Biden Expresses Confidence In Coast Guard Academy Graduates

By Dirk Langeveld

Speaking before the Class of 2013 at the Coast Guard Academy, Vice President Joe Biden said the cadets could have taken an easier route but chose the more arduous path in order to join a service of the United States. 

"Thank God you answered the call," said Biden. "You chose to answer that difficult but noble calling, to risk your life in service to the nation so that others might live."  

Biden was the commencement speaker appearing for the graduation of 227 cadets from the New London service academy to commissions in the Coast Guard. One of which was Catherine Mary Schmitz, of Stonington.

Of the Class of 2013, 194 will report to cutters, 20 will go to flight school, and nine will go to sectors. Schmitz will serve on the cutter Richard Etheridge at Miami Beach, Fla. Four international students will serve in their home countries of Belize, Honduras, Lithuania, and Tunisia. 

Biden said the class has excelled in academics and athletics, with student work including the development of a collapsible rescue basket and oil spill cleanup methods. Biden also noted how the class’s electrical engineers bested the Navy in a cyber defense exercise. 

“My son who’s a commissioned officer in the Navy suggested I not say that,” joked Biden. “My son who’s an Iraqi veteran and a major in the Army suggested yes, I should.” 

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who usually attends the commencement, was absent due to her role in the federal response to a devastating tornado in Oklahoma. Admiral Robert J. Papp, commandant of the Coast Guard, said the storm was one reminder of the challenges the cadets will face in their service. 

“As sailors, we never have control over the weather,” said Papp. “All we can do is react to it and adapt to it. And all of you will be confronting from time to time stormy and uncertain seas, and I know that your preparation here has made you ready for that.” 

Joseph Sullivan-Springhetti, the distinguished cadet for the Class of 2013, said he thinks there is sometimes a misconception that the academy is a reward and subsequent service in the Coast Guard an obligation, as the academy does not charge tuition to those it accepts.

“It’s not that the academy is the reward and the Coast Guard the obligation. It’s the opposite," said Sullivan Springhetti. "We come to New London. We persevere through the deprivations and the stress. We come to the Coast Guard Academy so that one day we can come to this field and join the ranks of the world’s best Coast Guard.” 

Sullivan-Springhetti said that the class joins college graduates across the country in having talent and potential, but said those who went to the Coast Guard Academy are distinguished from other graduates. 

“What makes us different is that you and I have promised our potential,” he said. “Not to ourselves or to a corporation or to a bottom line, but to our country.” 

Biden also said he was confident in the class’s abilities and asked the graduates to stand up and honor their attending parents. 

“Your country is indebted to you, and I’m absolutely certain that the graduates sitting before you have turned out to be all that you hoped they may become, men and women of courage and commitment,” he said. 

Biden said the increased appearance of the Coast Guard in movies and television has led to a greater appreciation of the service among the American people. Many others, he said, have experienced the Coast Guard firsthand through the service’s search and rescue mission. 

“There are tens of thousands of grateful men and women from all parts of the world who will tell anyone who will listen that the most welcome sight they’ve ever seen in their life were those racing stripes coming toward them or the sound of that orange Coast Guard helicopter lowering a bucket with a man or woman inside to save their lives,” he said. 

However, Biden said the graduates will not be serving in “your father’s Coast Guard.” He said the service is involved in areas such as port security, drug interdiction, icebreaking, and fighting terrorism and piracy.

“The nation asks a great deal of you because we know you’re capable of doing it,” he said.   

Graduates from southeastern Connecticut include: 

• Jonathan Edward Paquette, of Groton, who will serve on the cutter Dependable at Cape May, N.J. 
  
• Catherine Mary Schmitz, of Stonington, who will serve on the cutter Richard Etheridge at Miami Beach, Fla. 
  
• Daniel Christian Spangler, of Waterford, who will serve on the cutter Boutwell in San Diego, Calif.