[QUOTE=leadline;76761]On Monday, July 30, 2012, Rear Admiral James A. Helis, USMS, was installed as the 12th Superintendent of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. His wife Jan and his two sons, Corbin, a 2011 West Point graduate, and Ian, a plebe candidate from the Kings Point Class of 2016, were by his side.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood led the commissioning ceremony. Maritime Administrator David T. Matsuda gave the opening remarks. Other distinguished guests, Academy faculty and staff, the Regiment of Midshipmen, alumni, family, and friends also attended[/QUOTE]
I’m a persona non grata - the USMMAAA doesn’t send me their money begging rag any more
[QUOTE=c.captain;76763]and there was much rejoicing…including flourishes and huzzahs by the KP Marching Band Fanfare Trumpet Squadron led by the inimitable Captain Kenneth R. Force, USMS
…yeah.[/QUOTE]
Oh my my - blow it out your arse takes on a new appearance - a multiple - wouldn’t appreciate being on the receiving end of THAT. Good thing I wasn’t there.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood led the commissioning ceremony. Maritime Administrator David T. Matsuda gave the opening remarks. Other distinguished guests, Academy faculty and staff, the Regiment of Midshipmen, alumni, family, and friends also attended
I wonder if Captain E. York Wallscheck USMS was in attendance? I pray he was…that would be so SWEET!
[QUOTE=leadline;76791]It’s ashame that a man with no maritime background was appointed as superintendent[/QUOTE]
It is just a reflection of the mentality of those who remotely manage the place.
They have no interest in maritime affairs or the US Merchant Marine other than to use the name the same way politicians use the American flag. It is the Jingo response to those who question “why?”
I would like to hear from the Board of Directors, the Alumni, the staff, faculty and midshipman the justication on their choice. I want to hear the honest response and not the PC answer.
[QUOTE=leadline;76811] I want to hear the honest response and not the PC answer.[/QUOTE]
I think that appointing a grunt instead of a professional mariner tells us all we need to know. It proves that maritime education and the future of the US Merchant Marine is not even on the MARAD radar.
As a current “Midshipman” at the Academy I have to agree that the majority of the kids here hate the regimental system and thinks it serves little purpose. It is maintained because of the USNR requirements as well as for the 10% of people who do nothing but salivate over being a “Reg cock.” Me, as well as many other people, came here in order to sail. I come from a family of hawsepipers, and am not one of the KP families that tend to run this place. The need for competent mariners to administrate and teach is extreme. Many of the teachers here have no clue of the real shipping industry and have been removed from the industry for 25+ years. The license programs at all of the academies should remain, but an overhaul is needed. We do not need Army, Navy, USCG, or the Marines to dictate the course of action here, but someone with maritime experience that knows the industry they profess. The loss of RADM Greene was the worst thing to happen to this school, and we still have not been given an explanation.
[QUOTE=leadline;76817]I guess it truly is the beginning of the end. [/QUOTE]
Hardly the beginning son…MarAd has been in decline since 1980 when Ronald Reagan became president and since handedly began to dismantle the US flagged merchant marine. The relevance of KP has only followed along to become what it is today…an empty gutted shell of its former self and now a laughing stock to us all.
What makes you think the Alumni had anything relevant or pertinent to add to or make this decision? This is straight up Political Maneuvering of the worst kind. Quite akin to the discussion this week in the appropriations committee about the M-1 Abrams Tank. The Pentagon says they don’t need it but he politicians say they do. Go figure. Who knows more about the needs of the industry than they guys on the trigger (throttle.)
[QUOTE=leadline;76845]Because the alumni association continuely puts out how they were involved in the process.[/QUOTE]
So here’s the question. Did the USMMAAA have a hand in Phillip Greene having his head lopped off and handed to him? What was it that Greene discovered that brought that about? Must have been something beyond heinous going on there in “the Compound”. Something so unbelievably hideous that if the truth came out, that Congress would not be able to politically withstand keeping the cesspool funded! How was it that they have been able to keep Greene silent ever since? Threaten his pension? The association made a squeak when Greene was cashiered but it wasn’t too loud or last very long. Pretty soon nobody spoke of Greene again. He was buried!
KP is run by a vast entrenched mafia with tentacles running all through and between the alumni association, the Administration and MarAd with KP grads in positions of power throughout. I have always held that Wallischeck (KP’83) was the puppet master but I wonder now if he was just the consiglieri to “la Famiglia”. Dig deep and follow the money and you will find out who “the Don” is! That they would kill one of their own as they did with Greene should be no surprise since anybody who is not with the Family is against the Family and must be liquidated. Look at what happened to Sal Tessio in the Godfather…taken for a one way ride out to the Meadowlands and a bullet in the back of the head!
Admiral Greene…if you read this and are a man of honor, tell la Famiglia to GO FUCK THEMSELVES and do what your conscience demands you do…SPEAK! Tell us what has been going on there over the past 20 years that the American citizen and taxpayers need to know! No matter what happens after that you will die knowing you did the RIGHT THING!
