[QUOTE=deepdraft;72986]…we’ll let you be the judge…[/QUOTE]
yeee…
I’ll be kind Monty and just say I’ll take door #3
[QUOTE=Steamer;72829]If you want to work that analogy a bit further, you could say that KP shares a lot of the management values of Lehman Brothers and Penn State.
The only difference between KP and much of corporate America is that the leaders don’t walk away from the wreck with a seabag full of swag and no one has admitted any “special” relationship with the “coach.”.[/QUOTE]
First Steamer I wouldn’t be too quick to say that the ex leaders of the USMMA didn’t walk away with a very large sack of swag in the way of kickbacks from the endless series of contractors hired to operate and “improve” the school. Financial oversight at the academy was one of the biggest failings of the KP Administration in the GAO report. I would like to know where every penny went and who got it? AUDIT THEM TILL THEIR ASSHOLES BLEED AND THEN THROW PEOPLE IN PRISON INCLUDING STEWART!
Second, let us not forget Gotay, Mund and all the special little keedeties who attended the “informal” get togethers at the commander’s government furnished house! (I wonder if it has a swimming pool or worse…a hot tub!)
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[QUOTE=c.captain;72916]… KP is abysmal and that internally the students are saying to themselves two years at best before the end inevitably comes.
Things must be simply deplorable beyond words there.[/QUOTE]
There is no such thing as inevitable. The handwriting has been quite legibly written for some time. However the powers that be (Matsuda, ET AL) are not even aware of what an ‘action plan’ should include.
How can an ‘Alumni’ or Parent’s organization even begin to understand what is needed when they both are not willing to even admit/ agree what the Academy’s core mission is or should be? There is still a huge number of people who are unwilling to admit that the industry which KP was founded to support has radically and permanently changed. As Tanker Captain pointed out on the other thread, there are a host of necessary requisite skills, classes, endorsements and information that is being overlooked (repetitively) at KP. If this isn’t a prime example of a missing core mission (or even the knowledge that it is missing in the first place) then God help KP, MARAD and our shipping industry on the whole. Do you like Kimche?
For proof of KP lack of mission, total and complete misunderstanding of current industry needs, and the cost of doing business one needs to look no further than the closing of GMATS. Educating the existing sailors (wherever they come from, whatever the industry) and KNOWING that these sailors need continuing ED is such a simple concept. Too bad that MARAD is so locked up in the flood of ‘save my job’ mentality, they can’t even see the rush coming down river about to wash everything away.
Yet the Congress just bent over yet again to the demands of the DoT and worse…“the alumni association”! $86M in fy2012 and how many millions more will it be in 2013?
Do you like Kimche?
No, I not particularly fond of it but I like Korea alot…especially Koje Island and Ulsan where all those new drillships are being built which mean lots and lots of big $$$ jobs! If I have to eat Kimche for that, then, mmmm…bulgogi!
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Sorry to quote myself but GOOD GOD!..in an amazing turn of events, sources inform me that Wallischeck is OUT as the KP chief of staff as of this past Friday! WOW…this one has me totally floored! It is just possible that there is more to Col. Helis afterall! Not withstanding anything else, this action alone shows that the same old shit that has been swirling around in that Great Neck, NY toiletbowl for at least the last two decades might actually be getting flushed away finally!..If the place won’t be closed, maybe it CAN be sanitized. I suddenly am filled with hope and that is NOT natural for me to feel!
Frogmarching Wallischeck out the gate could not make for a better start! I have often wondered if Phillip Greene was too much of a nice guy and by allowing the Chief of Staff to stay in place might then well have led to his being cashiered like he was. If Wallischeck saw his control of the many little feifdoms that are embedded in KP threatened, I can see him exerting great pressure behind the scenes to undermine the Admiral’s actions regardless of the merit of Greene’s intentions. Never think for a minute that a person’s self interest will even trump the desire to act for the common good, especially when so much personal power and possibly “other” benefits are at risk of being lost. How much did Wallischeck know about the Mund/Gotainy tawdry affair? How involved was he misappropriation of money and the lax fiscal oversight rampant at KP? What about all that money which went to those contracts which still cannot be fully accounted for today? Where did it all go? He was Chief of Staff the whole time during the Stewart era of malfeasance so sat in the cat bird seat throughout the whole terrible soap opera drama.
Next can be Captain Kenneth R. Force USMS! They can drive him with diapers and all in his golf cart right to the old bandsmen’s home. I pity the other poor inmates who would have to live with
him there however.
Now, this is getting to be INTERESTING! Who has some popcorn for me?
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[QUOTE=rob;72639]Ok, I’m just going to jump in here to refocus things.
The new Superintendent is a 30 year Army officer, let’s just accept that fact and move on. Let’s even try to stay positive and assume that a person of his caliber will end up being a significant asset for Kings Point.
Here’s the question I’ll propose you all:
If you had 10 minutes with the new Supe, what would you tell him so that he might be better prepared to take on his new role?[/QUOTE]
Good rob, here’s mine:
(1) Make a clean sweep of Wiley Hall, no quarter given.
(2) Eliminate the regimental system
(3) Open up Kings Point to all active US Merchant Mariners, Licensed and Unlicensed, for training and upgrading.
(4) Call for a meeting with the top Executives in all the Maritime and Maritime related industries. Ask what they need, what their opinions are concerning maintaining Kings Point as a Service Academy, would a change of direction be beneficial to the Maritime Industry as a whole.
(5) Investigate the Kings Point Alumni Association for past malfeasance.
This is something he has no control over sering as how it is required by CFR.
I also don’t think the regimental system is worthless. It may not be as beneficial as it’s proponents seem to think but especially for the 18 year old it has a purpose. There should be a rule, though, to allow people over a certain age or with prior military service to be exempted from the regiment completely.
[QUOTE=Capt. Phoenix;73021]This is something he has no control over sering as how it is required by CFR.
I also don’t think the regimental system is worthless. It may not be as beneficial as it’s proponents seem to think but especially for the 18 year old it has a purpose. There should be a rule, though, to allow people over a certain age or with prior military service to be exempted from the regiment completely.[/QUOTE]
I understand your post …Captain … Much serious thought is needed … We need to post our opinions. Things at KP has to change but how - and more importantly, will they?
The academies, KP especially, should serve the national interest first, the maritime industry in general, mariners as a whole, and their students. Since the academies are federally funded with our tax dollars, they should serve a national purpose and advance national polices and objectives. Unfortunately, the US does not appear to have a national maritime policy, nor are the academies being utilized to execute national policy and achieve national objectives.
At a national level the academies are being funded primarily out of habit and pork barrel politics. They are like so many other government programs that no longer have their intended purpose, may not even be needed anymore, but continue to receive funding. Things do not seem to be much different at the state level.
It appears that these days the primary purpose of the academies is self-preservation, especially the preservation of funding to continue to pay salaries at the academies. Once upon a time, the academies were funded to provide ships officers for national sealift capacity. These days the Department of Defense prefers to use cheaper foreign flag ships crewed by cheap foreign labor. Corporate America has also outsourced its shipping requirements. And the Jones Act is under constant attack.
Why do six states run maritime academies? Say what they may, there is only one real reason: Because they get FREE federal money to do so. Without federal funding, the state academies would be converted to ordinary state colleges overnight. The state academies do not do much to serve state taxpayers, at least not in relation to their high cost and the small number of cadets who are prepared for “high paying” seagoing jobs (which usually have too many applicants chasing too few jobs). None of the state academies makes any serious effort to serve existing mariners. If a mariner needs to take a USCG required STCW class, where does he have to go? Either a community college or a private for profit school.
The US should have clear national maritime policies — given the ever growing importance of waterborne foreign and domestic commerce, and the academies should be used in furtherance of those polices. The academies should serve the needs of taxpayers, including existing mariners, or state and federal funding should be eliminated.
Personally, I think it is a no brainer that the US should have a clear national maritime policy to grow a large modern US shipping industry that can be significant business sector in our national economy. I’m sure that we have all have a lot of ideas about why and how to do that.
[QUOTE=tugsailor;73041]
Why do six states run maritime academies? Say what they may, there is only one real reason: Because they get FREE federal money to do so. Without federal funding, the state academies would be converted to ordinary state colleges overnight.[/QUOTE]
This is nonsense Sir…the only Federal funding the State Maritime Academies get are MarAd owned schoolships which are considered as defense assets and I believe that they are listed as part of the NDRF.
None of the state academies makes any serious effort to serve existing mariners
this is a completely and utterly baseless claim…but pray elaborate how you believe this to be true?
[QUOTE=Capt. Phoenix;73021]This is something he has no control over sering as how it is required by CFR.[/QUOTE]
New regulations or changes to existing regs are enacted all the time and in many cases can made without public comment.
KP is 100% federally funded (students don’t even pay any tuition).
All states and most colleges get lots of federal grants and funding from the Department of Education. Many other agencies provide federal funding to colleges. Many colleges also have government contracts to do research and to of provide other services to government. All non-profit colleges are subsidized by federal and state tax deductions for donors on the gifts that they receive. (Half of those donations would dry up overnight without the tax deductions). Most colleges would fold quickly if their students could not get Federal grants and federal student loans in order to pay their tuition. (Student loan debt in the US recently exceeded total US credit card debt). The right to a free K–12 public education (even for the illegal aliens) is probably the purist form of socialism in the US, but all the federal support given to colleges does not leave them too far behind. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, it just is what it is.
MARAD funding is a significant portion of the federal funding for the state maritime academies, but they receive lots of other federal funding in one form or another. MARAD does own the school ships and it pays to maintain and run them. Without that very significant source of federal funding, very few, if any, of the state maritime academies would be able to afford a school ship. At least one of the schools really needs the ship as a dorm. The school ships and the funds that come with them are costly for federal taxpayers, and a very significant source of funding to at least some of the academies.
Name one state maritime academy that actually offers a full range of frequently scheduled continuing education classes for mariners? Is there any academy with even half the course offerings of MPT, Crawford’s, PMI, MITAGS, Calhoun, Fletcher, Delgado, or Clatstop? How many people do you know that have taken courses at those schools? Now how many do you know that have taken classes at the academies? Most of the academies have some continuing education and claim that they offer continuing ed classes for mariners, but the classes are very poorly advertised, infrequently scheduled, and often cancelled for lack of enrollment. Try scheduling some classes at the academies. Find out for yourself how often they’ll say sorry and refer you to the schools that actually serve mariners.
The academies should play an important role in continuing education for existing mariners, and other tasks like safety research and development. We mariners are willing to pay taxes to support the academies to do that. By why should we continue to support funding for the academies, if all they are interested in doing is flooding the maritime job market with more kids with new licenses?
I suspect that every state that has a maritime academy (except maybe Texas) also has a real shortage of jobs in general, and maritime jobs in particular. Massachusetts has a maritime academy with a cadet program, but not much continuing education for mariners (other than the manned model course). Mass has a lot of licensed mariners (half as many as Louisiana), but very few maritime jobs. Louisiana does not have a maritime academy, but it has many more jobs that mariners and a community college system that provides very affordable training for mariners.
True. But that list was supposed to be what the new superintendent should do at KP not changes in usc.
[QUOTE=tugsailor;73054]KP is 100% federally funded (students don’t even pay any tuition).
[B]MARAD funding is a significant portion of the federal funding for the state maritime academies, but they receive lots of other federal funding in one form or another[/B]. MARAD does own the school ships and it pays to maintain and run them. Without that very significant source of federal funding, very few, if any, of the state maritime academies would be able to afford a school ship. At least one of the schools really needs the ship as a dorm. The school ships and the funds that come with them are costly for federal taxpayers, and a very significant source of funding to at least some of the academies.[/QUOTE]
I know KP is a 100% federally funded program which is exactly why I have been shitting all over it here on gCaptain for more than a year. What I am questioning is your claim that the state schools get Federal funds other than the schoolships because they don’t. First you say they get MarAd funds (which they don’t) BUT then you say they get funding “in one form or another” yet you provide no proof of that. Any direct student aid such as from the Naval Reserve DOES NOT COUNT! The schoolships are aleady mentioned by me previously and I am on record as saying that having so many is a futher waste of the taxpayer’s money.
Let’s just focus on the USMMA here and leave misconceptions about the state schools to another thread…please?
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[QUOTE=c.captain;72942]have to toss in this juicy one from the Service Academies forum [/b] this type of drivel is rampant throughout there… at least here on gCaptain, we discuss real matters maritime and not “the booz cruise”…not that there’s anything wrong with booz.[/QUOTE]
WTF is a “DS”?
[QUOTE=jdcavo;73073]WTF is a “DS”?[/QUOTE]
That is from the other blog.
the families use the acronym DS as Dear Son, or Dear Student.
[QUOTE=cappy208;73075]That is from the other blog.
the families use the acronym DS as Dear Son, or Dear Student.[/QUOTE]
Doesn’t that just say EVERYTHING that needs to be said?
…ralph!
I’m not an expert on academy budgets and funding sources, and I have better things to do with my time than run off to conduct audits at six state academies.
My understanding is that MARAD provides the funds to “operate” the ships. At least that is what I was told by a professor at one of the state academies. I’m not sure what the term “operate” includes, but it is easy to imagine things like: shipyard haulouts and repair services, cleaning, painting, spare parts, insurance, lube, fuel, gear replacement, sheets and blankets, meals, wharfage, etc., and perhaps even the cost of salaries and benefits for the captain and crew. I assume that the professor knows more about it than we do, and I’ll take his word for it.
Most colleges receive various grants from the Department of Education, and various other federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Institute for Health, etc.,etc. For example: U Dub is one of the largest recipients of NIH funding (and they deserve every penny). College professors are usually chasing grant money to fund their research; these grants often pay for teaching assistants, research assistants, and other expenses like university overhead. I assume that the state academies and professors are also receiving such grants; they ought to be — everyone else in academia is.
Some of us also have the privilege of paying state taxes to support state academies. That’s fine, as long as the state academy is serving the needs of people in general, not just cranking out more kinds with new licenses into an already overcrowded job market.
I don’t have a problem with increasing federal funding for KP, as long as it is spent reasonably well, and KP serves the nation, the maritime industry, and mariners in generally. However, if its just going to be a free school cranking out kids with new licenses to flood an already overcrowded job market and suppress wages for existing mariners, I’m not in favor of that.
[QUOTE=tugsailor;73110]KP serves the nation, the maritime industry, and mariners in generally. [/QUOTE]
And precisely how or in what way is KP doing that? As a mariner and a taxpayer I don’t feel particularly well served … as a matter of fact I think I have been ripped off. I doubt that the rest of the nation even knows the place exists or they would be up in arms at the waste and fraud.
We are pretty close to being on the same page. I don’t feel that KP serves existing mariners very well either. I think in your effort to quickly scan all of the latest postings on gcaptain you missed the AS LONG AS in my comment “. . . as long as it is spent reasonably well, and KP serves the nation, the maritime industry, and mariners in generally.”