Potential Class of 2026 Parents

KamsDadQB1

KamsDadQB1

Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2020
Messages
126
Hello. Been some time since I've posted here. I have been able to communicate with my plebe a bit more and actually saw him for a week after trimester end. As a parent I thought I would be okay with just writing him letters and hoping to get a reply. During indoc we got ONE letter from him. So many things are predicated on your Company CO and XO. From what I gathered my plebe didn't get to check mail a lot once he got his box so he would receive things late. I'm so proud of him and his resilience. I will tell any potential applicant, BRUSH up on your Calc and Phys!! It is no joke. My plebe was pretty good in school but he struggled but was smart enough to go to his instructor's office hours. They got a bit more liberty than even I expected and it was easy to tell when that happened because his bank account looked like the gas tank in a 5 Liter Corvette with 2 Turbos!! All in all we are very happy with his choice to attend USMMA and can't wait to see him at Christmas break. For all of you applying, the process is long and can seem like it will never happen but it is worth it! Indoc 2022 awaits you #ProudMarinerDad
 
KamsDadQB1 said:
Hello. Been some time since I've posted here. I have been able to communicate with my plebe a bit more and actually saw him for a week after trimester end. As a parent I thought I would be okay with just writing him letters and hoping to get a reply. During indoc we got ONE letter from him. So many things are predicated on your Company CO and XO. From what I gathered my plebe didn't get to check mail a lot once he got his box so he would receive things late. I'm so proud of him and his resilience. I will tell any potential applicant, BRUSH up on your Calc and Phys!! It is no joke. My plebe was pretty good in school but he struggled but was smart enough to go to his instructor's office hours. They got a bit more liberty than even I expected and it was easy to tell when that happened because his bank account looked like the gas tank in a 5 Liter Corvette with 2 Turbos!! All in all we are very happy with his choice to attend USMMA and can't wait to see him at Christmas break. For all of you applying, the process is long and can seem like it will never happen but it is worth it! Indoc 2022 awaits you #ProudMarinerDad
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Do you know how the Company is selected, based on extracurriculum or sports?
 
KamsDadQB1 said:
Hello. Been some time since I've posted here. I have been able to communicate with my plebe a bit more and actually saw him for a week after trimester end. As a parent I thought I would be okay with just writing him letters and hoping to get a reply. During indoc we got ONE letter from him. So many things are predicated on your Company CO and XO. From what I gathered my plebe didn't get to check mail a lot once he got his box so he would receive things late. I'm so proud of him and his resilience. I will tell any potential applicant, BRUSH up on your Calc and Phys!! It is no joke. My plebe was pretty good in school but he struggled but was smart enough to go to his instructor's office hours. They got a bit more liberty than even I expected and it was easy to tell when that happened because his bank account looked like the gas tank in a 5 Liter Corvette with 2 Turbos!! All in all we are very happy with his choice to attend USMMA and can't wait to see him at Christmas break. For all of you applying, the process is long and can seem like it will never happen but it is worth it! Indoc 2022 awaits you #ProudMarinerDad
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Can family go to INDOC/report day?
 
dakiti~ said:
Do you know how the Company is selected, based on extracurriculum or sports?
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Company assignment is random with the exception of Band Co. Plebes/Mids also change companies yearly while at KP with the exception again of Band Co. Band Co stays together all four years.
 
CAT5 said:
Company assignment is random with the exception of Band Co. Plebes/Mids also change companies yearly while at KP with the exception again of Band Co. Band Co stays together all four years.
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Case in point, I was in 1st Company for Plebe year, 3rd Company for 3rd Class year, 2nd Company for 2nd Class year. If I recall, we could chose our Company for 1st Class year, if available, and our roommate. I spent my last year back in 1st Company, with a pleasant view of the Sound. . . .
 
I’m guessing this is subject to the Commandant’s staff. During my time we generally stayed in one company all four years.
 
KP Eng said:
I’m guessing this is subject to the Commandant’s staff. During my time we generally stayed in one company all four years.
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That was the way it was for my kid. He was in one company [not band] all four years..
cmakin said:
Wow, no kidding. . .I kept having to change my Company shoulder patches at the start of each year. . .
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@cmakin, I remember cadets reporting onboard for sea year wearing khakis with those company patches.. and shoulder boards too.. That's something that KP had done away with by the time my son got there.

0801524.jpg
 
deepdraft1 said:
That was the way it was for my kid. He was in one company [not band] all four years..

@cmakin, I remember cadets reporting onboard for sea year wearing khakis with those company patches.. and shoulder boards too.. That's something that KP had done away with by the time my son got there.

View attachment 11403
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No kidding. As a cadet, I recall only being required to wear my khakis (with shoulder boards) at meal time on my first ship. I may have brought them with me to subsequent ships, but don't ever recall having to wear them OR shoulder boards ever again, so I didn't (kind of like masks now). . .In fact, here is a photo of me in 1978 onboard the PRESIDENT EISENHOWER in the Java Sea, just after dinner. . .
 

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KP Eng said:
I’m guessing this is subject to the Commandant’s staff. During my time we generally stayed in one company all four years.
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My 2024 son told me that generally the way it is done now is that they will stay in one company for the first year, and then after the first year, they will change to another company and then stay in that company for the remaining three years. Except Band though - I guess you can stay in Band for four years if you want. But like everything at KP, YMMV.
 
cmakin said:
No kidding. As a cadet, I recall only being required to wear my khakis (with shoulder boards) at meal time on my first ship. I may have brought them with me to subsequent ships, but don't ever recall having to wear them OR shoulder boards ever again, so I didn't (kind of like masks now). . .In fact, here is a photo of me in 1978 onboard the PRESIDENT EISENHOWER in the Java Sea, just after dinner. . .
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The pic is really cool! I showed it to my parents, and they like it too.
 
So might be a silly question… are the words cadet & midshipman interchangeable at USMMA? I thought they were midshipmen, but I see cadet being used. Just curious, TY.
 
cmakin said:
No kidding. As a cadet, I recall only being required to wear my khakis (with shoulder boards) at meal time on my first ship. I may have brought them with me to subsequent ships, but don't ever recall having to wear them OR shoulder boards ever again, so I didn't (kind of like masks now). . .In fact, here is a photo of me in 1978 onboard the PRESIDENT EISENHOWER in the Java Sea, just after dinner. . .
Click to expand...
@cmakin, yep, I did see cadets wearing that uniform a few times when reporting, although most of the time, if they did report in uniform, it was in SDB's..

So you were on the old C-6 'IKE' [ex-PHILIPPINE MAIL] as cadet.. If your photo was taken in the Java Sea the ship was probably on the Singapore India Pakistan [SIP] run at the time. My first Chief Mates job was on her sister ship the PRESIDENT TRUMAN [ex-JAPAN MAIL]. Life was good on those ships. I was a 'day working' Chief Mate and because we carried 12 passengers, I got to knock off early to clean up, then go have cocktails in the passenger lounge before dinner. Even though you had to put on a uniform and schmooze with the 'talking cargo', the free booze was well worth it..

Was APL 'Super Chief' Tom McAuliffe the Chief Engineer when you were on there? I sailed with him on a couple of the APL motorships after he transferred from the EISENHOWER. He was perhaps one of the finest engineers I was ever shipmates with.. Great guy!
Here's a photo of the TRUMAN from a postcard I got while I was onboard her..

SS PRESIDENT TRUMAN.jpg
 
Pmaclax said:
So might be a silly question… are the words cadet & midshipman interchangeable at USMMA? I thought they were midshipmen, but I see cadet being used. Just curious, TY.
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@Pmaclax when a KP midshipman goes aboard a US merchant ship they are referred to and signed on as either deck cadet or engine cadet.. The US Merchant Marine doesn't use the title midshipman; that's a navy thing.. On foreign merchant ships, cadets are sometimes referred to as apprentices.
 
deepdraft1 said:
@cmakin, yep, I did see cadets wearing that uniform a few times when reporting, although most of the time, if they did report in uniform, it was in SDB's..

So you were on the old C-6 'IKE' [ex-PHILIPPINE MAIL] as cadet.. If your photo was taken in the Java Sea the ship was probably on the Singapore India Pakistan [SIP] run at the time. My first Chief Mates job was on her sister ship the PRESIDENT TRUMAN [ex-JAPAN MAIL]. Life was good on those ships. I was a 'day working' Chief Mate and because we carried 12 passengers, I got to knock off early to clean up, then go have cocktails in the passenger lounge before dinner. Even though you had to put on a uniform and schmooze with the 'talking cargo', the free booze was well worth it..

Was APL 'Super Chief' Tom McAuliffe the Chief Engineer when you were on there? I sailed with him on a couple of the APL motorships after he transferred from the EISENHOWER. He was perhaps one of the finest engineers I was ever shipmates with.. Great guy!
Here's a photo of the TRUMAN from a postcard I got while I was onboard her..

View attachment 11414
Click to expand...
Yup, that one. No trip to India, but on the West Coast US to Far East run. Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, PI, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and then back up and then back to the states. Yeah, Tom was on there. For being my first ship, he was probably the perfect CE. Great guy, too. I was never invited to the cocktail parties, though. The only time I recall visiting the passenger deck was to watch movies in the lounge, without any adult beverages. . .
 
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