USMMA and coast gaurd

acadmful

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Mar 30, 2016
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Hello Everybody,

First of all, I know there are several people who feel strongly about not applying to USMMA as a backup to go into active service of a certain branch, so I just want to put out there that while I am very interested in active duty commisioning opportunities after graduationg, I am also extremely interested in the maritime industry and wouldn't be surprised if I changed my mind about active duty after a few years.

So my questions are: if you wish to commision into the coast guard after graduating, do you commision through the MARGRAD program or do you commision the same way than if you graduated from USCGA or OCS? Also is it difficult to commision into active duty coast guard? Are you pretty much stuck doing inspection work if you commision or are you able to choose what you do?

Thanks in advance!
 
I think the vast majority go inspections. One of the guys from my class is a port engineer and two other folks got cutters. Needs of the service. They'll always be looking for qualified inspectors, the El Farro hearings revealed that they don't have enough. Who knows about other communities, or what it all looks like 5 years down the road, it's up to the bean counters.

I'm not sure exactly how commissioning works. I know one of the guys who graduated in 14' had to spend some time in New London getting yelled at, it was like OCS lite, but I get the impression (...based solely on the little bits I see on my FB feed) that everyone this year went straight to the fleet.
 
like OCS lite

That would be DCP or Direct-Commissioning-Program, the USCG says that all MARGRAD (inspectors) from maritime academies must participate in DCP. But I don't know if we're exempt because we're kinda different from the state academies.
 
It's essentially a shortened OCS where the candidates learn specifically about the Coast Guard (and assumes they know the other fun stuff... So this is more about learning about the service.)
 
Is a DCP person something along the lines of a job corps person like a doctor who only has command in his or her area of expertise? Do you know if its required that Merchant Marine Academy grads go through DCP? and if so, does going through DCP make us equivalent (similar to an unrestricted line officer) to someone who went through OCS or the USCGA?
 
Oh, second thought, I just googled her. And she actually came to talk to us at the academy during Reg training one day. Go figure.
 
Is a DCP person something along the lines of a job corps person like a doctor who only has command in his or her area of expertise? Do you know if its required that Merchant Marine Academy grads go through DCP? and if so, does going through DCP make us equivalent (similar to an unrestricted line officer) to someone who went through OCS or the USCGA?
To put it in Navy terms (I'm sure CG is the same) ...

OCS/USNA/USMMA/ROTC/DirCom are commissioning sources and on their own have no bearing on career path. Your community/designator (1665 for SSOs) determines billet opportunity, command potential, promotion potential, etc.

1 - Line Officer, 6 - Restricted Line Officer, 6 - SSO Community, 5 - USNR
 
To put it in Navy terms (I'm sure CG is the same) ...

OCS/USNA/USMMA/ROTC/DirCom are commissioning sources and on their own have no bearing on career path. Your community/designator (1665 for SSOs) determines billet opportunity, command potential, promotion potential, etc.

1 - Line Officer, 6 - Restricted Line Officer, 6 - SSO Community, 5 - USNR
or, as the enlisteds put it--choose your rate, choose your fate. (From a 1320 here)
 
To put it in Navy terms (I'm sure CG is the same) ...

OCS/USNA/USMMA/ROTC/DirCom are commissioning sources and on their own have no bearing on career path. Your community/designator (1665 for SSOs) determines billet opportunity, command potential, promotion potential, etc.

1 - Line Officer, 6 - Restricted Line Officer, 6 - SSO Community, 5 - USNR


Kinda, sorta for the Coast Guard.

1. It's just CGA, OCS, or DCO (direct commission)... With some variations.

2. Historically all CGA grads went afloat first tour, so the left overs were left to OCS or DCOs. That changed in 2004. Now if you go the OCS or DCO route you have a better chance of going to a ship, if you want to, but it's not absolute.

3. In the Coast Guard, everyone is a line officer (with the exception of some direct commission positions, such as JAG).

I think the Navy has more flexibility because it has more commissioning sources (no CG ROTC being a big one) and has the line v restricted officer designations.

The officer corps for the Coast Guard is about 40% from CGA.
 
Kinda, sorta for the Coast Guard.

1. It's just CGA, OCS, or DCO (direct commission)... With some variations.

2. Historically all CGA grads went afloat first tour, so the left overs were left to OCS or DCOs. That changed in 2004. Now if you go the OCS or DCO route you have a better chance of going to a ship, if you want to, but it's not absolute.

3. In the Coast Guard, everyone is a line officer (with the exception of some direct commission positions, such as JAG).

I think the Navy has more flexibility because it has more commissioning sources (no CG ROTC being a big one) and has the line v restricted officer designations.

The officer corps for the Coast Guard is about 40% from CGA.
Line vs. Restricted Line has nothing to do with commissioning source and everything to do with Community. A USNA Intel Officer (designator 1630 aka Restricted Line) is not eligible for Command at Sea whereas an OCS/ROTC/USMMA Aviator (designator 1310 aka Unrestricted Line) can.
 
Line vs. Restricted Line has nothing to do with commissioning source and everything to do with Community. A USNA Intel Officer (designator 1630 aka Restricted Line) is not eligible for command at sea whereas an OCS/ROTC/USMMA Aviator (designator 1310 aka Unrestricted Line) can.

Correct.

I'm differentiating between Navy and Coast Guard (correcting your "I'm sure it's the same for CG.")

Commissioning sources and line v. Restricted was referring to the Navy's flexibility.
 
Correct.

I'm differentiating between Navy and Coast Guard (correcting your "I'm sure it's the same for CG.")

Commissioning sources and line v. Restricted was referring to the Navy's flexibility.
"similar" may have been a better word than "same".

I'm not clear ... are you saying that the Navy has more flexibility to even have RL communities because they have more commissioning sources? That if they didn't have as many commissioning sources, they wouldn't have RL communities like the USCG?
 
I'm saying the RL gives the Navy flexibility in the assignment process. It gives them options for officers who may not be seaworthy (for instance, a classmate of mine could have been commissioned in the Navy as a RL officer, but due to an eye injury, couldn't be commissioned in the Coast Guard, where there is no RL).

The additional commissioning sources for the Navy, I think, allows them greater flexibility in filling billets.

If 40% of the Coast Guard officer corps is from CGA, each year 40% of the incoming officers come from there too... That's a pretty fixed commissioning schedule.
 
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