Gotta ask....KP2001, Jasperdog, and all the other distinguished alum on here;
Please do not remain silent on this. It is too important.
I am not personally asking you to weigh in on specific issues, but more as the wise alum that can offer some advice on how the most effective approach could be developed, carried out, and respected.....all with the best interest of Kings Point and the current and future Midshipman in mind.
Thanks
Since you asked first let me say I agree that a general "letter writing campaign" is not the answer - at all. Do we need to once again effectively lobby - yes. Are the things that Charlie Hill wrote about as problems - real today problems - yes.
That said, I have passed some of my specific thoughts on what and how this lobbying might be more effective to and through the KPA-Chapter President's Alliance and shared them with some at USMMAAF as well. I hope to have time to attend the larger meetings of the CPA and USMMAAF that the Parents Association will also be represented at in Linthincum, MD in early Nov to participate as an active interested alumnus at that time. I feel a unified, cohesive front is called for and most effective. I also believe that is being developed and to a large degree executed. It will, can and should evolve. For fellow parents I'd point to kpmom2011, she is a National Officer in the Parents Association, as a source of info and guidance if you don't otherwise see or get it through your "local" chapters. For fellow alumni, I'd point to the KPA-CPA and the USMMAAF leadership, particularly Jim Tobin and the volunteers on the legislative affairs committee members who are experienced hands in general at this stuff for advice, guidance etc on what we can do as individuals as part of a unified collective whole.
The only parts of my personal thoughts as to the specifics of which Charlie Hill wrote I'll comment on here are these. These are indeed frustrating issues for us all, that said, there is more than meets the eye here. If anyone wants to share thoughts and get more of my opinion on things or feed me their inputs, feel free to PM me. That said, please remember I am but an individual active alumni and parent of a current first classman, nothing more, nothing less.
Also, I would say this on the specific subject Charlie brought up re: is the possible transfer of USMMA from MARAD to somewhere else in Government a good or necessary idea to fix these issues or what is "broke" in any of our views? - My response is I don't think so at this time. Remember, right now the budget remains in flux, in DOT today we have a Cabinet Level Secretary who has a historical background and personal affiliation with education - before Secretary LaHood was in his current position he was in Congress but before that he was in education.... Now isn't the time I think you want your federal budget line items moved to "someone/place new" - odds are before things are all said and done - almost all budgets will be cut. It's far more likely USMMA would feel more of an ax elsewhere in DOT than MARAD and even more so if moved to another Cabinet Level Agency.
We need some specific relief though. The items brought up are related to interpretation of the law by legal counsel at MARAD. We need to remember, they have a job to do and they are doing it. I and others have said for some time, and the legislative affairs committee of USMMAAF, has worked unsuccessfully for over a year to get some language included in appropriations and authorization bills to make the gifting process easier and to ensure these sorts of issues are avoided altogether. Like I said, that hasn't yet happened. Until it does, there's no reason to expect similar issues might not come up regardless as to where in our current executive branch, USMMA is managed and/or overseen. The language we should be trying to have put into law, in my opinion, relates specifically to these sorts of things and would be similar to language that exists regarding the four other Federal Academies regarding NAFI's in general and sports programs and gifting from foundations to the individual Academy in particular. Now before you react to that statement, remember USMMA is NOT a military academy, it is a Service Academy and it needs different language for these sorts of things for lots of reasons.
As was said earlier above, we just have to get better at working these things - that's an opinion I share. My point here is a measured, disciplined consistently orchestrated message is what we need - not quite on the Project Acta level but in a similar fashion if we are going to get our message through during this time when the focus of Congress is clearly elsewhere. Further, we need to do it since MARAD, or any other responsible agency, is and will always be precluded from lobbying the legislative Branch. As to specific "selling points/lobbying points" I've already shared my thoughts and ideas in to others involved and I don't want to distract in any way from whatever final consensus on what that unified message should be results.
Sorry for the long winded and relatively generic public response, thanks for reading it if you stuck with it to this ending.