[QUOTE=z-drive;103919]Yeah…sign him on as master only to find out its a KP training ship…maybe the worst nightmare ever?[/QUOTE]
I’d pay to see that; and that is no shit.
Where IS that rascal, anyway? Packing a seabag?
Ok kids all jocularity aside;
I’m watching NBC and I’ve read the same thing elsewhere- 900,000 veterans waiting for disability benefits; some as long as THREE YEARS. VA secretary is Eric Shinseki, who is a good guy who got shitcanned at the beginning of the Iraq war because he dared to say that it would take more troops than estimated to win the war, and that it would cost more in lives…so I don’t lay all the blame at his feet. That blame covers a broad and wide swath.
Anyhoo-
We don’t need to shell out taxpayer dollars (yours and mine) for a 60 year old hulk just so we can relive the “good old days.” We need to improve things today for everyone. We need to work together to improve the state of today’s Merchant Marine, such as it is, today. Reminiscing about the “good old days” won’t do a damn thing for any of us. And that’s that.
I bought a fucking key fob and a towel from the SSUS twenty odd years ago during a sheriffs auction and if those fuckers couldn’t raise enough give-a-shit in those decades to get this thing off the ground by now then it ain’t gonna happen!
[QUOTE=catherder;103922]Where IS that rascal, anyway? Packing a seabag?[/QUOTE]
selecting the targets for my next airstrike…
INCOMING!
[QUOTE=catherder;103925]Ok kids all jocularity aside;
I’m watching NBC and I’ve read the same thing elsewhere- 900,000 veterans waiting for disability benefits; some as long as THREE YEARS. VA secretary is Eric Shinseki, who is a good guy who got shitcanned at the beginning of the Iraq war because he dared to say that it would take more troops than estimated to win the war, and that it would cost more in lives…so I don’t lay all the blame at his feet. That blame covers a broad and wide swath.
Anyhoo-
We don’t need to shell out taxpayer dollars (yours and mine) for a 60 year old hulk just so we can relive the “good old days.” We need to improve things today for everyone. We need to work together to improve the state of today’s Merchant Marine, such as it is, today. Reminiscing about the “good old days” won’t do a damn thing for any of us. And that’s that.
I bought a fucking key fob and a towel from the SSUS twenty odd years ago during a sheriffs auction and if those fuckers couldn’t raise enough give-a-shit in those decades to get this thing off the ground by now then it ain’t gonna happen![/QUOTE]
PERFECT ~
Thank you ~
[QUOTE=c.captain;103932]selecting the targets for my next airstrike…
INCOMING![/QUOTE]
Let us aim for Wiley Hall - Gar-Un-tee, ain’t no Merchant Seamen in that joint.
Kings Point, with the SS [I]United Stares[/I], has got to go, with deep respect to the bravery of KP graduates during WWII. our Fathers. Times have moved on, there is no need for a Federal Academy dedicated to a need long gone, Brown Water and Off Shore does not cut it. To keep in perpetulance what once was an honorable a U. S. Merchant Marine Academy is at best a loving undertaking, at worse, an abomination.
Please, let the once Giant, SS [I]United States[/I], have a peaceful death. We all die.
[QUOTE=Sweat-n-Grease;103941]Please, let the once Giant, SS [I]United States[/I], have a peaceful death. We all die.[/QUOTE]
indeed good sir…we all must but that doesn’t mean we should worry about it!
I had a Kings Point cadet tell me her father was buying her a Porsche for graduation because her college didn’t cost him a dime. Need I say more. To quote a Mark Knopfler song “Everybody Pays To Play” or at least should. Close KP and reduce the other federal schools to the needs of our military today. We have no money for The Big U or anything else. Cut all federal employees pay 30% making more than 130 k a year. Most of them are doing nothing for it anyway as our congress shows us by shining example.
[QUOTE=c.captain;103950]indeed good sir…we all must but that doesn’t mean we should worry about it![/QUOTE]
Hell no, do not fret, what will be will be. All of us are closer to the edge than yesterday but yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come.
[QUOTE=Too bad steam is gone;103957]I had a Kings Point cadet tell me her father was buying her a Porsche for graduation because her college didn’t cost him a dime. Need I say more. To quote a Mark Knopfler song “Everybody Pays To Play” or at least should. Close KP and reduce the other federal schools to the needs of our military today. We have no money for The Big U or anything else. Cut all federal employees pay 30% making more than 130 k a year. Most of them are doing nothing for it anyway as our congress shows us by shining example.[/QUOTE]
I have my (well publicized) beefs with KP grads and I thank you for this. Also, want to mention the good KP eggs I have met as well, including my present (and soon to be ex) boss, and several others who have been good friends and colleagues. There are some terrific folks who come out of this institution.
That said, I agree that it’s time to either close or modify the federal academies such that dropping out or moving into a non-maritime profession results in a hefty penalty.
I would try and save the stacks and wheelhouse to incorporate into a maritime park or museum. Just too much ship that has wasted away for too long to justify keeping intact. I wish I could have sailed on this once magnificent ship - sad to see how she looks now.
[QUOTE=salt’n steel;104268]I would try and save the stacks and wheelhouse to incorporate into a maritime park or museum. Just too much ship that has wasted away for too long to justify keeping intact. I wish I could have sailed on this once magnificent ship - sad to see how she looks now.[/QUOTE]
Of course. There’s a Maritime Museum right there in Philly, and they should be able to incorporate a couple artifacts but keep in mind that most of the “good stuff” that is reasonable size for a museum have been stripped bare- and that includes the wheelhouse.
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I have almost same picture mounted in my den. Cruiseships just don’t compare. Shame to see her go but it’s nothing but a shell anyway.