• After another no letter day, you chase down the mail truck and conduct your version of a search & rescue.
• Short of a letter or a call, the highlight of your day is turning on the computer and finding unread messages from Steve Switzer (swab summer listmaster).
• You know the name of Steve Switzer's wife and you've never met either.
• You've counted the names on a Class of 2006 C.G.A. T-shirt.
• You have the sample Swab Summer Schedule on your refrigerator right next to the phone number of the Superintendent of the Academy.
• Nautical lingo finds its way more & more into your daily conversations.
• You dream about cell phone plans.
• You spend more on postage than groceries.
• Square meals no longer mean balanced nutrition.
• You have a sudden craving for schedules; Mystic Seaport, Eagle, '06 graduation.
• You spend $2.00 in postage to send a $1.25 candy bar.
• You set your alarm for 10pm New London time so you know he/she's through another day.
• You start adding 06 to the end whenever you speak of your child.
• You live in the South and are proud your child is a Yankee.
• You live in the Midwest and your bath room changes too a nautical look.
• You have a craving to buy miniature light house replicas
• You use terms like P-Way, bulkhead and head in daily conversation.
• You beam with pride when you hear about how the Coast Guard has saved another life or seized more drugs.
• You are now traveling and talking about your next opportunity to travel and see your cadet.
• You are meeting new Coastie parents and all have the same types of concerns and questions.
• You share your cadets letters on the net.
• You scan through photos on the USCGA photo link looking for your swab.
• Your wardrobe is branded with USCGA.
• Personnel at the Bookstore and Exchange Shop at the USCGA know you on a first name basis.
• You are now known by the name of your swab and their graduating class.
• You chase everyone away from the phone when you know your Swab has liberty and from the computer when your Swab does not.
• Your Swab is in X Ray or Zulu and YOU are looking at the Y 1, 2, and/or 3 photos on-line to see if you recognize anyone.
• The first thing your spouse asks after work every day is, "So did we hear from our swab today?"
• You see a CG chopper fly over (or on TV helping save a Kayaker off Hawaii you casually turn to your friend and say, 'Oh, it's one of OURS!' and you weren't including them . . .
• You hear the National Anthem, tears fill your eyes from thoughts of your swab.
• You consider buying stock in Kleenex or Puffs now.
• You cry over messages from X-ray and Zulu, and your swab is in Yankee, yet you still go back and read more the next day — and still have tears.
• Your extended family and friends are a little jealous of your new family of the USCGA Parent's Association because that's all you ever want to talk about (beside you Swab).
• Parents of recent high school graduates comment on how much they are going to miss their teenager who is going to attend a college just 2 hours away and you think to your self..."if only they were in my shoes..."
• Your favorite part of Top Gun is: Goose Dies, but Maverick is rescued by a UNITED STATES COAST GUARD HELO (You gotta let 'em go sir!).
• You think: I'm just another proud parent of an Academy graduate who pretty much just stood by and watched it happen. Mr. Cotch, on the other hand is one of the elite Coast Guard professionals who makes it happen, day in and day out.
• You use the term "Semper" anything (i.e. Semper Paratus, Semper Parentus, Semper Gumby...).
• Instead of the refrigerator gallery, all child artwork is destined for an envelope addressed to "Cadet xxx, Chase Hall..."
• All gift selections are preceded with the question "Will this fit on his personal shelf?"
• Your friends are groaning about how much shopping they have left to do to get their kids ready for college and how they don't know how they will fit it all into the van, and how many hours it will take to drive to wherever, you are the one smiling and kicking back with a cold drink on your porch!
• You're still wondering about the "black socks" thing.
• You actually start to like words such as semper.
• When Q-Tips cease to be called swabs.
• You're thinking about writing the sponsor family into your will.
• You finally get "pray without ceasing".
• You wonder if the Academy will issue you shoulder boards.
• You wear your CGA Class of '06 T-shirt everywhere in eternal hope that someone somewhere will come up to you and say, "Oh, are you a Coast Guard family, too?" Ditto the CGA proud parent bumper sticker!
• You can look at a picture of the Eagle and recite the names of the staysail's, masts, and jibs! (and this from a former Army officer, too!)
• You find yourself call-forwarding your phone(s) to your cell phone before going anywhere to make sure you don't miss "THE" call.
• You know you're a swab parent when: someone says "look at the eagle" and you don't look to the sky!!

Our prayers go out to each of you and your cadets