Did not know that!! Thanks!!
TMA is a fun place; It’s not terribly regimented. Just follow the rules and you will be fine. If you are trying to go active duty and join the NROTC program or the SSOP (which was MMR) it will be more regimented. Typically you will do pt on M W and if you are on remedial F will also be included in your schedule. Tuesday’s you typically will do drill, and Thursdays you will have an activity with your unit. You will also have CQ (confined to quarters) to study on Sunday - Thursday from 7-10pm.
I also read something about V co. The parameters for being in this company are, 25 yrs or older, married, if you have a child, or prior service.
Sorry this is just thrown together, if you have any specific questions let me know.
See you in O week 
Alright Just got done with o-week, and found out a lot of information. To start out, TMA has changed considerably since 2008 and hurricane ike. It has brand new leadership from the top, with a retired air force colonal leading the way, and two retired army soldiers directly under him. One is a Colonal, and the other a Sargent. They have combined the NROTC and LO cadets to beef up its leadership and diciplin. It has become a much more “professional” academy since 2008 and is steadly growing.
O-week was crazy. We learned tons of aggie traditions, lots of disiplin, and were busy all day from 6:00am till 10:00pm in the hot and humid galveston weather. Everywhere we went, we marched, and learned the basics of this. We screamed our responses, and everything was “sir yes sir”, “mam yes mam” “mam aye aye mam” ect. We woke up to screaming and air horns in the morning and they changed our names to “sir, fish four class ____ sir.” We PTed in the morning, and had a book called the “charle noble” that was cramed down our brains every chance they got. It really was awesome to see us mold together as one unit and trust our “fish buddies”. They seperated all the incoming freshman in the several companies of Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Victor. We really got a chance to trust and bond with our company class mates. Our meetings stressed the importance of this “regminented” life style and how it was important for both LO and NROTC cadets. Its a way to build leadership before you get on the job, and give you that extra head start. It instills teamwork, attention to detail, and diciplin and so many other benefitual things. These are things that the regimented academy life style was designed to do in the first place, and why it is there to begin with. These are strengths that you can use no matter what your job is later on in life. They stressed that we shouldn’t listen to some of the seniors that had the pre 2008 corp values like some on this forum and rather to follow the ones who are striving to be the best they can be. The big change now is that NROTC leads the entire corp, instead of being a seperate faction inside of the entire corp of cadets. Excuse my spelling, its been a long week. This Corp of Cadets of the Texas Maritime Academy is heading the right direction and has come a long way since 2008.
Gig’em
Congratulations. When you graduate, you will have something that no one will ever be able to take away from you. Keep us updated on your progress.
Good luck.
how has it come a long way since 2008? were you around in 2008? I was. You talk about all this unity and cohesion? HA. Wont last. In the last three years they have changed the way they operate every single semester. No 2 semesters have had the same rules, same standards, same anything. Have fun trying to get used to that. Also every upperclassman besides the tools will get pissed off at you for saying howdy maam/sir to them. just a heads up.
Also its really funny that they spent enough time at o week badmouthing previous graduates that it has brainwashed you.
You arent doing it right until you throw up at pt from a hangover son. Also, you should probably start focusing on TNAV, and grammar, before spending your time on the boards.
Third Coast I “appreciate” the info but we got PT’ed for not saying howdy enough to upperclassmen last wends. I threw up during o-week, and again during corp morning pt. We have some beach pt coming up with logs and sandbags i’m sure will be fun. Got PT in the morning at 6:15 as I type. Every time I don’t say howdy, I got someone saying something to me… :(.
I’m coming over with 60 hours, and taking T-nav now. I’ve read ahead, and I’m sure my previous cal2 and dfq was a tid bit harder, but unfortunately I don’t need those classes for my new major.
Third Coast, check out the GPA charts from year to year since the change.
Does a good GPA make a good mariner? some of the biggest slackers ive met are the best boathandlers i know. You may be good at math but i imagine youll still be in there on tutoring nights for tnav, thats just how it goes. Sure they tell you they are giving you pt for this or that, they can tell you anything. thats part of the game. but hey, if you love all the BS, eat it up. Oh and I meant throwing up from raging the night before. Seriously sounds like you should be a ROTC prick though.
What TMA Corp pt are you talking about? Only NROTC and SSO cadets pt.
Thanks again. It doesn’t matter whether you or me agree with it or not, I’m just stating how its going as of right now. Its obvious where you stand, and you do seem to be the prick in this situation, not me. Again I’m just stating my observations. Maybe I should be complaining and whining about it, that is apparently what you would want.
You see, i was super in to the corps, had a good position in the program and everything until. when you realize that everything they tell you is bullshit and you get bent over by the school over and over and over again you will see what im talking about. and again, good gpa =/= good mariner. have fun throwing logs around on some shell.
Alright, thanks. I’ll start complaining more.
Good GPA’s does in no way shape or form mean a good mariner. Good GPA does mean good job opportunity though. Last Spring at SUNY, MSC came and hired 6 Cadets on the spot. They were the 6 with the highest GPA’s. What it comes down to is if you have no connections you better get yourself a good GPA, not be a social retard, ask questions and learn as much as possible and retain the information. Start getting any experience you can i.e. work on your training ship during your free time and build a connection with the crew as they will teach you the basics. Take it a step further and contact local Tug companies, Ferries, whatever and just get out on the water on weekends or during your breaks. You will learn through time that the Acadamies are only what you make of them. If you spend all of your free time putting in extra work and gaining any experience you can find, especially deck work, then you are on the right track to becoming a good mariner.
My last advice for you is to work a little harder than the hardest working person on whatever vessel you are on.
[QUOTE=Smee;55249]Good GPA’s does in no way shape or form mean a good mariner. Good GPA does mean good job opportunity though. Last Spring at SUNY, MSC came and hired 6 Cadets on the spot. They were the 6 with the highest GPA’s. What it comes down to is if you have no connections you better get yourself a good GPA, not be a social retard, ask questions and learn as much as possible and retain the information. Start getting any experience you can i.e. work on your training ship during your free time and build a connection with the crew as they will teach you the basics. Take it a step further and contact local Tug companies, Ferries, whatever and just get out on the water on weekends or during your breaks. You will learn through time that the Acadamies are only what you make of them. If you spend all of your free time putting in extra work and gaining any experience you can find, especially deck work, then you are on the right track to becoming a good mariner.
My last advice for you is to work a little harder than the hardest working person on whatever vessel you are on.[/QUOTE]
Good Advice. Thanks
when MSC comes to our school they hire just about anyone regardless of GPA. Im not sure anyone I know with a bang up job was one of the people with a high GPA.
I was actually a cadet my freshman year in 2009. I’m a junior now but when I was in I observed a lot. It really depends on the cadet (as you may know) and how much you want to put into it. How much you put into it is how much you will get out. If you are looking for leadership, why not stay in? But don’t rely on just the corps to teach you that, it is ultimately up to you to teach yourself. My advice: join clubs and start getting active in the school, then try and become a leader in what you pursue. And in response to your last statement: I agree with you, but here’s the problem: The reason it isn’t like CSTAT is because it isn’t as large, and thus, can be closely regulated. It doesn’t have the “traditions” that CSTAT has mainly because the commandant is completely against hazing in all respects. This led to less strenuous PT sessions and more focus on academics. I could see where he is coming from, but I was nonetheless disillusioned. Just do what YOU want to do, but don’t lose focus on your grades, that’s the whole reason you are in college, to get a better job, you can’t do that without the grades. This ends my rant, wish I could’ve seen this when you originally posted, I know this advice would’ve helped me in my decision.
Thanks and Gig 'Em
[QUOTE=Mikegb88;53094]See this is exactly what I was thinking the entire point of a regimental system is for at the academies. Others however feel that its a waste of time and it would be better off being a normal college life style. Any more input into this?
All quasi-semi military style academies are designed to break you down, and build you back up and slowly introduce leadership qualities in later years. The other option is the frat boy who graduated from the party cruise training ship to be your next 3M. Regardless of whether or not you like a academy graduate, I feel that the coast guard implemented a regimental system for a reason.
Should we start a petition to abolish the regimental system at all academies? I’ll start taking names.
My entire point of this post was to figure out “how militaristic or regimented an academy is”. Otherwise, please explain to me why I’m spending all this money on uniforms and other corp of cadet activities if it is not needed! If I’m paying for this Corp, I would prefer to actually have it implemented to its full potential and not run around in uniforms like a dress up queen for nothing. Did that make any sense?[/QUOTE]
Do you mean to imply that hazing equals traditions?
It is true that in the past, CSTAT has been accused of hazing, I don’t deny that. However I will not admit that CSTAT continues to do so. Stubborn as I may be on this subject, my statement is open to interpretation. There are countless traditions that Texas A&M are known for, hazing is by no means one of them in respect to the corps of cadets. Re-reading my post, I probably should’ve said “The corps in Galveston isn’t ‘traditional’ in that sense.” My statement still stands, much to my dismay.
Why are you in an academy form dude?
Hey ape, ya don’t get sea time for polishing shoes and playing dress up. You get it for training time on vessels and in simulation. It is all accounted for, don’t worry. Also, let’s hear your justification to an academy being a waste of time. It provides an education, and foundation to START a maritime career. Before you discredit the uscg and honorable colleges, it would do good to look at a curriculum for an academy instead of the common silver spoon cadet statements.