Recent content by cmakin

A career at sea will also change vacation plans.

Who is your cousin?

One of my 81 classmates, a deckie, went active duty Navy. They made him and engineer and he spent worked as one up until his retirement.

One of my classmates and good friend back then survived the infamous Rickover interview. Like many of us whose careers went off in different directions, we lost touch. Some years ago, I found out that he was captain of a "boomer". Not a bad gig. I will say that he was easily one of the...

Hehehe, I resemble that meme. . . .

I disagree. A maritime career requires more of a commitment of one's personal time than most. If you hate the job, you will be less willing to sacrifice your life/time to the job than if you like it. I know that when I was sailing, it wasn't uncommon to spend extra time at sea when a relief...

I had an idea that I was going to choose engineering. I have always had an interest in mechanical things, so it seemed a good fit.

Well, the purpose of the Academy is to graduate mates and engineers to sail in the US Merchant Marine. . . . of course there are other options available, but that is the primary purpose.

I know that in the 70s, you could not be married to get it. I certainly recall it as a requirement in 1977. One of my classmates DID get married during his 1st class year, and I believe that it was allowed, however he could not have his wife living onboard and also could not live off campus.

Yup. Calculus was actually easy for me until that last (fifth) quarter. Never worked so hard for a C+. . . I got in more based on my SAT scores than my grades in high school. Back then I had fairly good study habits. Even busted over a 3.0 for a couple of quarters during third class year...

During my tenure, there were teachers that were great and those that were horrid, like any other school. As far as the program, I also always felt that there were challenges to completing the program, and Indoc was just the start.

When I was sailing, anywhere from 7 to 9 months a year. Not all at once, mind you. The company that I sailed for the longest was running coastwise most of the time. I went from a planned schedule of 6 weeks, three weeks off to 4 weeks on, 4 weeks off. It never worked out, though. Most of...

Great advice, indeed. Back in my day, the maritime industry changed greatly by the time I graduated. I can also say that I have never worked just 6 months a year.

Appointments and nominations are two very different things. Your MOC is responsible for the nominations, and the schools make the appointments. I know things have changed just a little bit since my day, in that the schools, or at least KP can give an Letter of Intent before a nomination is...

You can request multiple nominations. I did and was nominated to all of those that I applied for. Getting the appointment is key.