José Gutierrez: I had my mind set on going to school, becoming a nurse and closing the chapter on the Military and just being appreciative of the experience. One of the things that you have to do when you get out of the Air Force, out of Active Duty at least, is you have to talk to a Reserve recruiter. That's actually part of your checklist. I sat down and was ready to say no. He said, "Well, you know, you can actually have both. Like, you can still go to school and still be in the Military, and one of the positions that's available that you can go into is Bioenvironmental Engineering." And that really piqued my interest.

Alex Burtness: I’ve pretty much been taking things apart as long as I can remember. I was always interested in finding the challenges that fit with who I am and what I valued and what I was skilled at. I found out about the Naval Academy and I saw the challenge of it and that’s what really appealed to me. I got rejected from the Naval Academy the first time I applied. I think getting that rejection really showed me that the effort I’d been putting in wasn’t sufficient. I remember people saying that normal kids from high school can’t just go to a service academy, and I decided that I needed to prove them wrong. 

Nathanael Kruse: There was one time where we had to go out and save a craft that was coming up and there was 242 people on board. We had people that were plunging themselves in the water, they were jumping overboard. Going out there, being able to just give any type of assistance, helping them get off their boat, get on to our vessel, find them food, water they so desperately needed.

That was the first time where I really saved someone's life. It showed me that I made the right decision that made me come to the Coast Guard.