NEW LONDON, Connecticut — The grueling basic training for aspiring cadets at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, known as swab summer, has been revamped this year following a sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the prestigious military academy.
Gone is the shock-and-awe of Day 1 of the seven-week boot camp, when rising juniors, known as cadre, scream in the faces of the 300 or so incoming freshmen as they first arrive at the New London, Connecticut, campus for future U.S. Coast Guard officers. This year, the cadre read vigorously from a prepared script, eschewing improvisation and shouting.
The goal is to get the adrenaline pumping and make the training camp more about mentorship and respect than intimidation and bullying. Hopefully this will have a positive domino effect within the Coast Guard.
“If you don’t have a script, you end up with volume,” said retired Cmdr. John Heller, the deputy commandant of cadets for strategy and leadership, who served in various roles at the academy for about 25 years and helped oversee the latest changes that were reflected in the U.S. Military Academy’s cadet training. “What ends up happening is we’ve been onboarding our cadets for decades, perhaps unintentionally, in a climate of fear and intimidation.”
Changing the climate of the swab summer is one of seven actions the academy was forced to take after revelations that the Coast Guard concealed an investigation called Operation Fouled Anchor. The investigation found dozens of cases of sexual abuse and harassment involving cadets from 1990 to 2006. mistreated by the schoolincluding preventing some perpetrators from being prosecuted.
The revelation, first reported by CNNled to calls for major reforms and long overdue accountability for offenders and those who protected them. There have been multiple government and congressional research Research is currently being conducted into how to deal with serious misconduct at school and beyond.
A damned majority staff report released Wednesday by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found “systemic deficiencies” that “continue to this day” at the academy and across the Coast Guard. During a field hearing the committee held Thursday in New London, former and current service members spoke of abuse and intimidation they experienced and how a “culture of cover-up” ultimately protected their abusers.
Shannon Norenberg, a former academy coordinator for sexual abuse response who resigned in June and became a whistleblower, said 20-year-old cadets who are several years younger and train with minimal supervision and control over swabs was a problem she raised last year during the commandant’s review ordered after the Operation Fouled Anchor revelations.
“Sometimes the cadets just aren’t mature enough to take that leadership role and they take it too far” and get personal, such as making comments about a swab’s intelligence or appearance, said Norenberg, who has since rescinded her resignation and is seeking a return to her campus position. “Instead of correcting the swabs’ behavior, they insulted their character or attacked their dignity to be there.”
Months later, the Swabs discover that the executives, whom they still call sir and madam, can tell them what to do and get them into trouble.
“You can imagine how much abuse of power has been committed over and over again,” said Norenberg, who noted that during her 11 years at the academy she has handled more than 150 reported cases of sexual abuse, many of which involved abuse of power.
As ordered by the commander, there is increased oversight of the cadre this summer. Drill instructors from Training Center Cape May in New Jersey, where enlisted personnel are trained, have been tasked with mentoring the cadre. Outside experts have been invited to campus to discuss issues such as power dynamics.
This is in addition to the professional victim advocates hired at the school for the first time in 2021, who train the swabs and cadre on sexual harassment, assault and rape.
This year, a new program called shield training was implemented to reinforce the Coast Guard’s core values of honor, respect and dedication to duty. Each night after weary swabs shower — some in individual cubicles recently built to provide privacy — they break into groups with a cadre member to review a lesson and discuss what happened with their squad that day.
Swabs may record personal problems they have in daily journals that the cadre reviews. They may also make a special hand gesture to indicate that they need to speak to the cadre in private.
Oliva Spada, a swab from Long Island, New York, said she was a little wary before coming to the academy because of reports of sexual abuse and harassment. But a few weeks into her new life as a cadet, she felt completely safe.
“Never, never would I feel like something like that would happen,” she said. “I feel completely safe with my cadre, with my shipmates.”
But the changes were met with skepticism from some former and current Coasties, the nickname for Coast Guard members.
“It’s theater. They haven’t internalized any wrongdoing,” said retired Cmdr. Kimberly McLear, a former whistleblower who taught at the academy and later founded the Right the Ship Coalition, which seeks to help those “harmed by the culture of brutality and cover-ups” in the Coast Guard.
“They take calculated measures to shift the focus to the performance of the cadets and distract from the culture of the staff, faculty and leadership all the way up to the commandant.”
Academy staff are well aware that there is scepticism about the changes being implemented and whether they address the core of the problem.
“We have a lot of faith that we have to pay back,” said Cmdr. Krystyn Pecora, who attended the academy 20 years ago. “And so I can appreciate that skepticism.”
Pecora said she disagrees with criticism from some longtime Coasties who feel the school is now too lenient with new cadets.
“There’s nothing easy about respect,” she said. “For me, it’s actually easier to just go out there and yell and intimidate. It’s not more effective. So to put this focus on building respectful leadership, that’s challenging and it’s not easy for anyone.”
The Coast Guard as a whole has been tasked with carrying out 33 operations as part of Operation Fouled Anchor, seven of which have been assigned to the academy.
In addition to the swab summer changes, the cadet conduct system is being updated and security in the dormitory is being beefed up, including plans to upgrade the locks on cadet rooms and install more security cameras. There is a new policy that allows cadets who have been assaulted to continue their studies at another service academy.
Gabriella Kraus-Rivera, Cadet 2nd Class, said Operation Fouled Anchor is well known among the cadets and that “there isn’t a kid here who doesn’t understand what happened” and that cultural changes are needed.
“I think that’s part of having honor, living with that integrity and being able to be honest about the things that happened at this academy,” she said. “The only way to change it is if you acknowledge it first.”
