Sea Year Sexual Assault Report(s)

I don't know if prior occurrences are necessarily a given.
Matching her details with their logs, it seems like Maersk could narrow their search to a small enough list to answer that question quickly.

I also hope she can remain anonymous if she desires.
I have a mid at KP currently. She is not anonymous at this point. She gave too much identifying information in her letter and my mid said it was obvious who she was. Regardless, according to my mid, she is VERY much supported by her classmates and administration.
 
Sooooo off topic and I hate asking, but why 12 months for USMMA? What is the actual time requirement for licensing? Are KP grads certifying at a higher level than state maritime grads? If the requirement is much lower, why is everyone always worried about getting enough time for their licensing exams?
Yes, they sit for their 2nd mate unlimited tonnage licenses. They need more sea days than state maritime grads.
 
I have a mid at KP currently. She is not anonymous at this point. She gave too much identifying information in her letter and my mid said it was obvious who she was. Regardless, according to my mid, she is VERY much supported by her classmates and administration.
I figured as much, especially within the school. There was so much filtering data in her post and some should have been recommended to be excluded (IMO) by the site helping her.

I just hope she isn't outed to the point where it dissuades others from being willing to speak of their experiences.
 
I figured as much, especially within the school. There was so much filtering data in her post and some should have been recommended to be excluded (IMO) by the site helping her.

I just hope she isn't outed to the point where it dissuades others from being willing to speak of their experiences.
1) Firstie (1 of 50 females)
2) Victim's Advocate - 36 recognized on school's official FB feed w/close-up pictures of each (10 senior female mids photographed)
3) Engine Major - only 5 of the 10 senior female mids photographed are Engine based on headgear insignia.
4) You know the shipping company
5) You know the geographic area of the trip

Outsiders would be in the dart still, but at a small school where everyone knows everyone... I am unsure what they could have redacted from her story that would have helped.
 
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Yes, they sit for their 2nd mate unlimited tonnage licenses. They need more sea days than state maritime grads.

This is mostly incorrect.

In the early 2000s the coast guard combined the exams. There is an operational level and a management level exam. So you test for issuance of 3M ticket and issuance of CM ticket.

The requirement for more sea days isn't a function of the exam. The state school people take the same test, and get the same license. They need less days because the way 46 CFR is written. Training ship days are 1.5x and the curriculum and approval letters are different for different programs.
 
This is mostly incorrect.

In the early 2000s the coast guard combined the exams. There is an operational level and a management level exam. So you test for issuance of 3M ticket and issuance of CM ticket.

The requirement for more sea days isn't a function of the exam. The state school people take the same test, and get the same license. They need less days because the way 46 CFR is written. Training ship days are 1.5x and the curriculum and approval letters are different for different programs.
Thank you - it’s always been a source of confusion for me.
 
For what it's worth, I met with my Congresswoman this afternoon on a variety of veteran related matters and in an aside, brought up this issue since I interview USMMA candidates for her. She was VERY aware of the issues and as she is a member of the Board of Visitors for USMMA, she has seen communications within DOT regarding it.
This issue was clearly very upsetting to her personally and if her reaction was indicative of how the overseeing organizations will react then there just may be some positive changes coming.
 
Hello Everyone.

I am Midshipman X. I am the one that posted the article. I have read though all your comments and many more like them on all the other platforms that spoke about my account. I posted anonymously, but I am no longer anonymous to current midshipmen, USMMA leaders, MARAD, DOT, FBI, Shipping companies, and now News outlets. I am sure that it is only a matter of time before my name comes out to all of you, and so be it. I left key details in my story knowing there might be a risk that it circles back to me, but all of it was too important to leave out. I had to tell my story properly.

Most of you are parents. I ask you to think of what happened to me and place your DS/DD in my shoes.

Imagine if it was your kid reading everything people were saying about them. Or that your kid had this much to deal with right now.

I was a 19 year old teenager. I was broken. What happen to me BROKE ME. Please spot pointing out what I should've done. Trust me I know I made mistakes. I know I was to trusting that people could actually be good. Call me naïve... BUT I AM NOT THE ISSUE! Alcohol is not the issue that causes rape to happen either. Please I ask you to stop victim blaming/ situation blaming and focus on the real issue.

I shared my story to show others that others would know that they weren't alone. I was finally ready to say what happen to me. I never expected all of this to come from my story. I spent years trying to recover from what happened and all of this is just like revisiting it every time something new is published.

Change is coming. I feel like we are closer now than we ever have been. I hope you realize that what happened to me could happen to anyone, including anyone of your kids...male or female. There is a culture that must be stopped. The answer is now telling women that we don't belong at sea. The answer is telling rapist and harassers it's not okay to do those things. They must be stopped. Please do not think that the solution to this issue is to stop women from being in this industry. That is totally backwards. Please let my words spark some change, it seems like they already have.

I feel the love. I feel the hate. Whatever side you may be on, brace for long overdue change.

Very Respectfully,

Midshipman X
USMMA Class of 2022
 
Hello Everyone.

I am Midshipman X. I am the one that posted the article. I have read though all your comments and many more like them on all the other platforms that spoke about my account. I posted anonymously, but I am no longer anonymous to current midshipmen, USMMA leaders, MARAD, DOT, FBI, Shipping companies, and now News outlets. I am sure that it is only a matter of time before my name comes out to all of you, and so be it. I left key details in my story knowing there might be a risk that it circles back to me, but all of it was too important to leave out. I had to tell my story properly.

Most of you are parents. I ask you to think of what happened to me and place your DS/DD in my shoes.

Imagine if it was your kid reading everything people were saying about them. Or that your kid had this much to deal with right now.

I was a 19 year old teenager. I was broken. What happen to me BROKE ME. Please spot pointing out what I should've done. Trust me I know I made mistakes. I know I was to trusting that people could actually be good. Call me naïve... BUT I AM NOT THE ISSUE! Alcohol is not the issue that causes rape to happen either. Please I ask you to stop victim blaming/ situation blaming and focus on the real issue.

I shared my story to show others that others would know that they weren't alone. I was finally ready to say what happen to me. I never expected all of this to come from my story. I spent years trying to recover from what happened and all of this is just like revisiting it every time something new is published.

Change is coming. I feel like we are closer now than we ever have been. I hope you realize that what happened to me could happen to anyone, including anyone of your kids...male or female. There is a culture that must be stopped. The answer is now telling women that we don't belong at sea. The answer is telling rapist and harassers it's not okay to do those things. They must be stopped. Please do not think that the solution to this issue is to stop women from being in this industry. That is totally backwards. Please let my words spark some change, it seems like they already have.

I feel the love. I feel the hate. Whatever side you may be on, brace for long overdue change.

Very Respectfully,

Midshipman X
USMMA Class of 2022
Midshipman X, I am so sorry this happened to you. I can sympathize but also empathize from experience, as someone who came into the Navy when the percentage of women was still single digits. I have my own stories, of battles fought, of ones I walked away from to fight another day when I had more power, of memories smoothed by time but still awful. You will survive this, you were strong enough to speak up for all the other victims who could not find the strength to tell their story out loud, you will heal, you will find your strength in decent people and learn to dismiss the hateful ones. Way down the road, you will know what you did mattered, and you will never know how many you gave hope to by snapping on the overhead light and refusing to go quietly. Hold your head up high and be you, not the thing that was done to you.

I’ve attached a quote from Dr. Maya Angelou, someone I was privileged to have as an undergrad professor for a seminar, and one of the most courageous people I have ever known. With your story, you have made people feel a range of things, and apathy has been shaken up. Out of this should come cultural change.
D5CE53FB-8BB0-4E73-AC0C-F71DBA235072.jpeg
 
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@Midshipman X - thank you for telling your story to the world. Positive change is coming as a result. It took a ton of courage to go public - thank you for doing the difficult thing in order to make a difference.
 
Thank you @Midshipman X . Your courage knows no bounds. You are a hero to so many, including me.

Change is coming indeed. Here is the letter from the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation Letter to USMMA, MARAD, USCG demanding answers. They know the problem is systemic. They know it has been a problem for years. Now they want to know why, and to solve it permanently. There are so many more questions to ask. I spoke with committee reps and will do my part to help. You can bank on that.

This is only the beginning. Do not quit. Keep going. We are with you.
 
I feel the love. I feel the hate.
Not sure where the "hate" reference comes from. On this forum there has been nothing -- nothing -- but support and encouragement for you, and prudent words of practical advice for others. And that's as it should be.

I spent years trying to recover from what happened and all of this is just like revisiting it every time something new is published.
Understood, and we feel for you, and wish you Godspeed on your recovery. But on this forum, at least, you're essentially among family. We all are members of the KP community and support you as a member of that community. And given the passage of years, you've begun the necessary healing journey as evidenced by your decision to nationally publish your story.

I was a 19 year old teenager. I was broken. What happen to me BROKE ME. Please spot pointing out what I should've done. Trust me I know I made mistakes. I know I was to trusting that people could actually be good. Call me naïve... BUT I AM NOT THE ISSUE! Alcohol is not the issue that causes rape to happen either. Please I ask you to stop victim blaming/ situation blaming and focus on the real issue.
I fear we come to the real crux of your post on this forum. But, in all kindness, you are mistaken. There is no reason in the world not to -- after first giving you moral encouragement and support, and affirming efforts to bring the attacker to swift and certain justice -- urge other midshipmen to learn from this event what might otherwise be considered an obvious lesson. You acknowledge that you "know [you] made mistakes." No one here now blames you for those mistakes. And certainly no one here suggests the attacker's guilt is any less because of those mistakes. Quite the contrary. Our modest hope and purpose in mentioning this otherwise unaddressed issue (after 53 other comments) is that other midshipmen, particularly women, will hesitate to engage in drinking bouts with near strangers.
 
M/N X: Don’t be fooled by all the support you are receiving. It is temporary and will disappear in time. Instead, focus on yourself and how you will live your life. You are a marked woman now and will never escape the stigma of speaking the truth. My advice is to get out. There is much happiness and fulfillment beyond KP.
I was a female cadet at USMMA in the 70’s. Nothing has changed in 40+years. At that time the administration was “shocked and appalled” by rapes at sea and sexual harassment at the academy, including by instructors.
Good luck M/N X. Get your license, graduate, change your name, and change your career path.
To all those who might want to comment on my post, resist the temptation. In truth, the academy’s real motto has always been Verba non Acta.
 
M/N X: Don’t be fooled by all the support you are receiving. It is temporary and will disappear in time. Instead, focus on yourself and how you will live your life. You are a marked woman now and will never escape the stigma of speaking the truth. My advice is to get out. There is much happiness and fulfillment beyond KP.
I was a female cadet at USMMA in the 70’s. Nothing has changed in 40+years. At that time the administration was “shocked and appalled” by rapes at sea and sexual harassment at the academy, including by instructors.
Good luck M/N X. Get your license, graduate, change your name, and change your career path.
To all those who might want to comment on my post, resist the temptation. In truth, the academy’s real motto has always been Verba non Acta.
I am not going to resist the temptation to comment on your post. Let me share my perspective by providing a little history. In the 80's I braved the retaliation in a male dominated field when I dared to report a judge for offering me the opportunity to trade sex for favorable rulings on a big rape/murder case I was prosecuting in front of him. My supervisor's advice was that I should go ahead and put out for the judge because it was an important case. He was disappointed when I didn't d not take his advice but I reported the judge anyway. I faced years of retaliation, not just from that judge, but from nearly every other judge, as well as most other attorneys. Nothing in the culture changed of course, and my entire career was full of similar and even worse harassment. Fast forward to the 90's and I was demoted for daring to have a child. I was told by the elected District Attorney, "You gals need to decide whether you want to be lawyers or mommies because you can't do both." I filed a complaint with the EEOC on that one, and you can imagine how that went over with my boss. Very long story short, I retired soon after. Bottom line is that I know I did the right thing even though standing up to power is difficult. When my USMMA daughter came to me with what she had to put up with at sea, I told her the details of my story for the first time. Having my own daughter be proud of me for taking a stand for what is right more than made up for any regret I had for speaking up. When she asked me for advice on what she should do, I asked her what she would tell her own daughter decades later. She ended up reporting some of what happened to her and what she observed during her sea year. She faced incompetence at MARAD and retaliation from the KP administration, but I have never been more proud of her. We cannot control how other people react to our stories, but we can continue to do the right thing. Pick your battles, but when your own personal line is crossed, you need to stand up for yourself regardless of the consequences. In the long run, after the sting of the incident has faded (it will fade, but it will never go away) you will be glad you did what was right. I wish for MN X that she will realize in time that her character is stronger for having made the choice she did to report what happened. Most of her support will fade away, but mine will not, and neither will that of my DD. And maybe someday, MN X can have a discussion with her own daughter and tell her she did everything she could to try to make a difference. In the end, that is all anyone can do. Sorry for the long post, but this issue is so important that I wanted to say my piece.
 
M/N X: I stand by my advice. You have already done much to be proud of. Now is the time to look out for yourself.
KPMom2013: With all due respect, your harassment situation is completely different from what a woman on a ship at sea confronts. You are completely alone to face unwanted sexual advances, and sometimes even death threats. There is no home to retreat to, no police station, no family. You are singularly, utterly alone.
BTW, I would never let my daughters attend KP. I know and have experienced too much. I respect that other KP women had different experiences from me and am happy to hear their opinions. But, if you, yourself did not endure 4 years of KP, then have a career on ships and ashore, your opinion doesn’t carry much weight.
 
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