2014B Sea Year Assignments

KingsPtMom2014

5-Year Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2010
Messages
21
DS will be on the Ascension. He'll make 2 round trip runs between Port Canaveral, FL and Ascension Island in the middle of the South Atlantic.

1. Anyone reading this have any experience with that ship?

2. Any other 2014B parents out there willing to share their DS/DD assignments?
 
My DS will be going to the Mediterranean on a Maersk ship. Excited for him. He gets to come home for 2 weeks before heading out to Houston. Will be going to Egypt, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and also going through the Suez Canal.
 
probably a little off topic.
But does a USMMA mid have any choice in what ship they go on during sea year?
 
No Worries,

What makes this a sensitive topic? Apologies if I'm guilty of a misstep. Ignorance, not ill intentions, is to blame.
 
Well, IMHO, shipping routes are public, but, probably not a good idea to give specific ships that our Cadets are sailing on. :)
 
No Worries,

What makes this a sensitive topic? Apologies if I'm guilty of a misstep. Ignorance, not ill intentions, is to blame.

Commercial ships are a well known terrorist target. Anything that gives them additional information about a ship, the people on the ship, or a route is just another piece of information they can use against it.

In the end does discussing it on this message board cause problems? Probably not, but it's a chance a lot of people don't want to take.
 
Last edited:
http://www.osec.doc.gov/osy/PDF/DOCOPSEC.pdf

Might be better if ship assignments weren't discussed here.

No Worries probably has other things he should be worried about. I've lived an OPSEC environment before, and I thought his comment was terse. It came across to me as raining on the parade of a proud parent. I've seen my mid's ship location on it's company website. I've seen it on the marine traffic websites and sailwx websites all KP parents sooner or later master to learn the whreabouts of there mids. So I composed a reply earlier for no worries not to worry so much. Let the proud parents of KP talk about their mid's sea years. Since I'm not into conflict, I did not post it, but I'm here to tell you my mid's ship schedule was recently posted in one of the major newspapers for the city he just went through. So I figure no worries intent was not opsec, but more to the point, a need to remind us all about OPSEC for some reason to feel important about himself - you know one of those, "if I told you I'd have to kill you..." kind of statements. I'm thinking that ships who have a classified schedule, the mids won't even know about it. So their parents won't know about it. It won't be on the company website. The tracking sites are probably turned off. And it sure won't be posted in a major newspaper. That being said, I've seen and heard numerous ship assignments over the years and proud parents talking about them. I don't think kingsptmom2014 had a misstep, but perhaps no worries did in that he need not make proud parents feel like they violated national security when chances are with a couple of mouse clicks, anybody with access to the internet can find most ships. I just had to say after seeing my mid's ship schedule in the newspaper I wanted to chime in on this one. If kingsptmom2014 was not supposed to know, she would not have known. But do be proud of your mid. He gets to learn and travel and has earned it coming out of plebe year.
 
No Worries probably has other things he should be worried about. I've lived an OPSEC environment before, and I thought his comment was terse. It came across to me as raining on the parade of a proud parent. I've seen my mid's ship location on it's company website. I've seen it on the marine traffic websites and sailwx websites all KP parents sooner or later master to learn the whreabouts of there mids. So I composed a reply earlier for no worries not to worry so much. Let the proud parents of KP talk about their mid's sea years. Since I'm not into conflict, I did not post it, but I'm here to tell you my mid's ship schedule was recently posted in one of the major newspapers for the city he just went through. So I figure no worries intent was not opsec, but more to the point, a need to remind us all about OPSEC for some reason to feel important about himself - you know one of those, "if I told you I'd have to kill you..." kind of statements. I'm thinking that ships who have a classified schedule, the mids won't even know about it. So their parents won't know about it. It won't be on the company website. The tracking sites are probably turned off. And it sure won't be posted in a major newspaper. That being said, I've seen and heard numerous ship assignments over the years and proud parents talking about them. I don't think kingsptmom2014 had a misstep, but perhaps no worries did in that he need not make proud parents feel like they violated national security when chances are with a couple of mouse clicks, anybody with access to the internet can find most ships. I just had to say after seeing my mid's ship schedule in the newspaper I wanted to chime in on this one. If kingsptmom2014 was not supposed to know, she would not have known. But do be proud of your mid. He gets to learn and travel and has earned it coming out of plebe year.

I disagree with your sentiment. Although shipping schedules may be published in certain areas and even found on sailwx and shipping company websites at times the more information out there the worse in my opinion.

Is it secret or FOUO or a huge deal to have it out there? No, but OPSEC does not only cover those types of areas. I would definitely say this is true to MSC ship movements (although that wasn't the issue here). Also, at any time a shipping company can remove itself from sailwx or remove it's schedule from their website. Posting it in other locations means it is harder to remove that information.

Now posting that your son/daughter is going to be on XYZ ship probably is much less of an issue. If one wants to discuss ship movements, etc then I would recommend keeping it to PM's or something similar.

Just my sentiments.
 
I disagree with your sentiment. Although shipping schedules may be published in certain areas and even found on sailwx and shipping company websites at times the more information out there the worse in my opinion.

Is it secret or FOUO or a huge deal to have it out there? No, but OPSEC does not only cover those types of areas. I would definitely say this is true to MSC ship movements (although that wasn't the issue here). Also, at any time a shipping company can remove itself from sailwx or remove it's schedule from their website. Posting it in other locations means it is harder to remove that information.

Now posting that your son/daughter is going to be on XYZ ship probably is much less of an issue. If one wants to discuss ship movements, etc then I would recommend keeping it to PM's or something similar.

Just my sentiments.


I'm actually more on board with you than you think. I've lived OPSEC in the extreme. Let's take troop movements for instance. If a unit is gearing up to go to the sand, it's best we keep that on the very low down. Families do kind of know where their loved ones are going, but they have been briefed to keep it under wraps to the extent possible. So in the OPSEC mind set, it just is not talked about, because families realize it might not be best to let the bad guys know the kind of troops and capabilities coming to the sandbox. You won't find it on unit websites. You don't have a unit tracker online. I mean can you really imagine a little red dot in the sand on a public website where you can see where each of the units are manuevering??? It's just not going to happen - ever. And you sure won't see it in the newspaper, unless something has gone terribly wrong with OPSEC. All I'm saying, is until OPSEC permeates the mindset of shipping, nobody has done any damage on this forum talking in generalities about where their mids are going. I've read loads of comments from proud parents many many times. And just now somebody decides to put up a terse statement that was not necessary. You are not going to fix OPSEC on this forum. I don't personally think that we should so readily be able to know where ships are or what their schedules are. Families can know their mid is going on X ship to Z country, just like troop families know when their loved ones deploy. OPSEC has to begin someplace else and permeate through many other layers before we start grilling proud parents here. I'm not exactly pleased my mid is on a ship whose exact schedule was announced in a major newspaper a few days ago. There are bad people out there who might really care for all the wrong reasons. I'm not really pleased I probably can find, with a couple of mouse clicks, a near exact current location of where my mid is right now on exactly what ship. But I can tell you this, were I to get on this forum and talk about my mid is on X ship and going to Z country and not give any more info than that, I've not done any damage. Any real debate about this subject needs to begin at levels far above any of our noise levels. And my great fear is that someday something will happen somewhere and everybody will realize it was not such a good idea for companies to publish their schedules online or for other tracking sites to have all those colored dots out on the ocean. And it might not be such a great idea to put that info in newspapers either. It is kind of scary when you think about it. My issue, more to the point, is that I did not like the manner in which, after reading many many people talk in generalalities about where their mids are going on this forum, that a, "if I told you I'd have to kill you," kind of comment was made that had no effect on the situation other than it may have somewhat deflated a proud parent in a proud moment and nothing more. Should somebody start talking about OPSEC - definitely. Should they start with kpmom2014 - definitely not, especially in the manner the comment was tendered. I would have given her the courtesy of a private message and not posted something potentially embarrassing for her in a public forum. That's all.
 
OPSEC is a military term and does not apply here unless your DD/DS is on an MSC or Navy ship. KP is not and never has been a military academy despite the efforts of some in the administration.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with parents discussing which ship their children will see the world on. I personally don't talk about when I am or am not at sea on here or other Internet forums but that is just by request of my wife. Certainly not for any "security" reasons. I am far too small of a cog in the machine that is society.
 
Go for it newby parents! Tell us loud and proud what ships your sons and daughters are on! We want to hear and support you. I"ve posted many times where our ds has been or what ship he's on. When he was in pirate waters, the ships internet was off and we didn't know his location. All cool with me.
 
Back
Top