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Saipan native to head to Honolulu for duty
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Posted on Apr 12 2008
[B]NEW LONDON, Conn.[/B]—U.S. Coast Guard Academy First Class Cadet Christine Dela Cruz Torres was one of 220 U.S. Coast Guard Academy first class cadets to learn what unit they will be assigned to after graduation at billet night here March 6.
Torres, who will earn a bachelor of science degree in Government and a commission as an ensign in the Coast Guard upon graduation, will report to U.S. Coast Guard cutter JARVIS, a 378-foot high-endurance cutter in Honolulu as a deck watch officer for her first tour of duty.
“It’s a source of pride for me, knowing that I’ve come this far. The Academy has outfitted me with a free, top-notch education, and is setting me up to do the Coast Guard’s missions—search and rescue, counter-drug operations, and maritime law enforcement, among others. I could not have come this far without the support of my parents Antonio and Consolacion DLC Torres of Capital Hill, Saipan,” said Torres.
The assignment process started in February when cadets were given a list of available billets from which to choose. A number of factors are taken into account by the detailers at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington D.C. during the assignment process. First and foremost are the needs of the service, a cadet’s major, gender constraints at a unit, a cadet’s overall military precedence average and finally what a cadet put on their “dream sheet.”
This year the majority, 52 percent, of cadets will received a billet that was in their top three picks. Like every other year most of the graduating class will be headed to sea: 87 percent are assigned to afloat units, four percent will go to ashore units while nine percent will go straight to flight school. [B][I](USCG)[/I][/B]
