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.