Luke Sniatkowski Ships Out

Luke Sniatkowski is shipping out today for the Caribbean for first of two training missions for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

A 2013 graduate of Verona High School, Sniatkowski will begin on the USCGC Eagle, a square rigger that was seized from Nazi Germany by the United States after World War II. As a 3/C cadet, he will be a junior enlisted member of the crew, learning the work with the sails and rigging that he will be expected to supervise as an officer.

In late June, he will transfer to the USCGC Dependable, a law enforcement vessels that does drug seizures in the Caribbean, enforces fishing laws and rescues illegal border penetration from Haiti and Cuba in the Florida straits.

As we told you last year, Sniatkowski had worked since his sophomore year at Verona High School to prepare himself to apply to one of so-called service academies that train officers for America’s armed forces. The three-sport athlete applied to both the U.S. Navy and the Coast Guard, and was accepted by the latter. He will study and train for four years at the New London, Conn.-based academy and then serve with the Coast Guard for at least five years as an officer.