According to the TWIC the minimum age to get a TWIC is 18 yrs old but USCG states the minimum age to get a MMC is 16 yrs old with parents consent. Has anyone heard of 16 or 17 yr olds getting a MMC since it’s been called the MMC? I recall a few people who said they received Z-Cards at 16 but that was 25+ yrs ago before TWIC.
I’ve seen and talked to plenty of 16-18 year-olds who had “launch permits”, which I think are a very limited form of MMC. I doubt those kids needed TWIC cards.
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The statutes were written by Congress 100 years ago, back when most 16 year olds were men with jobs and learning a trade.
Nowadays, everyone is a child until 18, few young people want to learn a trade, and many remain children without a job until much older.
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In the fall I’m going to help a godson get his twic & mmc. But I have another guy in the pipeline, 16 1/2 yrs old, who I would like to do the same when he gets 18. But I figured since I was going to an occupational health clinic for the physical & drug screen, twic office, form filling out, etc., I might as well do both at one time? The 18 yr old in the fall isn’t going to college & we figured we’d get him a good job before he goes to jail, or worse, gets a girl pregnant & falls into the young, dumb poverty trap. The 16 -1/2 yr old will be going to college but a summer mariner job might pay more than flipping burgers would all year?
We had a 17yo OS last spring. Turned 18 on the boat, worked hard, learned, took his AB course…waiting on issuance now.
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That’s refreshing to hear. With our national mariner shortage & aging working force, it would be cool if there was a program that waived initial application fees for MMC’s & TWIC’s for recent high school grads? Trick young people into the trade & hopefully trap them with higher wages & the luxury of having 4-6 months a year off.
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That’s our job when we get a kid on board. I have a 25 year old who’d never been on a boat 3 weeks ago. We have to get the good ones off their phones and trained up. If we just sit there and poke with the pointy stick like some former members used to, we’ll never get a relief.
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“Always wave to kids at the breakwall and the Soo…they are your relief in 20 years.”
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