"kings point harbor" (haven for cadets at sea)

cookiecafemom

5-Year Member
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There are cadets coming into ports who need places to stay. We are starting to collect parents, relatives and alumni names, who live in port cities, who would like to volunteer to be a home away from home for cadets sailing. Interested? Please send me a private response and we will begin to collect the names.
 
Cadets!

At Kings Point the students are midshipmen while on campus and cadets while at sea. This goes back to the 1940s....
 
cadets at sea, midshipmen at KP

Thought anyone involved with KP would know that "cadets" are the midshipmen who are sailing.
Yesterday at Band of Sisters a female upperclassmen told me how she sailed into a port, got off the ship and was stranded with no place to stay and no money for a motel. That got us thinking about how to take care of this problem for the "cadets".

I am sure there are many alumni, parents of midshipmen and relatives (in a port or nearby) who would love to help out.
 
Thought anyone involved with KP would know that "cadets" are the midshipmen who are sailing.

You would have thought wrong, as I can find many examples of official KP publications that specifically use the term "midshipman" when referring to a USMMA "midshipman" even when the "midshipman" is "sailing."

For example: http://www.usmma.edu/academics/careerservices/default.htm

"Training aboard ship is designed to give the midshipman practical knowledge of the....."

"The assignments are carefully designed to ensure that midshipmen, while aboard ship, apply the knowledge and skills learned in the Academy...

You would think that they would use the terms consistently as to not to confuse those of us who are not "involved" with KP.

Good luck with your mission.
 
Cadets When On Merchant's Ship...

@Luigi: I understand your point and you are right in virtually every official publication, if not all, the students being trained at the USMMA are called Midshipmen and indeed that's what they are.

However, when they are aboard a merchant ship their position on the manifest/crew list and the articles they sail under are as either Deck Cadets or Engine Cadets. These are terms that pre-date the existence of the USMMA and they are also the same term Licensed Officers in training are called by the IMO.

So while it's understandable how someone wouldn't know the term or it's origins, I too was surprised you hadn't heard it before.
 
@Luigi: I understand your point and you are right in virtually every official publication, if not all, the students being trained at the USMMA are called Midshipmen and indeed that's what they are.

However, when they are aboard a merchant ship their position on the manifest/crew list and the articles they sail under are as either Deck Cadets or Engine Cadets. These are terms that pre-date the existence of the USMMA and they are also the same term Licensed Officers in training are called by the IMO.

So while it's understandable how someone wouldn't know the term or it's origins, I too was surprised you hadn't heard it before.

It makes no difference to me either way, but you would think they (USMMA) would know the difference when they write about their own students. On their own web page about "sea year" http://www.usmma.edu/life/sea/default.htm they ue the term "midshipman" 3 times and use the term "cadet" zero times.

Regardless, I hope they all can find places to stay whenever and wherever they need, and wish them nothing but success except on 9.11.10.
 
Thought anyone involved with KP would know that "cadets" are the midshipmen who are sailing.
Yesterday at Band of Sisters a female upperclassmen told me how she sailed into a port, got off the ship and was stranded with no place to stay and no money for a motel. That got us thinking about how to take care of this problem for the "cadets".

I am sure there are many alumni, parents of midshipmen and relatives (in a port or nearby) who would love to help out.

I think this program actually already exists somewhat through various alumni groups. I've definitely housed a midshipman/cadet (same difference, who cares, it's semantics) while they were between ships. It isn't very well publicized though, and here is the reason why:

The Academy will pay for midshipmen to stay in hotels during sea year, if authorized. All they have to do is call the ATR or their rep (they all should have the emergency contact info) and it will likely be authorized. If the delay is going to be a bit they may even fly them back to KP for a few days. Sounds like in this instance the person probably never made contact with the most important person: their ATR.
 
The Academy will pay for midshipmen to stay in hotels during sea year, if authorized. ... If the delay is going to be a bit they may even fly them back to KP for a few days.

Yes, this was always my understanding as well. But perhaps the problem may be that getting the authorization takes a while, or that the cadet/midshipman needs to "front" the funds on a credit card and then get reimbursed?
 
This thread went off the topic

I did not write this thread for semantics about what a student is called at sea. All ships except possibly a navy ship call the students "cadets". BUT THIS IS TOTALLY OFF TOPIC. I WROTE THIS THREAD TO GET SOME HELP FOR THE STUDENTS WHEN THEY COME INTO PORTS. Let's roll up our sleeves and commit to helping them.

Have you ever thought that there can definitely be times that the big problem is getting hold of their ATR? Just ask the students.

If there is something like this going on with the alumni, of having homes open to the cadets, that is great, but it's basically a secret to most midshipmen. Let's publish that list and ADD TO IT so the midshipmen can have a resource to depend on.

Maybe it would be nice for some students to have a home to stay in rather than just a place in general. Besides they have to pay for the hotel out of their own pocket then be reimbursed later.

Let's keep this thread on the topic of helping the cadets at sea.
 
Besides they have to pay for the hotel out of their own pocket then be reimbursed later.

That doesn't seem like much of a hardship, does it?

One would think that a credit card would be a necessary item to bring on a sea-year voyage, that's pretty much all it takes to get a hotel room.

Probably a lot easier to find a hotel in ANY sea port than to keep some list of alumni or parents with you just to get a free room.
 
anyone interested in reaching out to the cadets at sea?

Luigi59 you obviously did not sail as a cadet from Kings Point or you would not have questioned the term "cadet".

Did you know that a cadet who is younger than 21 has trouble getting a hotel room? Did you know that some cadets really want to be in a home when they are so far from home? Did you know that sometimes there are emergencies and the cadets need someone to call who will help them out? Did you know that sometimes they are very discouraged and want to talk to more than a wall in a hotel?

What is so wrong with trying to reach out and help the cadets who would like to be in a home with a personal touch. You personally don't have to volunteer but some of us would love to be there to help when we are needed.

I would like to hear from others who are interested in branching out in this area. The parents and alumni of KP are known for showing concern and caring. We do not have to be an impersonal institution. We can be different as we are proving in other areas of the academy life. Kings Point can make a statement.
 
Forum rats

Ahh, Luigi, thanks for hijacking this effort to develop something helpful and yanking the focus back on yourself again and again. Perhaps you can busy yourself elsewhere and pester the CG posts for your amusement.

See ya.

Cookiemom: What can we do to help?
 
Luigi59 you obviously did not sail as a cadet from Kings Point or you would not have questioned the term "cadet".

Whoever said I did? You may want to do a little reasearch before you start to castigate me, cookiemom.

Did you ever sail as a cadet on from Kings Point, cookiemom? Yes, we know your son and husband did, but if you want to call me out as if I don't know anything about Kings Point or as if I am not a supporter than you perhaps need to go back and do some research.

Did you know that a cadet who is younger than 21 has trouble getting a hotel room? Did you know that some cadets really want to be in a home when they are so far from home? Did you know that sometimes there are emergencies and the cadets need someone to call who will help them out? Did you know that sometimes they are very discouraged and want to talk to more than a wall in a hotel?

What is so wrong with trying to reach out and help the cadets who would like to be in a home with a personal touch. You personally don't have to volunteer but some of us would love to be there to help when we are needed.

I would like to hear from others who are interested in branching out in this area. The parents and alumni of KP are known for showing concern and caring. We do not have to be an impersonal institution. We can be different as we are proving in other areas of the academy life. Kings Point can make a statement.

kp2001 already told you that such a network and system already exists. It sounds like you are trying to duplicate a system that doesn't need to be duplicated, only publicized.
 
CookieCafeMom I sent you a private message with my informaiton I hope you received it - I think it's a great idea and since I live close to a port would be happy to help!:thumb:
 
Ahh, Luigi, thanks for hijacking this effort to develop something helpful and yanking the focus back on yourself again and again. Perhaps you can busy yourself elsewhere and pester the CG posts for your amusement.

See ya.

Cookiemom: What can we do to help?

See ya? I'm not going anywhere. I'm adding my ideas to this thread.

Sounds like what needs to be done is for CookieMom to put the word out to the "cadets" that such as system already exists.

Perhaps all that is needed is a little coordination and information sharing between the USMMA Parent's Association (a great support organization) and CookieMom, so the stranded "cadets" can get a free warm meal and a comfy room rather than pay for a cold impersonal hotel.
 
Maybe We All Need To Step Back On This On And Count To 10?

For some reason all of the sudden this thread seems to be getting a little emotionally charged...

@cookiecafemom: I think your idea is great , that said as kp2001 notes in locales where there are larger local alumni chapters the chapter generally has a committee that is titled "midshipmen berthing & internships" - those locales include: Chesapeake Chapter (Baltimore); Houston, Washington DC for sure, in other locales (there are 110 local alumni chapters) there is at least a local chapter president who is committed to helping out on things like this. I would suggest that starting there and then building on that framework would probably be the easiest way to go. Recognize that the resources of local alumni chapters are in large part driven by their size for example in the DC area the mailing/contact list at the Chapter Officers and Executive Committee's disposal is over 600 names and addresses with between 150 and 200 members in good standing (dues paid, attending multiple events every year) while in Italy the Chapter consists of approximately 10 people. That said as I note starting there with a framework that the Chapter President's Alliance and the in place network of alumni world-wide might be an easy way to get moving on getting your idea into something that quickly can provide the havens for those midshipmen who want to avail themselves of it. To that end I'll send you a PM and hopefully we can get things rolling in that regard.

To others who are firing back at Luigi I will only say those efforts/posts are probably counter productive. I will take a few moments after I post this to send him a PM with the full Genesis of how students at USMMA become known as and to be called "midshipmen" as they are today when they were originally called cadets like every other licensed mariner in training around the world. To be fair to Luigi, he started with a basic question, to which chowder gave a simple courteous reply who he then thanked. I followed up and tried to give some more information/background, obviously since that caused a side topic to arise here that wasn't the thing to do. That said, I've gone back and looked at his posts and his only contrary remark which was and is on topic had to do with stating he thought it would be easier to get a hotel room and get reimbursed than maintaining a separate list of places where mids could stay in alumni and other students homes. On that point, for the most part I agree with him. Despite the statement that is made here: "Did you know that a cadet who is younger than 21 has trouble getting a hotel room?", as a parent of a current midshipmen, we haven't found that to be the case. In my own DS experience and he is now finishing up his second sea year he's never been unable to rent a hotel room and as Luigi notes all that was required was a credit card and drivers license or passport in foreign locales. He is still not yet 21. He's rented hotel rooms as part of his sea years in Southern California (Long Beach); Japan: Thailand: and Norfolk, VA all as part of his sea year while joining or leaving various ships crews. From what I can tell his experiences in that regard haven't been any different than my own thirty years ago when I was 20 years old and on sea year assignments joining a ship in Japan and leaving a ship in Singapore.

I will say that he has been unable to rent a car when in the US on the West Coast because he is under 25. That has made port calls for multiple days in places like Long Beach a lot less fun than they could have been since public transportation around the Port of Long Beach leaves much to be desired and cabs are expensive... I will also say that in one foreign port he had a fair amount of port time and he was invited to a classmate's parent's home who live there and he very, very much enjoyed the respite and the hospitality so no matter what I think moving forward with this is a great idea and I think that at this point perhaps and easy way to do that is to leverage the 110 Local Alumni Chapters at least several of which already do have a framework with this focus to build on.
 
Thanks Jasperdog

Thanks for the information, it was very helpful. I can jump off from that and see what more can be done. I have already contacted the alumni association to see what they are doing, also the parents' association. We can work in coordination with them as one unit in a common goal. This was just a feeler I was putting out to see if there would be greater exposure to parents and alumni who might be interested.

Sorry that this thread went off on a tangent. I just want to help the students in any way that we as parents and alumni can.
 
9 families so far have responded that they want to help

I was beginning to think that this was not the way to get help but I was wrong. 9 families so far have volunteered to have students come to their home, as far away as Japan. I am now gathering information about other groups who have the same idea, so we can just add families who want to help also. This will be a coordinated effort. This is great.

Keep your names coming in, and they will be put together with the other people willing to help the cadets at sea. Thanks.
 
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