NEW LONDON, Conn. – Branyelle Carillo was facing the prospect of a summer marooned at the Coast Guard Academy in New London when she was called up for a mission: The U.S Coast Guard cutter Munro, bound for a patrol of the U.S.
maritime border with Russia, had lost a tenth of its crew to quarantine and needed reinforcements. Within two days, Carillo and 15 other students from the academy, some of whom had never been on a ship before, were part of its crew.
She and 10 other second-year students, known as 3rd Class cadets, were sent to join five seniors, or 1st Class cadets, who had earlier been assigned to the cutter. “The list came out and we just got up and went,” she said. “They just voluntold us.