Photo By Chief Petty Officer Cynthia Oldham | Petty Officer 3rd Class Carl Blas sits in his office, Thursday, May 1, 2014. Blas is a...... read more read more
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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Petty Officer 3rd Class Carl Blas, a Coast Guardsman serving at the Coast Guard Air Station in Egg Harbor Twp., New Jersey, was born and raised where America’s day begins in Yigo, Guam.
Deciding to join the Coast Guard and leave Guam was not a difficult decision for Carl.
“Guam is a beautiful Pacific Island but it is a very small place,” Carl said. “I was 23 years old when I joined the Coast Guard and ready to see and experience new places. The Coast Guard gave me this opportunity.”
Serving as a yeoman, the Coast Guard’s name for an administrative specialist, Carl is a critical behind-the-scenes component to keeping his Coast Guard shipmates always ready.
Carl works in the Air Station’s servicing personnel office, where yeomen administratively take care of the air station’s 254 crew members, focusing heavily on customer service.
Carl said his passion for customer service began in Guam before he joined the Coast Guard.
“After I graduated from the University of Guam with a degree in economics I started working at the Bank of Guam, where I gained a lot of my customer service skills,” Carl said. “The bank is where I got the urge to combine my love of helping people with my career, which is how I ended up being a Coast Guard yeoman.”
While serving in South Jersey, Carl is expanding his love of service throughout the community.
“When I first came to the Coast Guard one thing I decided is giving time to the community is so important,” Carl said.
Carl is a full-time student at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey where he is member of the college’s Student Veteran’s Organization. Carl serves on the executive board of the SVO as the leader of public relations.
“Stockton has one of the best student veteran organizations in the country,” Carl said. “ It’s a place where active duty service members can get together and focus on their educations, conquer stress and share their experiences. We have a brotherhood, we all have each others’ back.”
Carl said SVO members recently visited with veteran’s who live in a local nursing home.
“While we were at the nursing home, the veterans all wanted to talk about their military experiences,” Carl said. “They felt great about passing the baton to the next generation. We are working on making this a monthly event for hospice patients there.”
Carl is also an active member of the school’s Pride Alliance Club, a student-run organization focused on brining a sense of unity, power and leadership among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender students and any student who aspires to be an activist.
“We all absolutely love Carl,” said Kristen Murphy Slagle, co-president of the Pride Alliance Club. “We are so happy to have him with us. He brings us a different perspective, having served and coming from an area other than New Jersey. Stockton itself is predominantly Caucasian, so he naturally adds more culture to a club that is trying to bring up issues of diversity.”
Additionally, Carl is an active member of Fusion Church, in Somers Point, New Jersey, where he volunteers every week to buy and deliver food for the community’s youth.
“Every Sunday night I deliver food to the youth group at Fusion Church,” Carl said. “I truly believe the youth here can grow up to be comfortable in who they are. I speak with them, share my story and hope to encourage them to be well-rounded and eager to explore the world.”
Although Carl is Chamorro, a term for someone born and raised in Guam, he feels he vibes well off the people who live in New Jersey.
Carl said he loves living in south New Jersey because the people are different in the way they are very vocal and stand up for what they think is right.
Carl said he strongly believes having a voice and using it for good is something he strongly believes in.
| Date Taken: | 05.01.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 03.20.2015 08:29 |
| Story ID: | 157622 |
| Location: | ATLANTIC CITY, NJ, US |
| Web Views: | 310 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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