For Some Recruits, the M-1 Garand is still Used for Extra Motivation

I always loved this July 1974 National Geographic image by David Alan Harvey of Sheila E. Denison, one of the first early coed Officer Candidate School class members at USCG TRACEN Yorktown, cleaning her M1 Garand while touching up her hair. The 10.5-pound wooden-stocked Garand, officially the U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, was used by every class at the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey, for half a century, only replaced by the M16/M4 in the early 2000s. However, for those (un)lucky enough to find themselves in Cape May’s Recruit Aptitude and Motivation Program, or RAMP, “The Greatest Battle Implement Ever Devised” gets pulled out of the armory to add some emphasis to the daily program. As these images, captured in September, show USCG Company Commanders providing RAMP recruits with “enhanced and personalized training in order for them to succeed.” (U.S. Coast Guard photos by Petty Officer 3rd Class Danielle Layton and Seaman Juliana Thornton) According to the…