Mass Maritime Sea Term Begins

bruno

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The new year brings about new opportunities and challenges. At Mass Maritime, the Cadets are reporting aboard the TS Kennedy today for the start of Sea Term2012. The Ship departs Jan 8th enroute to the Caribbean with port calls in Golfito, Costa Rica; Guayaquil, Ecuador; Panama City, Republic of Panama; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI.

In addition to getting an education for your future- college is about broadening your horizons beyond what you already know. I can't think of too many better opportunities to experience a new and different life than the chance to participate in multiple sea terms that is presented to you at the State Maritime colleges and USMMA.

Here's the ship they will be calling home for a couple of months: http://www.maritime.edu/index.cfm?pg=405

http://www.maritime.edu/index.cfm?pg=404
It should be an interesting winter for the Cadets at MMA- here's wishing you all"fair winds and following seas"!
 
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Off of what was said about opportunities, if you are interested in any of the sea services, strongly consider one of the maritime schools. I'm at Maine Maritime right now and love it. Our cruise doesn't start until May so I can't vouch for the benefits of that, but even after just one semester I've learned a lot about the maritime industry and everything that's involved with it. If you're great with hands on learning these schools are definitely a good fit. Just some food for thought. :thumb:
 
Loading started yesterday. Rack assignments and get the best mattress. Another avenue for Commission. May be NR but possible direct. SIP is a great program. They do a lot of hands on classes at all the Maritimes (welding and machine shop). Classes the Academy does not have. If it breaks 800 miles out you don't run to Home Depot to get a replacement part. Wish I had a winter term like this one. I pay but only get to see the pictures.:biggrin:

http://www.maritime.edu/index.cfm?pg=868

http://www.maritime.edu/index.cfm?pg=2553

Explanation from Maine which is just about the same for all:

http://www.mainemaritime.edu/academics/academics/112-merchant-marine-reserve-mmr
 
The new year brings about new opportunities and challenges. At Mass Maritime, the Cadets are reporting aboard the TS Kennedy today for the start of Sea Term2012. The Ship departs Jan 8th enroute to the Caribbean with port calls in Golfito, Costa Rica; Guayaquil, Ecuador; Panama City, Republic of Panama; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI.

In addition to getting an education for your future- college is about broadening your horizons beyond what you already know. I can't think of too many better opportunities to experience a new and different life than the chance to participate in multiple sea terms that is presented to you at the State Maritime colleges and USMMA.

Here's the ship they will be calling home for a couple of months: http://www.maritime.edu/index.cfm?pg=405

http://www.maritime.edu/index.cfm?pg=404
It should be an interesting winter for the Cadets at MMA- here's wishing you all"fair winds and following seas"!

I've recently been reading a bunch of stuff about the US Merchant Fleet. Not so much on this forum, although the stuff on here is what sparked my interest in the subject.

Apparently, the job market is rather grim aboard US vessels. The state school guys have the luxury of being able to look for work aboard foreign ships, I suppose. If indeed that is a luxury, as pay is less on those ships. Wherever they find it, I hope that the kids who are out on their training cruise are indeed able to find positions upon graduation.

There is a forum called gcaptain which talks about all this stuff in much more detail than what you might find on here(with opinions from guys currently in the industry). Sadly, I think there is a dearth of info on State Maritime schools on SAF. Lack of interest, I suppose.

Anyway, www.gcaptain.com might be an interesting thing for those interested in the maritime academies to check out in addition to this forum. There is a lot negative in with the positive posts there, so a prospective cadet would have to be able to smell through such things. As befits sailors, the language is a tad saltier than on here as well. Still, it seems to have perspective on the maritime industry outside of what SAF has (which rightfully seems, given the purpose of SAF, to be focused on USMMA).

Not an endorsement of anything, just another complimentary source of information to explore.
 
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25K bonus if you want to ship out on ships traveling Horn of Africa. See Military Sealift Command for opportunities which are not usually thought of.

http://www.msc.navy.mil/

The Maritimes (per their web sites) have about a 95% hire rate upon graduation. Remember with an unlimited licence they can work at any power production facility, Sea or land. Pay may be less and relative to no pay at all upon graduation, better than living with Mom & Dad.
 
From what I've seen the MMR program (now actually called SSOP) at Maine Maritime is pretty good. They've always been part of the NROTC unit there, but starting this year they are much more involved. The freshman in the program went through indoc with all of us in ROTC, most of our weekly labs are together, they have to take some of the same naval science classes, and there's scuttlebutt that they'll be required to PT with us next semester too. It's a great program if you're willing to go reserves.
 
T.S. Kennedy departs tomorrow for southern ports. Can't wait to hear the "crossing the line" stories. Pollywog to Shellback.:smile:
 
T.S. Kennedy departs tomorrow for southern ports. Can't wait to hear the "crossing the line" stories. Pollywog to Shellback.:smile:

You can follow the ship at this link. I envy them- it should be quite a learning experience for the Cadets aboard (and a good time as well).
 
Going thru the Panama Canal I will bet is a very cool experience. I can remember sitting at Ft Sherman which used to sit on the Atlantic end of the Canal and seeing all of those ships lined up waiting to go thru the Canal- it was amazing how much traffic was going thru there and it's even greater today.
I hope that those Cadets appreciate what a very cool and unique College experience that are enjoying!
 
Costa Rica yesterday- sounds pretty cool. AF6872- what is the daily schedule like for Cadets onboard during the cruise?
 
Captains Blog: Ecuador.

http://www.maritime.edu/seaterm/

Great times with pollywog to shellfish. Check out marine engineering pictures. You don't get that at State U. They do their normal on and off watch with classroom in between. Engineering and Deck have different schedules. I think it is Port and Starboard?
 
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They made it to Panama!

I have a Panamanian friend who works in the maritime industry, and he tweeted earlier that he was attending a dinner aboard TS Kennedy with an admiral, a captain, officials from Mass Maritime, and folks from the US Embassy.

Pretty cool. :smile:
 
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