Any activations for Ukraine yet?

Has anyone heard about the MARAD ships in the RRF being called up to active status?

Lot’s of rumors and hot news about Ukraine.

A sudden rush of job calls for grey hulls at union halls might be a real deal warning bell.

I know someone privy to some information… It’s looking like Russia might be invading mid week. The executive office is attempting to halt the plans but we shall see.

I guess it’s easier than raising interest rates.

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Out of an idle curiosity (idle because I don’t see any Ukraine/Russia events rising to this level), I just logged into the Mariner Outreach System (MOS) on the MARAD website. It’s that voluntary program you can check the box on your MMD application CG719-B to opt into where MARAD will contact you if they run short of mariners in times of war, armed conflict, or national emergency.

Besides the website looking like it hasn’t been updated since it was created, what I found was all of my information was either missing or incorrect. The site says:

information is based on data from the USCG Merchant Mariner Licensing and Documentation database as of 7/10/2019.

Despite this and the fact that I last checked the box on my application in 2017, none of my contact info reflected that. Further, under tabs for MMD, License, STCW and Sea Service history, it listed “No information exists on record”, even though I’ve held a valid officers license and STCW continuously since 2006.

All that to say that if a real war ever broke out and MARAD needed to call up mariners, if they rely on info in the MOS they likely won’t be able to get ahold of them, and they won’t know who to call for what positions in the first place.

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Yeah, I had a friend that worked in the next cubicle over from the MOS guy. Before I mentioned that same thing to him it hadn’t been updated since 05. I’m pretty sure they’d update it instantly if they actually needed mariners, but with no real need there’s no incentive to do so yet.