Breezy Grenier
Petty Officer 3rd Class
U.S. Coast Guard – Food Service Specialist
USCGC Hickory
Homer Alaska, Station Rockland, ME
2006 – 2010
Petty Officer 3rd Class
U.S. Coast Guard – Food Service Specialist
USCGC Hickory
Homer Alaska, Station Rockland, ME
2006 – 2010
“The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” – Jacques Cousteau
Breezy Grenier was born in Connecticut in 1988. She was raised in the small Connecticut town of Sherman, in the southwestern section of the state. Breezy was an only child. “The world could only handle one of me”, she joked. Her mother was of Irish descent and was the seventh of nine children. Her father immigrated to the states from Canada and was the seventh of seven children. “I have a lot of cousins”. Her dad owned his own roofing and restoration business, and her mom owned a dance studio. She was also a Vet Tech and Wildlife Ranger.
Growing up in a small town, her parents decide to send Breezy to private school. She attended Rumsey Hall in Washington, CT from second through eighth grade and graduated from New Fairfield High School.
Breezy chose to join the Coast Guard, the only branch her family had not yet served in, as a way to carry on her family’s tradition of military service and “to give back to the country that gave my family so much”. Several of Breezy’s uncles served in the military, and she found that after she enlisted, she had a special connection with those uncles. There are strong bonds among military veterans. After high school graduation she was off to boot camp in TRACEN Cape May (Training Center Cape May). All Coast Guard enlisted recruits go through basic training there.
Breezy found bootcamp fairly easy. The problems she encountered were not physical but rather wardrobe related. “I have really small feet. Five and a half back then. They didn’t
have my size combat boots, which ended up doing a lot of damage to my feet. I wore sneakers most of bootcamp due to blisters”
After bootcamp Breezy’s first duty station was Alaska. She decided to drive and was given extra travel time to get there. She and her mother drove to Kentucky to visit Breezy’s great grandmother. Breezy left Kentucky and went on a solo cross-country trip to Bellingham, Washington. There she took a ferry to Haines, Alaska that took several days. From Haines, Breezy made the long drive in her car to Homer Alaska. Homer is southwest of Anchorage on the Kachemak Bay. “I loved Alaska. I thought it was absolutely beautiful”.
In Homer Breezy was stationed aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Hickory. The Hickory is a sea going Buoy Tender. Bouy Tenders perform maintenance on and replace navigational buoys and beacons. Some of these navigational aids were land based. Breezy recalled a day on an island off Kodiak when they encountered a den of sleeping bears on their way to inspect one of the land-based beacons.
Part of the Hickory's AOR was the Aleutian Islands. Breezy recalled doing a beach cleanup in the town of Nikolski on the island of Umnak. Nikolski had a population of about 30. “It was really cool seeing these really rural towns”. At Nikolski they cleaned up two tons of marine debris, primarily fishing gear and plastic, brought ashore by the tides. Breezy felt they didn’t make a dent in the total amount of debris on the beach. “That was really life changing”. After her yearlong tour of duty Breezy was off to her next billet, but not before she visited the Arctic Circle. “I really enjoyed being that far north”.
Breezy had the opportunity to select her school for individual advanced training. She wanted to be a marine science technician, but the waiting list was very long. “I already knew I wanted to go into the NOAA Corps; I figured I’d join a rate that had faster advancement. She chose to be a Food Service Specialist.
Breezy headed off to Petaluma, California for eight weeks of school where she advanced her cooking skills and learned shipboard provisioning and logistics. The chefs on a Coast Guard vessel are responsible for properly stocking a vessel for however long it will be a sea. They were also responsible for knowing if they would be able to resupply in any ports where they docked. They also learn to prepare and pack food to last at sea.
Breezy's next duty station was in Rockland, Maine. It would be a short drive back to Connecticut to be able to help assist her parents. It was not known then, but her mother would be later diagnosed with Neurological Lyme’s Disease.
In Rockland Breezy was one of the station cooks and also the Health Promotion Coordinator. The entire base was very involved in the local community and Breezy did a lot of work setting up volunteer projects and interfacing with the Special Olympics. After just shy of two years in Rockland, Breezy decided not to extend her enlistment and was honorably discharged.
Breezy returned home and enrolled at the University of Rhode Island where she studied Geology, Oceanography, Marine Biology and Underwater Archeology. She did a semester abroad in Antarctica through the University of Texas. “We were learning how to do remote scientific research. We were doing a lot of geological surveys and species observations”. She was able to spend time in the waters off New Zealand aboard a Tall Ship, the Robert C. Seamans, conducting research with SEA Semester out of Woods Hole.
Breezy need a very flexible schedule to be able to care for her mother, who’s condition had worsened. Breezy elected to be a contractor to give her the flexibility she needed. She was a dock master, and she decided to get her captains license to operate up to 100-ton vessels. “You make a lot more money as a boat captain than a scientist”.
Breezy is also a snowboard instructor. Currently she is at Victor Constant Ski Area at West Point to provide instructor training instruction as well as curriculum development. She also teaches adaptive snowboarding to the adaptive community and to veterans with TBI’s and PTSD. She has recently upgraded her captains license to operate 200-ton vessels. She teaches the blue economy workforce development, focusing on how to work in, on or around the water. She gives instruction on safe boat handling and Search and Rescue. A lot of the Search and Rescue training involves precision boat handling skills and teaching students how to read the sonar and distinguish between different objects underwater.
Breezy has followed in her father’s footsteps and is a volunteer fire fighter for the Sherman Volunteer Fire Department. Breezy’s father passed away in 2020 and shortly after she joined the fire department in 2021 and is currently a 2nd Lieutenant. “What I really appreciate about the fire service is they don’t change the standards for men and women”. “One of my pet peeves about the military was the double standard. This is a physically demanding job - It should be based on the requirements of the role, not gender. If someone can’t meet physical requirement for that specific job, it puts everyone at risk”. Just like we all had to take the ASVAB to determine which rates or MOS we qualified for, physical fitness should be evaluated the same way.”
Breezy doesn’t have a lot of down time. If she isn’t working, she is at the fire house, “I’m there all the time”. Somehow, she finds time to volunteer for veterans’ groups. She previously was the secretary with the Sherman Veterans Association and recently hosted a veteran’s social dinner in Sherman that was well attended.
Breezy previously ranked among the top ten finalists in the Ms. Veteran America competition. Ms. Veteran America describes itself as an ‘event to showcase women veterans beyond the uniform’. The proceeds raised are used for housing homeless women veterans and their children. She has also participated in Pinups for Vets. Women veterans dress up and style their hair similar to the pinup girls from World War II and create a calendar with their photos. Breezy was Ms. August 2025.
Breezy, thank you for your service with the Coast Guard and thank you for all that you give back to your community and the veterans community. You are a living example of being in the service of others. We all wish you, fair winds and following seas.
Breezy Grenier was born in Connecticut in 1988. She was raised in the small Connecticut town of Sherman, in the southwestern section of the state. Breezy was an only child. “The world could only handle one of me”, she joked. Her mother was of Irish descent and was the seventh of nine children. Her father immigrated to the states from Canada and was the seventh of seven children. “I have a lot of cousins”. Her dad owned his own roofing and restoration business, and her mom owned a dance studio. She was also a Vet Tech and Wildlife Ranger.
Growing up in a small town, her parents decide to send Breezy to private school. She attended Rumsey Hall in Washington, CT from second through eighth grade and graduated from New Fairfield High School.
Breezy chose to join the Coast Guard, the only branch her family had not yet served in, as a way to carry on her family’s tradition of military service and “to give back to the country that gave my family so much”. Several of Breezy’s uncles served in the military, and she found that after she enlisted, she had a special connection with those uncles. There are strong bonds among military veterans. After high school graduation she was off to boot camp in TRACEN Cape May (Training Center Cape May). All Coast Guard enlisted recruits go through basic training there.
Breezy found bootcamp fairly easy. The problems she encountered were not physical but rather wardrobe related. “I have really small feet. Five and a half back then. They didn’t
have my size combat boots, which ended up doing a lot of damage to my feet. I wore sneakers most of bootcamp due to blisters”
After bootcamp Breezy’s first duty station was Alaska. She decided to drive and was given extra travel time to get there. She and her mother drove to Kentucky to visit Breezy’s great grandmother. Breezy left Kentucky and went on a solo cross-country trip to Bellingham, Washington. There she took a ferry to Haines, Alaska that took several days. From Haines, Breezy made the long drive in her car to Homer Alaska. Homer is southwest of Anchorage on the Kachemak Bay. “I loved Alaska. I thought it was absolutely beautiful”.
In Homer Breezy was stationed aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Hickory. The Hickory is a sea going Buoy Tender. Bouy Tenders perform maintenance on and replace navigational buoys and beacons. Some of these navigational aids were land based. Breezy recalled a day on an island off Kodiak when they encountered a den of sleeping bears on their way to inspect one of the land-based beacons.
Part of the Hickory's AOR was the Aleutian Islands. Breezy recalled doing a beach cleanup in the town of Nikolski on the island of Umnak. Nikolski had a population of about 30. “It was really cool seeing these really rural towns”. At Nikolski they cleaned up two tons of marine debris, primarily fishing gear and plastic, brought ashore by the tides. Breezy felt they didn’t make a dent in the total amount of debris on the beach. “That was really life changing”. After her yearlong tour of duty Breezy was off to her next billet, but not before she visited the Arctic Circle. “I really enjoyed being that far north”.
Breezy had the opportunity to select her school for individual advanced training. She wanted to be a marine science technician, but the waiting list was very long. “I already knew I wanted to go into the NOAA Corps; I figured I’d join a rate that had faster advancement. She chose to be a Food Service Specialist.
Breezy headed off to Petaluma, California for eight weeks of school where she advanced her cooking skills and learned shipboard provisioning and logistics. The chefs on a Coast Guard vessel are responsible for properly stocking a vessel for however long it will be a sea. They were also responsible for knowing if they would be able to resupply in any ports where they docked. They also learn to prepare and pack food to last at sea.
Breezy's next duty station was in Rockland, Maine. It would be a short drive back to Connecticut to be able to help assist her parents. It was not known then, but her mother would be later diagnosed with Neurological Lyme’s Disease.
In Rockland Breezy was one of the station cooks and also the Health Promotion Coordinator. The entire base was very involved in the local community and Breezy did a lot of work setting up volunteer projects and interfacing with the Special Olympics. After just shy of two years in Rockland, Breezy decided not to extend her enlistment and was honorably discharged.
Breezy returned home and enrolled at the University of Rhode Island where she studied Geology, Oceanography, Marine Biology and Underwater Archeology. She did a semester abroad in Antarctica through the University of Texas. “We were learning how to do remote scientific research. We were doing a lot of geological surveys and species observations”. She was able to spend time in the waters off New Zealand aboard a Tall Ship, the Robert C. Seamans, conducting research with SEA Semester out of Woods Hole.
Breezy need a very flexible schedule to be able to care for her mother, who’s condition had worsened. Breezy elected to be a contractor to give her the flexibility she needed. She was a dock master, and she decided to get her captains license to operate up to 100-ton vessels. “You make a lot more money as a boat captain than a scientist”.
Breezy is also a snowboard instructor. Currently she is at Victor Constant Ski Area at West Point to provide instructor training instruction as well as curriculum development. She also teaches adaptive snowboarding to the adaptive community and to veterans with TBI’s and PTSD. She has recently upgraded her captains license to operate 200-ton vessels. She teaches the blue economy workforce development, focusing on how to work in, on or around the water. She gives instruction on safe boat handling and Search and Rescue. A lot of the Search and Rescue training involves precision boat handling skills and teaching students how to read the sonar and distinguish between different objects underwater.
Breezy has followed in her father’s footsteps and is a volunteer fire fighter for the Sherman Volunteer Fire Department. Breezy’s father passed away in 2020 and shortly after she joined the fire department in 2021 and is currently a 2nd Lieutenant. “What I really appreciate about the fire service is they don’t change the standards for men and women”. “One of my pet peeves about the military was the double standard. This is a physically demanding job - It should be based on the requirements of the role, not gender. If someone can’t meet physical requirement for that specific job, it puts everyone at risk”. Just like we all had to take the ASVAB to determine which rates or MOS we qualified for, physical fitness should be evaluated the same way.”
Breezy doesn’t have a lot of down time. If she isn’t working, she is at the fire house, “I’m there all the time”. Somehow, she finds time to volunteer for veterans’ groups. She previously was the secretary with the Sherman Veterans Association and recently hosted a veteran’s social dinner in Sherman that was well attended.
Breezy previously ranked among the top ten finalists in the Ms. Veteran America competition. Ms. Veteran America describes itself as an ‘event to showcase women veterans beyond the uniform’. The proceeds raised are used for housing homeless women veterans and their children. She has also participated in Pinups for Vets. Women veterans dress up and style their hair similar to the pinup girls from World War II and create a calendar with their photos. Breezy was Ms. August 2025.
Breezy, thank you for your service with the Coast Guard and thank you for all that you give back to your community and the veterans community. You are a living example of being in the service of others. We all wish you, fair winds and following seas.