In a surprise announcement, the USPS will issue a new stamp to honor the 150th anniversary of the US Coast Guard Academy. The new stamp will be issued at the academy in New London, CT on September 12. This is of special interest to me because of my connection to the place: I was a Coast Guard cadet at the academy in the mid 1980s. Yes, I had intended to embark on a career as a Coast Guard officer, doing noble work like stopping criminals and rescuing distressed boaters, though realistically it would have mostly been more mundane chores like painting navigational buoys and counting fish in fisherman's nets. Not since the stamp issued in 2015 honoring the CG Cutter Eagle on August 4th, Coast Guard Day (and my birthday), have I been so eagerly anticipating a new stamp release. My own Coast Guard career was cut short when I washed out of the academy after two years. But in that time, I met many very fine people among my classmates and remain friends with a few of them. Two members of my academy class of '87 went on to command the CGC Eagle. One would eventually run the academy itself. And the current top guy running the entire US Coast Guard is a former classmate of mine. So with pride and nostalgia, I eagerly await this new stamp issue, and everything it represents.
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