Upon graduation from recruit training on Friday, August 12, 1966, all recruits were given 10 days of leave to return home or wherever before moving to our new duty assignments in the Coast Guard.

Unfortunately for us, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) went on strike against five major airlines (Eastern, National, Northwest, TWA and United) in what was called the Great Airline Strike of 1966. The strike lasted from July 8th through August 19th, a week after we graduated. President Lyndon B. Johnson finally lifted the previous 3.2% raise limit for airline employees and the union won 5% raises for three succeeding years plus cost of living escalators. The 43-day strike started after we commenced recruit training in June and the only airline flying to Miami from Philadelphia was Delta Air Lines. Needless to say all the seats on Delta were quickly bought up by the flying public weeks before we graduated. For most of us our only options were getting home by bus or train which were both dreadful because they were packed with passengers due to the airline strike.

We graduated in the early to mid afternoon Friday and we had to make our own way to Philadelphia when released. My notepad indicates that the Public Service bus from Cape May to Philadelphia was $2.60 and the Greyhound fare from Philadelphia to Miami was $36.55, totaling $39.15 or more than half our new monthly pay in the Coast Guard. The Greyhound left Philadelphia at 9pm and didn't arrive in Miami until 6:10am on Sunday, which was a horrible waste of leave time.

There was a train from Philly to Miami that left at 6:03pm and arrived in Miami at 5:45pm on Saturday, saving half a day over the bus. But we had to get to Philadelphia to catch that train and the bus to Philly from Cape May took 3 hours. Our release time from Cape May was so late that there was no way to catch the 6:03pm train in time. I have notes stating that the buses left Cape May at 3:40pm, 4:40pm and 5:40pm and a 3-hour trip plus transfer time at Philly obviously meant that we would have to take a later train, wasting even more valuable leave time.

I called the Cape May Airport at 522-3755 and arranged to reserve an air taxi flight from Cape May to Philly on Southern Jersey Airways. The fares I have written down were $31.50 for 1, 2 or 3 passengers or 2 passengers plus our heavy seabags and $41.00 for 3 passengers and 3 seabags. The flying time was 30 minutes, getting us to Philly in time to make it to the train station for the 6:03pm train. Two other guys (Eddie Bickford from Miami and another guy believed to be Jim Bridges from Jacksonville) and I split the costs to keep the per person cost down.

We took a taxi to the nearby airport upon being released from recruit training and we flew to Philly on a twin-engine prop aircraft of some type with the registration of N711R. It was fun to fly in a small aircraft again and the flight was scenic in good weather. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera to take photos because it was confiscated in boot camp and shipped home along with my civilian clothes and other contraband. I've been unable to find that registration on the internet (the current registered aircraft with that tail number is a Lear 45).

The three of us made the train on time and it was a totally miserable trip because all the trains were full due to the airline strike. We spent close to 24 hours on the train before arriving in Miami at the Seaboard railroad station on NW 7th Avenue. Our formerly pristine white uniforms were various shades of gray and we were worn out from the trip but it was worth it to get home after recruit training.