Bugle calls punctuate day at Jones Beach park

Sue Guliani, the director of Jones Beach State Park, hears it when she's out on a morning walk. "The first time, I was like 'what is going on?' " said Guliani, who lives on the park grounds. "Now I look forward to it."

Bob Spina Jr., of North Massapequa, heard it when he was out for a morning run. "It came out of nowhere," he said. "But I've grown to love it."

Petty Officer James Logan Sigle heard it when he reported for work at the U.S. Coast Guard station on the western tip of Jones Beach.

"It was a change, and in the military you have to be able to adapt to change," he said. "I think it's a good thing."

The sound that pierced the bucolic quietude of Jones Beach's West End is the familiar flourish of "Reveille." The staccato bugle call has been used to rouse sleepy soldiers and sailors for centuries (the music, adopted by the American military in the 1800s, is French and is believed to have been used as far back as the Crusades).

The prerecorded bugle call -- played daily at precisely 6:30 a.m. (7 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday) -- is part of an effort by the station's officer in charge, Terry Lathrop, to reinstitute some of the military traditions at the base, which celebrates its 160th anniversary this year.

The daily routine at Coast Guard Station Jones Beach also includes the raising of the colors at 8 a.m., lowering of the colors at sunset, and "Taps" at 10 p.m. On Wednesdays, the colors are raised with the entire crew in attendance: Thirty-two men and women -- attired in their dark blue ODUs (Operational Dress Uniforms), with high black boots and baseball-style caps -- stand at attention as the American flag (known as the national ensign) is hoisted to the sound of the peppy bugle call "To the Colors," followed by the Coast Guard ensign, POW flag and the Coast Guard Auxiliary flag.

Although brief, the ceremony seems so, well, military.

Which is precisely the point.

"It makes us look and feel a little sharper," said Sigle, a native of Madison, Ala., who has been stationed here for three years.

In the Coast Guard, following these traditions is up to the discretion of the officer in charge. Previous commanders at Jones Beach had chosen not to play "Reveille." Lathrop, a 25-year veteran of the service, arrived at Jones Beach in June 2009 from his previous posting in Kenosha, Wis., where these time-honored military ceremonies to start and end the day were scrupulously observed.

Along with his dress blues, running shoes and collection of Green Bay Packers memorabilia, Lathrop brought along a CD of the various bugle calls.

"Music is part of the military tradition," said Lathrop, 48. "I take a lot of pride in being part of the service. And I think it helps instill pride in our junior guys."

Lathrop's crew is composed of 26 men and six women. They operate, he says, "like a firehouse," with rotating 12-hour shifts. While most of the crew members live in communities in the New York area and commute here, the base is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Tucked in on the bay side of the barrier beach island, near Jones Inlet and almost invisible to the 6 million annual visitors to Jones Beach State Park, the Station is a busy one. Its two 24-foot rapid response boats and two larger, deep-draft boats for ocean duty are responsible for the waters from East Rockaway to Gilgo Beach, on both the bay and Atlantic sides. They are there, Lathrop says, for safety (earlier this month, they helped rescue three people whose canoe had overturned in the bay), environmental protection and law enforcement.

Station Jones Beach also plays a big role in one of the state park's most popular attractions -- the air show on Memorial Day weekend.

The presence of a station here, however, predates not only the air show, but indeed Jones Beach State Park itself.

In 1851, the United States Life-Saving Service -- the precursor to today's Coast Guard -- erected a wooden structure on the eastern tip of what was then called Jones Island; part of an extensive network of coastal installations from Florida to Maine, designed to help rescue survivors of shipwrecks in the age of sail and steam. The station on the tip of Jones Island was dubbed Short Beach, after a small, adjacent sandspit (Short Beach was also the name often used to refer to the entire western part of the island, from the now-closed Zach's Inlet to Jones Inlet.)

The base expanded over the years -- the current, 16,577-square-foot facility was built in 1990, and now includes administrative offices, a galley, mess hall and sleeping quarters for the crew. There is also a boat maintenance facility and a gym.

One constant remains, however: The base. Which now proudly announces its presence on Jones Beach's West End every morning.

Take a listen

The Coast Guard plays the Reveille at:

6:30 a.m. Monday to Friday

7 a.m. Saturday and Sunday

Then & Now

As the Coast Guard Station evolved, so did the famous state park around it. In the late 1950s, Robert Moses developed the West End of Jones Beach, building enormous new parking fields, concession buildings and a fishing pier along what was dubbed a "Sun-Fun Mile" that he was sure would accommodate the ever-growing crowds to the main part of the park.

Today, the West End is now closer to what it might have been in the days of the lifesavers. Largely reclaimed by nature -- West End 1 is now a nature center; West End 2 is closed -- the area is a haven for surf-casters and surfers, bird-watchers and beachcombers.