Pics of my daughter, my hero, graduating USCG basic training

This is probably overdue. I’ve been wanting to share a few personal pics of my daughter Mina’s graduation ceremony. She was part of Coast Guard Company Victor 207 basic training and graduated on Oct. 31.

All recruits receive their basic training at the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey. It’s an impressive, sprawling facility built in 1948. It’s served as the sole training center for all United States Coast Guard recruits in the country since 1982.

My daughter can sing, dance, paint, draw, play piano, and is an all-around talented young woman. She’s done theater and fashion shows, and she could have gone to art school upon completing high school this year. Instead, she wanted the far less glamorous but far more important job of serving our nation. She came to this decision on her own at 15, and by age 18, she never wavered.

I remember when she was a tiny girl of only 3 when I took her to Disney World. After a princess makeover at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, we stood at a distance and she stared intently at Cinderella’s Castle. I was in awe of the fire in her young eyes, and just as I was about to ask what she was thinking about, she said, “I want to do something big one day.”

Then she added, “Bigger than big.”

She's doing it. The United States Coast Guard is under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security and does everything from maritime law enforcement to search and rescue operations, interdiction of illegal narcotics being smuggled into our country, to stopping illegal immigration. It is the second-hardest basic training to get through behind the U.S. Marines. Not because of the physical effort involved, though there’s plenty of that, but because of the academics. There is so much to know because the USCG does so many different things. One in five never graduate. Of those who do, one in three go through ‘reversion’ weeks and don’t graduate on time.

My daughter not only graduated on time she even received a special commendation from her battalion commander for integrity during basic training. To say I’m proud of her doesn’t begin to tell the story. To say she’s my hero comes closer.

Here are a few pics from the morning she graduated.

A USCG band performed flawlessly as we waited for the ceremony to begin.

A manual arms precision drill team is entering for an incredible demonstration of firearms skill.

Unlike most speeches given at high school and college graduations, these were truly poignant, patriotic, and hit parents’ souls in a special way.

United States Coast Guard Company Victor-207.

My daughter, Mina Deminski (in the glasses), as her row is called at graduation.

Mina received her certificate and had her name and assignment read. She is serving out of Portsmouth, Virginia, assigned to a 300-foot security cutter. God bless all the men and women of USCG Company Victor-207, and may they be safe and successful in their careers.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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