then it got physical and Megan had to ultimately file an official complaint that she was being sexually harassed by a chaplain with an out-of-control libido. Do we need to tell you? The Coast Guard command did nothing. Just another example of piss-poor leadership.
The Bible does not say, “Thou Shalt Not Sexually Harass.” But we’re pretty sure the “Revised King James Version” of the UCMJ forbids sexual harassment and stalking. Try… UCMJ Article 130; Stalking and Article 133; Conduct Unbecoming and Article 134; General Article.
Predictably, Megan was immediately subjected to the silent treatment. This is what women have to endure when they ask stalkers to back off, they ultimately are forced to file a formal complaint. When they do, they become victims all over again.
It begins with the silent treatment, then quickly escalates to reprisals and retaliation as the good-ole-boy network on base begin to circle the wagons to protect a buddy, in this case the base chaplain.
HAZING OF RECRUITS
As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Megan interviewed many recruits going through training at the Coast Guard Training Center. This introductory training in the military is generally referred to as “boot camp.”
Boot camp, as all of us know who have “enjoyed” the experience is an arduous program designed to convert civilians into military personnel. We can tell you the Marine Corps has perfected this type of training.
Over decades, the Marines have created a program designed to break humans down both physically and mentally, then hopefully rebuild them into lethal war fighters.
At a minimum, military boot camps have been designed to get people to wear a uniform properly and follow orders.
Occasionally, the various branches of the service have problems with their drill instructors crossing the line which ends up in injury or death of young recruits. Whoops, did we say “young” recruits?
Most people watching the news know that virtually all military branches are having extreme difficulty recruiting people to join the service. This is occurring for a variety of reasons that we won’t go into here, but its a real problem that is getting worse with each passing year.
The problem is so bad the military has raised the bar on who is acceptable for military service. In the old days, you couldn’t enter the service if you had a tattoo. You couldn’t enter the service if you had a conviction for even a speeding ticket.
The maximum age used to be 37 years of age, but recently federal law stipulated the maximum age for military recruitment is now 42.
The requirements are different depending on the branch of service, but when the numbers of people entering the service falls to low levels, the requirements to enter military service change to enable more enlistments.
New recruits can be as old as 42 years of age. Some new recruits are fat and bald and have joined the military as last resort to avoid homelessness and starvation.
Military boot camps have long had a problem with “training” vs. sadistic hazing. What is hazing? Hazing is a problem not only in the military but also any organization that requires an initiation to join, such as gangs, sports teams, schools, cliques, universities, military units, prisons, fraternities and sororities, and even workplaces in some cases.
The initiation rites can range from relatively benign pranks to protracted patterns of behavior that rise to the level of abuse or criminal misconduct. Hazing is often prohibited by law or institutions such as colleges and universities because it may include either physical or psychological abuse, such as humiliation, nudity, or sexual abuse.
Hazing refers to any activity that is condition upon recruitment, admission, affiliation, or continued participation in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses, or endangers someone, regardless of consent or a person’s willingness to participate.
A CLASSIC MILITARY HAZING CASE
AND TYPICAL COVER-UP RESPONSE
One hazing example we recall was the drowning of Lee Mirecki. Mirecki was a 19-year-old United States Navy Seaman Recruit from Appleton, Wisconsin.
Mirecki was killed by drowning during a “sharks and daisies” exercise on March 2, 1988, in Pensacola, Florida.
Two of the Navy instructors were aware of Mirecki’s earlier problem with the “sharks and daisies” drill.
Mirecki left the training pool facility, requesting a DOR (drop on request). Since his training was voluntary, anyone could drop out at anytime by simply saying “DOR.”
Mirecki was talked into giving the “sharks and daisies” exercise one more try. The following day, Mirecki attempted the exercise once again.
And once again, Mirecki had difficulty with the “sharks and daisies” exercise and requested that he be dropped from the course and not be forced to re-enter the pool.
Instead of honoring his request, Navy instructors physically forced him back into the water. They began “smurfing” him (holding him under the water) until he lost consciousness.
As Mirecki was screaming and frantically struggling for his life, fellow classmates looked on in shock and dismay. They knew what they were witnessing was not right at all.
Fearing something bad could happen, Navy instructors ordered all his classmates to face the wall with their backs to the pool and loudly sing the national anthem to mask Mirecki’s pleas for them to stop.
We don’t need to tell you what happened do we? Seaman Recruit Lee Mirecki died from a heart arrhythmia, ventricular fibrillation, secondary to hypoxia, consistent with a death by drowning. Essentially, he was murdered by the United States Navy.
The United States Navy did what they always do, they went into coverup mode.
No investigation was initiated until a reporter from the Pensacola News Journal received an anonymous tip with information and reason to investigate the incident. Because of the Navy’s influence, the newspaper joined the Navy’s coverup.
When the Pensacola News Journal refused to publish the reporter’s account, the reporter quit her job at the newspaper. The family then contacted members of Congress and the press.
After two months of media, family, and Congressional pressure, the Navy begrudgingly began an investigation, and charged six petty officers in association with the case. Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Combe was found guilty of negligent homicide and conspiracy to commit battery.
For what many considered to be out and out murder, Michael Combe was sentenced to 90 days in the brig, a letter of reprimand and reduction in rank to petty officer 3rd class. It was pretty much a slap on the wrist for what was clearly a case of wanton negligence that resulted in manslaughter.
The United States Navy successfully circled the wagons and protected the officer corps. It’s the same cover-your-ass tactics used by all branches of the service including the United States Coast Guard.
WHERE DOES TRAINING END
AND HAZING BEGIN?
Hazing can be subtle in nature or pure harassment. Some forms of hazing are violent and dangerous. The question arises as to when “training” exercises in a boot camp setting cross the line and becomes hazing and harassment?
People who are specifically trained to recognize this are Licensed Clinical Social Workers like Megan who are not in an office in D.C. but diligently working on the front lines in hospitals throughout the country. Pencil necks in Washington don’t have a clue as to what’s really going on.
Social workers and medical professionals affiliated with military units are the first to discover injuries through examinations and through interviewing countless recruits of what they have been forced to endure.
Most people look the other way, but Megan felt it was her duty to report instances of hazing or abuse. Her reports were a source of embarrassment for the Training Center at Cape May, New Jersey.
On the flip side of the coin, recruit training is intensive. Some techniques are construed as hazing when it may not be. Mild hazing sometimes serves a deliberate purpose of building solidarity.
Psychologists refer to the framework of consistency and commitment to explain the phenomenon of hazing and the vigor and zeal to which practitioners of hazing persist in and defend these activities even when they are made illegal.
People who justify hazing say it’s actually part of the training process to convert civilians to war fighters. War is a nasty business and to win a war, this country, or any country for that matter, needs highly trained war-fighters able to vanquish the enemy.
On the other hand, some so-called training is disguised as nothing more than institutionalized sadism dispensed by sadistic drill instructors who need to be culled out of the ranks before recruits suffer irreparable injury or death. This is where leadership is desperately needed.
Boot camp training is further complicated by the fact that recruits can now range between 17 and 42 years of age. Some boot camp training can be tolerated easier by a 17 year old, but cannot be endured by an pudgy 42 year old.
Megan began to notice patterns in the Coast Guard training that were disturbing. She did her job as a professional clinical social worker that demanded she report any cases where instructors were crossing the line, going from training into hazing and harassment.
Her reports demanded an investigation. But, an investigation meant that one or more people would potentially be held accountable up to and including the commanding officer who allowed abuses to continue without taking prudent action to curtail hazing illegal actions by subordinates.
ONCE THEY DECIDE YOUR FATE,
YOU’RE GONE
Megan’s days were numbered. The good old boys decided it wasn’t their system that was bad, it was this new clinical social worker who was the problem. So, they began to weave their little web to rid themselves of Megan.
One way to do this is to use incidents and blow them way out of context. Whenever a counselor is dealing with someone in mental decline, they sometimes are attacked by the very people they’re trying to help. The Coast Guard was looking for any possible way to rid themselves of Megan.
Seaman Recruit #1 was in a serious mental decline. Megan saw all the warning signs. She did all she could as a clinical social worker to turn the situation around. Had this recruit been attended to earlier in the process, he would have been able to successfully graduate from recruit training.
Due to negative actions by the Coast Guard, the recruit’s mental condition continued to decline leading him to attempt suicide with an overdose of prescribed medicines.
The recruit was kept on the inpatient ward for forty days. Thirty days of that time, the recruit had no contact with a medical provider. The recruit had over thirty (30) prescribed medications. It’s almost as if the Coast Guard wanted him to commit suicide and were paving the way for him to do it.
Seaman Recruit #2 involved the fear she had taking the mandatory swim test. Obviously, it’s an embarrassment for the Coast Guard to have any Guard member who does not have the basic rudimentary skills to swim. The swim test is required in order to graduate from Coast Guard boot camp.
Megan went out of her way to allay fears of drowning and told her she would be there to support her when she took her swim test. Unfortunately, someone complained that Megan had done this without authorization. The recruit ended up passing the swim test and ultimately graduated.
Seaman Recruit #3 during a counseling session the recruit asked Megan for her help to time his pushups to see if he had made improvement enough to pass his physical fitness test.
The recruit told Megan he did not have enough time during the day because company commanders spent more time “sweating” the recruits instead of teaching and helping them improve standards in order to graduate.
Megan got the OK from her Behavioral Health Director who had acknowledged that she was providing the same support to the recruits that were assigned to her after they had complained of the same issues to her.
At the time, Megan did not see a problem with providing this support for the recruits during a therapy session. After all, Megan’s job was to provide support to the recruit population.
Once again, Megan was questioned as to her reasons for doing this as she felt this type of support was a training issue, not a mental health issue.
Megan witnessed first hand from previous recruits who asked for this additional support, this had improved recruits’ self-confidence, self-esteem, and improved their ability to pass their physical test so that they could graduate with their company.
It was easy to deduce that improved self-confidence and self-esteem contributes greatly to better mental health and that was definitely in the wheelhouse of Megan as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Megan did not see this recruit return back after this meeting again.
The Coast Guard threw this incident in Megan’s face implying she had once again overstepped her bounds. At this point, the Coast Guard was doing all they could to gather any dirt they could find on Megan.
Megan’s methods, although effective and needed, were too unorthodox for a stogy Coast Guard who frankly didn’t give a damn about any square peg recruit who would not fit into the round hole of a long established system.
SHE HAD ENOUGH OF THE
SNIPING AND BACKSTABBING
Megan finally came to the decision to submit her resignation. While she genuinely cared about the recruits in her care, she could take no more of the evil sniping, backstabbing and sexual harassment she was being subjected to.
On August 22, 2023, Megan sent an email to SJC leadership saying she was resigning her position and leaving on October 1, 2023. The Coast Guard wanted her gone immediately and negotiated with a Sterling Medical Corporation employee and they decided to change her initial resignation date and forced her out of her job on September 1, 2023.
The lack of the Coast Guard to have adequate staff for the medical providers, nurses, and corpsman, to handle the number of recruits both in outpatient and inpatient areas has led to staff burnout, compassion fatigue, and a precipitous decline in general morale as staff struggles to address the medical and mental health needs of new and current recruits.
The night staff on the SJC ward that requires a nurse to be on duty has been limited as well, leaving corpsman to attend to the injured recruits throughout the night, sometimes without a nurse on duty.
Because of the severe shortage, the only other alternative is to send recruits to the local emergency room… oh that will help matters!
DOES ADMIRAL FAGAN KNOW
WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON?
Now that Megan has departed, only one mental health provider remains. Each week 100 new recruits arrive on busses to begin boot camp. Over 75% of the recruits who do not make it to graduation are discharged due to mental health issues.
Due to the hazing and the extended “sweat sessions” they received daily and for hours on end, this contributed to them having mental health related symptoms, but according to Megan who is a licensed clinician, not every recruit deserved to receive a mental health diagnosis.
Because so many recruits were desperate to leave the Coast Guard after being (trained or mistreated, you choose the word), they took a gamble and sought out a mental health diagnosis.
Many recruits received injuries because of these training exercises or “sweat sessions.” Some of those injuries were severe in nature and included fractured hips, damaged knees, ankles and feet. TRACEN should probably have these injured recruits fill out VA disability claims before they leave as several of these injuries will haunt them for life.
Recruits who get injured and have been placed on medical limitations by SJC medical providers and/or have been discharged from the medical ward from having different types of fractures, they are sent to another building called Regimental Hold Element (RHE).
This area was meant for the recruits to heal while on limited duty status, however, this is not the case. While the company commanders rotate through RHE daily, the recruits have become fearful over who shows up for the day.
Unfortunately, they too have been subjected to engage in activities as if they were in company. There was a particular company commander that spent the day having these recruits engage in different recruit training objectives which kept them on their feet all day long despite a good number of these recruits being limited to stand for over 15 minutes.
This activity led to some recruits reinjuring themselves and having to return back to the SJC ward, extending their stay both at the ward and having to remain in recruit training even longer. Per the Coast Guard, no recruit is able to discharge until a medical provider place them on “fit for full duty” status.
There are currently recruits still at TRACEN who have been there for over 4 months and unable to leave. The SJC medical providers expressed their concerns after hearing of these activities being led at RHE but their voices were left unheard as well, and it was back to business.
Megan heard many stories of these same company commander making poor decisions. One recruit was forced to engage in pushups while on a limited duty status which clearly stated he was not to do pushups because of his current injuries, reinjuring him in the long run and extending his stay.
Megan heard of the recruit’s mental health decline which was just as bad as DHE and tried to help by providing briefings, but she was no match to what was being done to these recruits’ day and night.
So, recruits must ask themselves, which is the lesser of four evils? …
- being active in company,
- being on the ward,
- being at Regimental Hold Element building (RHE), or
- languishing away at the Discharge Holding Element building (DHE) until your company graduates?
If a recruit wants a discharge from the Coast Guard they go to the “Discharge Holding Element” (DHE). TRACEN orders recruits to the DHE building to remain there until their original company graduates, which ranges from the 1st week until the 8th, depending on which week they decided to quit.
Life at the DHE building is not fun either. From the time they wake until they go to bed, they are forced to remain in the building and sit in a long hallway all day unless they have a medical appointment, seek chaplain services, or go to the Galley.
Occasionally, if there is an event on base, mainly centered around recruits inbound or during graduation events, the incarcerated recruits were asked if they wanted to volunteer.
A majority of them preferred this opportunity just to escape from detention in the DHE building and avoid being sent back to recruit training.
Coast Guard Commandant Linda L. Fagan recently addressed Congress on the “State of the Guard” for 2023. She proudly touted her policies and plans.
ADM Fagan promised Members of Congress the Coast Guard will provide critical behavioral and mental health services.
She said the Guard is training corpsmen and behavioral health technicians and bolstering the Guard’s growing roster of mental health professionals.
ADM Fagan went on to inform Members of Congress the Guard also built a medical school pipeline for Coast Guard doctors to better support medical needs.
Megan tried her best helping recruits based on ADM Fagan’s vision.
Megan fervently believes in Admiral Fagan’s stated vision and policy, but believes that many people in the Coast Guard are maliciously thwarting Admiral Fagan’s attempt to implement those policies.
Megan attempted to share her truth about the failed attempts within TRACEN command to improve training recruits’ mental health. Training Center Command and SJC’s leadership’s removal of Megan from her position was designed to prohibit her from telling the truth.
Megan knows why Coast Guard enlistment numbers are declining, but more importantly, she knows why efforts made to improve the quality of life for these recruits have been totally ineffective.
It begs the question; does Admiral Fagan and Capt. Judge know what’s really going on in their own command? Or, does Capt. Judge know and has failed to disclose the chronic problems and abuse to the admiral? Do they really want to know what’s going on?
It’s their duty and responsibility to know what’s going on in their own command. Officers are derelict in their duties if they don’t know what’s going on in their own command. General Patton would say, “If you can’t do the job, I’ll fire you and find someone who can.”
In order to find the truth, you first have to WANT to find the truth. Maybe that’s the problem.
SPECIAL NOTE: We ask our readers to help us keep it all factual and straight. If anyone feels we have wrongfully maligned someone or gotten our facts wrong, please contact us immediately and help us to correct any errors no matter how small. And, there maybe more information that our article should have provided.
For example, we have a gut feeling that our horny chaplain has been sexually harassing other women. If those women wish to come forward, we will give them complete anonymity so they can tell their story freely. Obviously, the United States Coast Guard has some housecleaning to do.
They may also consider reviewing their policies and procedures in an effort to prevent any additional suicide attempts. It also might be wise to keep and support social workers like Megan who genuinely care about the lives of each and every recruit.
Instead of being ostracized and driven off the base, Megan’s inputs should have been taken more seriously. Instead, Coast Guard wisdom was to marginalize her then remove her from creating what they perceived as recruit interference.
Maybe, as a good starting point, the United States Coast Guard can start with addressing serious issues concerning their horny chaplain and their company commanders.
