Biggest Payday of all the 5 Acadermies

MSC is notorious for bad working conditions including uninterrupted sea time up to a year or even longer. It is a great way to get the sea time needed to upgrade your license but at the expense of your life ashore. Because of the horrible schedule, MSC gets some (not all) license holders who have been rejected from commercial shipping positions and are not the best out there. It is all a tradeoff, and individuals need to decide what works best for them. During sea year, mids can try out an MSC ship to see what it is like first hand. The point is that the possibilities out of USMMA are many.
 
Bduett said:
I visited the site but one thing that isn’t clear is what the work schedule is. How many day/weeks/months are you on then off. I noticed the mixed schedule positions are significantly lower.
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MSC I won't lie, the days are long. 12 hours in total 7 days a week and the rotations are 6 months long. I would do it right out of the academy as you can upgrade your Marine license rather quickly. You can probably earn your Chief Engineers license before age 26 and on the deck side be Captain of your own ship in your late 20's. I sailed with the Union MEBA in the late 90's after I got out of active duty with the Navy and was on the lowest paying ships at the time which paid about $18k/month as a 3rd engineer. I guess that would be equivalent to an Ensign or 2nd Lt on the military side. The rotation on the tankers was 90 days on and 90 days off. MSC's rotation is 180 days on and 1 month off so you're at sea 11 months out of the year. I believe they're trying to change that rotation since they lose many officers to the private shipping companies. My last shipping job before I retired was with Matson Lines out of Honolulu and the rotation was 60 days on 60 days off.
 
... so here's a contrarian view. Instead of thinking about pay, maybe think about "I can't believe I'm getting paid for this."

In my 30-year military career, I probably had 200+ moments of "I can't believe I'm getting paid for this."
 
severn said:
... so here's a contrarian view. Instead of thinking about pay, maybe think about "I can't believe I'm getting paid for this."

In my 30-year military career, I probably had 200+ moments of "I can't believe I'm getting paid for this."
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Well I guess when I was an Ensign in the Navy driving a Destroyer through the Straits of Malacca I'd say "Damn! My classmates are making 5x what Im making right now doing this very thing and getting more sleep. What was I thinking? Nah just kidding. I loved being a Naval Officer but I decided for the bigger payday of the Merchant Marine after 5 yrs on active duty which was nice too. Stayed in the reserves so I get to double dip on my Navy pension and Merchant Marine pension.
 
KPEngnr90 said:
Well I guess when I was an Ensign in the Navy driving a Destroyer through the Straits of Malacca I'd say "Damn! My classmates are making 5x what Im making right now doing this very thing and getting more sleep. What was I thinking? Nah just kidding. I loved being a Naval Officer but I decided for the bigger payday of the Merchant Marine after 5 yrs on active duty which was nice too. Stayed in the reserves so I get to double dip on my Navy pension and Merchant Marine pension.
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... yah, during my travels, I've ran into your types... happy folks with tons of $mollahs.

Often most naval aviators will say, "I can't believe I'm getting paid for this." I used to attend a 2-3 hours joint training conferences in Schofield Barracks/PACFLEET, Hawaii and Hohenfels, Germany. Then I'm off for 72 hours. Imagine.

DS (USNA 2026) experienced it last year during Plebe summer cruise. He stayed in a Virginia Beach hotel during Protramid and with a highschool friend in Manhattan during the YP trip.
 
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