Seriously considering going to a U.S. Maritime Academy to become

>>31116464
My dad is in the merchant marine.

Claimed asylum in Alaska as a polish sailor in the 80's.

Now has citizenship, and works for Matson, and makes BANK, I'm talking real dough anon, something like $4500 takehome every 2 weeks.

Being on ships is boring as fuck.

NROTC has a class in your sophomore year where you learn navigation, and then another in your senior year that is more intensive in navigation/seamanship. Shit's fun and made me realize I have an aptitude for using charts.

Source: 1/C mid

>>31116514
Yeah, the pay is great. So he finished a Polish academy, or "hawsepiped" it? What does he do on the ship, or does he work shoreside?

>>31116548
talking from experience?

>>31116560
Good info. 1/C mid is?

>>31116571

I do near shore stuff, on for about a week and I''m just bored af, no internet for playing vidya, no shooting, no innawoods.

It's a lot of time away from home, but then again my schedule is terrible tier and I'm on like 75 percent of the time.

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>>31116601
Senior in NROTC. if you have questions fire away.

>>31116601
Midshipman 1st Class. It's for people in their last year of NROTC.

t. O-1 recent NROTC grad.

>>31116646
Who do you work as?

>>31116685
What doors does it open? Yeah, what's the experience like in general?

>>31116560
>tfw missed NROTC deadline
>tfw doing Army ROTC rn
>tfw might drop it after this year and go OCS cause I have a Navy boner
God fucking dammit desu lads

>>31116564
>Polish maritime academy, afterwards worked in the Baltic then on some freighter going to Alaska, where he jumped off like a lot of Polish sailors did in the 80's, and like most of them claimed asylum from the communist regime. Then, he got hired on by Matson fairly quickly

Works as a reefer/electrician. The work/life balance is horrendous (2-4 months on, 2-3 months off), but its a career for life for sure.

>>31116821
when's the deadline?

>>31116821
It's okay, you raging homo. Chase your dreams and become a flaming admiral

>>31116844
Nice backstory. Must be good at what he does if they accepted him from a Polish academy.

>>31116560
>Navy
>able to navigate

I wouldn't trust someone with an OOD Letter to borrow my pontoon boat.

>>31116464
Hi guy. Former engineering cadet at Texas A&M maritime academy here.
Do not fucking try getting into this career. It's mind numbingly horrible and you are almost guaranteed not to get a job.

>but why no job

Maritime academys lie to you. Most ships now are foreign flag meaning of they use the cheapest possible labor and officers from around the globe. An American cannot sail on these ships, which is 95% of ships, without a massive amount of experience first to make you worth them paying much much more to higher. You are thus stuck having to start out on an American flagged vessel and there are fewer of these in operation every year thanks to decades of over regulation.

Then if you do get a job it eats your fucking life. You are gone at least 3 months at a time. Your life becomes this job.


Do not fucking do it. I am saving money to go back to school for an automation related field since that is the future of this nation. Only people who are gonna have job security are guys who can work on computer systems and guys who design automation.


PS kingspoint sucks so badly out of all 9 maritime academys they lost their training ship to our school a few years ago and are one step from being shut down. If you have to do this go to mass Maine or Cal maritime anywhere but kings point

>>31116464
Do you want to go active duty when you go out, or do you want to sail in the merchant marine? You can't do both, at least right away.

The three options you're looking at: go to a maritime college / USMMA and get out as an SSO in the USNR, so you're IRR, and only have to do two weeks a year while you're not sailing comercially.

Option two, go to Maritime school /USMMA, go active duty and sail on your license after you're out of the Navy.

Option three, go to regular college, go Navy, go SWO, use sea time towards coast guard license requirements. This is probably the most difficult as the rules change as far as what time is applicable, and you need to keep track of things yourself while active.

Are you the guy from /out/? US Merchant Marine Second Mate (Navigator), employed by Military Sealift Command here.

>>31116464
Merchant mariner here.

>Work military contactservice.
>Great schedule
>great money
Life is ok

>>31117074
MSC is garbage and if you go active navy after school you're a failure and should be ashamed of yourself

>>31116976
I'm fine with it being my life. Besides that; why is it "mind numbingly horrible"? The pay is great, the work isn't extremely demanding for an officer. And, you get to see the world.

Source on salaries: https://sealiftcommand.com/payscales/

MSC seems pretty based in general.

>>31116976
You don't know what you're talking about. TAMUG is particularly effected because of the downturn in the offshore industry, because everyone there has a uncle or cousin who works (read: worked) in the oil patch. There are still jobs to be had, and some of us do enjoy it.

Did Chief Frederickson fail you or something?

>>31117098
at least give some arguments for both?

>>31117108
MSC is great if you're a nigger or bakbak

>>31117098
MSC is debatable, but I agree about going active Navy.

>>31117126
No. Ur an adult. Go sail with that garbage company and not get paid good enough for your time.

>>31117138
I'd go tugboat before msc. Just not worth it.
It's still better than noaa at least

>>31117074
If Kings point then active duty. If not, then merchant marine. Depends on $.

Could you explain those acronyms?
SSO, USNR, IRR, SWO?

How easy is it to get employed at MSC?

>>31117177
If you want money don't go active duty.

>>31117145
60k (about 100-110k w/ overtime) for 8 months work + benefits seems good enough for my time. At least for a job straight out of college.

>>31117205
I know deck hands who pull 70k a year and work a 21/21 schedule.

>>31117135
bakbak?

>>31117215
Flips yo. If you wanna be a Sailor you best brush up on those racist terms.

Like banana port control

>>31117196
Money for college

>>31117233
Kp is free

>>31117162
why tugboat over msc?

>>31116719
Depends on the college. Don't buy into the military Academy meme and Haze yourself for the same exact commission in the end. You're basically a college student that learns about navy stuff on the side, wakes up early for PT, and spends their summers somewhere on a ship clueless as fuck in some sort of feigned training.

All that being said and comparing my life to my friends who enlisted, 10/10 would sign up again.

Caveat: enlisted guys will hate you because they think mids don't know shit. They are 100% correct.

>>31117251
Because msc is garbage.
I'm not a nigger or a flip.
Therfore I would like a respectable job in this industry. One that requires skill and seamanship

>>31117245
for future indentured servants

>>31117268
whats a flip

>>31116821
Bruh you can pick up a side load scholarship or at least pick up advanced standing. Tbh I'd just do OCS if you don't want to worry about it. But if you still wanna be about that life go to the Navy unit at your uni and ask specifically about:
1)joining as a "college programmer"
2)picking up advanced standing or a side load scholarship

>>31117288
Contact banana port control about that

>>31117256
so in short all you didn't like was the hazing?

>>31117288
Filipino.

>>31117323
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRMSkQVryT8

>>31117338
k, what I thought

>>31117177
Second about the money. Your Google-fu is weak.

Strategic Sealift Officer
Individual Ready Reserve
US Navy Reserve
Surface Warfare Officer

Depends on where you're coming from. Unlicensed is fairly difficult, depending on the rate. Licensed is pretty easy, especially straight out of school, due to high turnover.

>>31117214
Sure bud. I know everyone everywhere makes a $1500 day rate working 14/21.

Don't believe people when they talk about stupid pay, because it's probably a lie, and if not, it's invitation only.

>>31117227
I've been sailing for almost 10 years and haven't heard that one.

>>31117364
Lol I d9 believe it because it's people I work with. My capt makes over 1100 a day. If you believe it or not does not change the pay scale buddy.

>>31117233
Don't sweat a little bit of debt for maritime college, you'll literally have the easiest time paying back student loans of anyone anywhere.

>>31117268
Unlicensed pleb detected. If you're competing with either variety of monkeys you're doing it wrong.

I've seen far more interesting seamanship type things with MSC than I would ever have seen commercial. Seen more of the world too.

Commercial is point to point on the same trackline, going down a checklist, 12 hour in port, way too efficient bullshit. Sure it's a job, but it's not very interesting.

>>31117329
Considering that in the end, both Academy guys and NROTC guys get the same commission, yes. Had a couple of guys from my unit pick up to go to the academy, and they regret every moment of it. The academy also has a reputation for producing pricks to the fleet. And every Academy mid I've met throughout my training is a low key shitbag

>>31117391
Post a paycheck and I'll believe it.

It's like saying "my dad works at nintendo"

>>31116976

>lost their training ship to our school

Now I'm thinking that maritime academies have GUP esque battles on the high seas for dominance.

>>31117391
Also that only comes out to about 200k gross. I've made 180 as Third Mate with MSC.

>>31117439
>unlicensed

Ohh. Wrong

>>31117501
Sure ya did big guy

>>31117493
He doesn't know what he's talking about. Giving the Kings Pointer (now General Rudder, because fuck the tradition of naming out ships Texas Clipper, right?) to TMA was a joke. Almost an insult, because it can't be used like a traditional training ship it's way too small and slow.

I don't think KP is going anywhere either, despite the best intentions of the Colonel/Admiral.

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>>31117519
That was an exceptionallygood year, I don't carry my W-2s with me though. This is my last pay period (every two weeks). Not doing as well as usual because we're in shipyard (you see the account activity). So this is what I'm making while being put up in a nice hotel in Singapore working no overtime.

>>31117603
K. I'm not impressed. But good for you I guess lol

>>31117503
Filipino mafia is strong, and plenty of basketball american unlicensed guys, but it's like that everywhere. Licensed officers are by a wide margin (fucking) white males. I try to surround myself with good people. It's a skill to be able to manage the slugs, which are everywhere.

>>31117635
Waiting on yours.

>>31117661
I get it! You're immature and want a pissing contest. That's cute :)

>>31117603
noice

>>31117680
You talk shit and can't back it up.

I also enjoy my job. I get to do objectively cool shit most of the time.

You wanna talk about how bad MSC is, I think you don't know what the fuck you're talking about.

>>31117727
Ohhh. This nigger is mad. Nice

>>31117762
ya sound like a nig/flip

>>31116976
and on the great lakes, the ships get larger so the fleets are smaller and there are fewer crews needed

or they chop the boat apart and make it an integrated tug-barge and use an even smaller crew

>>31117727
who can have a gun while onboard?

>>31117793
No personal weapons, but we do carry small arms. Deck personnel qualify yearly. Depending on the FPCON, we may be armed on watch.

>>31117603
>paying foreign transaction fees

Credit card that shit or carry greenbacks.

>>31117816
>qualify yearly?

>>31117817
It's from using my debit card to withdraw singapore cash. Credit card is no foreign transaction fee. And I get ATM rebates. Because we moved to DFAS for pay, I get "active duty checking" with NFCU.

>>31117826
The conduct small arms training in a few locations. Before we get on a new ship, they check our records. If we have less than 4 months (I think) on our small arms qualification, they make us retake the class. It's a week and we cover pistol, rifle, shotgun, maybe grenade/flare launcher.

We're also supposed to do a sustainment fire within 6 months of our qualification to keep if good for the whole year.

Some ships will do qualifications at sea off the flight deck.

Our instructors are SAMI certified, like the real Navy ones.

>>31117892
http://mainemaritime.edu/continuing-education/courses/small-arms-training-qualification-course/

this?

>>31117920
Yeah, I haven't used that vendor, we try to keep it in-house. Maybe more CONMARs use it. MSC runs it as a 5 day course.

>>31117954
oh

>>31117993
We also do other classes that cover hand to hand, baton, tactical movement, and ship's reaction force.

>>31118043
have you sailed on a ship where PMCs guarded?

>>31117603
Whaddaya do with all that money?

>>31118055
No, haven't sailed commercial in an area where it'd be an issue.

MSC has a Navy security team come aboard when in those areas.

If it's questionable, but we don't have a security detachment, we'll have multiple armed lookouts selected from the crew.

>>31118117
armed with only handguns?

>>31118183
Usually a mix of handguns, rifles, and shotguns.

>>31118221
not bad

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>>31117098
>MSC
>Bad
Surely you jest, friend. If you make under $90k as a 3/M at MSC you're doing it wrong. Sure, the base pay isn't super high for industry standards, but you can get all the overtime your precious little heart desires. Not to mention government benefits, or doing some high speed shit with the Navy.

>>31116464
GLMA
>Unregimented
>Pilotage
>Not a pseudo-military circle jerk
>Still getting a Navy commission
>Still getting an unlimited 3/M license
Don't put up with unnecessary bullshit of regimentation and "traditions." Do the other academies produce good officers? Yes. Do the other academies produce shitty officers? Yes. They all make good and bad officers, GLMA included. Putting up with 4 years worth of regimented life isn't worth it if you can get the same license without it.

>>31116976
No, just no. An American License is a golden ticket. You can take your USCG license and virtually all State's of convenience will reciprocate a license. I know guys who graduated from GLMA who sail for Maerks Drilling, B&W Gas, and there's at least one guy I've heard of who is a Panama Canal pilot.