You can train newly minted thirds until the cows come home and that will only get you so far if you need Mariners in a surge sealift scenario. For that you need experienced senior officers and lots of them and that is why the money would be better spent supporting the amount of ships we can keep under the flag and participating in trade.
Keep the gates to KP open as a continuing Ed institution like GMATS was at a reduced cost, provide free training for upgrading, and if for some reason we need a buttload of green thirds in a pinch, the school is still there.
Bone spurs.
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Regarding SSO officers, one of the the tasks my son was assigned while doing his Naval Reserve commitment related to the active participation of the over 2000 participants. The Navy gave him a list of officers to verify if they were actively in the program. Wasn’t a pleasant task, he gave no quarter to the very few that didn’t pass muster. Believe me, the mids that honor their commitment are not proud of the few ones that don’t. Nor is Navy, MSC or KP.
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Oh so close … the closest yet except that I would add that DoD needs x number of unlimited licensed mariners THAT THEY CAN GET THEIR HANDS ON. This is why they will keep KP over expanding the SMAs. They need the licensed mariners that are also Navy Reservists because they need the easy means to call them up involuntarily.
And, what is wrong with that? Most if not all KP guys have unlimited license when they graduate. Call them when you need them. That’s the deal they made from the beginning. Large portion are Navy reservists. I believe it is an 8 year commitment.
Oh yeah, there were just tons of them around in 1991.
Please explain your position on that Steamer. All ears.
SeaEagle - I’ve noticed there are very few facts in many of these arguments. Not singling anyone out.
I have no problem with ideas and thoughts; these don’t even need support if they’re made in constructive ways, receptive to other modes of thought.
Vitriol without facts is just trolling though. Its an online forum; what can you do? 
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Have a read of this: https://calhoun.nps.edu/handle/10945/939
There was not exactly a long line of KP grads looking for a berth on a RRF ship.
Your links are coming up weird.
Cursed newspaper pay scam, here’s the text:
WORTH THEIR SALT SCARCITY OF TRAINED MARINERS DURING GULF WAR PROMPTS CALL-UP OF SOME OLD MEN OF THE SEA.
Sun-Sentinal Feb 6 1991
"It’s the call-up of the ancient mariners.
Uncle Sam needs a few good seamen to help ship munitions and supplies to U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf.
But merchant seamen are so scarce in the United States that mariners in their 60s, 70s and 80s are being recruited – sometimes from retirement homes – to crew the ships.
At an age when many men are spending their days relaxing, these old men of the sea have found that they are in demand for one of the most vital roles in the war.
So far, hundreds of retired and elderly mariners have returned to sea to help on the 225 merchant ships involved in Operation Desert Storm in the Gulf.
“It’s amazing,” said Bruce Carlton, director of the office of maritime labor and training of the federal Maritime Administration in Washington, D.C. “Folks have truly stepped out of the woodworks for this.”
John Swank, a public information officer with the Maritime Administration, said the activation of 70 ready reserve vessels created about 2,300 job openings.
"I’m a widower, and they needed help,’ said Tom Sepe, 61, of Dania, who agreed to go back to sea after working land-side for almost two years. “And if it gets hot and heavy, I’ll go back out again.”
The decline of the U.S. merchant fleet from 1,170 ships in 1950 to 375 ships today has led to a decrease in trained and licensed mariners.
“In a 10-year period, we’ve had a 50 percent decline in the number of people in the market,” Carlton said.
So the older mariners find they are once more in demand.
Sepe normally works as an assistant engineering instructor at the District 2 School of Marine Engineering and Navigation in Dania. But from August through November, he worked aboard the U.S.N.S. Curtiss as second assistant engineer. The merchant ship delivered airplane parts, toilet paper and other supplies to the troops in Saudi Arabia.
For Sepe, it meant a return to seafaring adventure.
He made friends with some of the 325 Marines who stayed aboard the Curtiss while it was at port and met members of Britain’s famous Desert Rats and the Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars.
At the port of Jubail, Saudi Arabia, Sepe and his shipmates were issued gas masks, protective clothing and atropine, a nerve gas antidote.
“It was an exciting adventure,” Sepe said, laughing. “An old man had to go on a ship because we don’t have the manpower.”
It was also hard work.
Sepe worked four-hour shifts in a noisy and hot engine room. Afterward, he stood watch and repaired other equipment.
“It’s kind of inspiring to see these guys do this,” Carlton said. “This is tough work. A lot of physical labor, a lot of brawn is necessary.”
The initial call-up of mariners has made the sealift successful so far, Carlton said.
“Now the job is to maintain a flow of people,” he said. “It’s time for some of the people to come home. And the union’s job is not over. They still need to find people.”
The decline of the merchant marine that led to the call-up of retirees has outraged mariners who worry about the nation’s ability to sustain a sealift.
“It’s a bloody shame that they had to call these guys in their 80s,” said Albert Begelman, national president of the American Merchant Marine Veterans. “It’s the same damn thing that happened after World War II. The merchant marine deteriorated to practically nothing, and then something happens.”
Begelman, 75, who retired as a captain in 1978, said he was tempted to return to sea to help out.
“I wish the hell I could go,” said Begelman, of Lighthouse Point. “I know that area so well, but my wife blew her stack.”
But mariners said just getting the calls and letters made them feel important.
“I felt elated, even though I couldn’t do anything,” said Tom Fitzgerald, 67, who received two requests from his union while living at Sailor Snug Harbor, a mariners retirement home in Sea Level, N.C.
“I felt – Hey! At least you’re being considered,” said Fitzgerald, who has emphysema."
It happened again after 9/11 including some who sailed with medical conditions that were either undeclared or simply overlooked. It’s been working out great every time so why mess with success…
I do remember a massive call for mariners in 1991. All the more reason to hold the grads to their promise to serve. Not sure how many were SSO in 1991, but it is now well over 2000, almost thirty years later. My chief at the time was a Mass Maritime grad that was Naval Reserves, he got a call. Didn’t go for whatever reason. Many of the state schools had ROTC students that had to commit to reserves that helped with tuition. Curious how many of them got the call and served, or not.
In 1990-91 I was working for a government agency, not MSC and was at a shipyard in Portland. MSC and the Navy were bringing ships to the shipyard to get them ready for the Gulf War. Now known as Gulf War I. I used to walk onto some of the ships coming out of mothballs just to take a look around. Some were from the Viet Nam war era and I recognized a couple,. Many were in bad shape. I quit visiting them when I was damn near ordered to report for service on an MSC vessel. The government agency I was working for went to bat for me and prevented that. During discussions I asked where were all the KP grads from years past with obligations not fulfilled. I was told they in many cases could not be contacted or had other jobs so we are looking for the low hanging fruit. I knew a few of these KP grads with obligations they had not fulfilled and they were working on drillships making a lot more money with more time off than MSC would offer. No one ordered them off their cushy high paying jobs so retired folks went back to work and took up the slack so that the US could go to war.
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I know of at least one that was still used to haul ammo after 9/11. It looked like a museum relic moored opposite the USNS SUPPLY at Weapon Station Earle.
So… who’s fault was that not enforcing the requirement??
More appropriately, who’s fault is it for not honoring the commitment they agreed to?
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Recall the name? The one they tried to shanghai me onto was a steam powered hogged POS. Living quarters were really nice but working on an ammo ship is like being in purgatory.
I agree Beer Captain. I think most served, but total shitheads that didn’t. Not just KP guys, but all that used the system. They are not welcome to my annual kick ass BBQ.
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I don’t recall the name of the ship but I did go onboard to visit the captain. I’d sailed with him on another ship. I’ve lost touch with him but I remember his name and can PM it to you if it helps. I didn’t get a tour of the accommodations on the old steam powered war horse but the captain’s office was spacious enough to contain a second desk where a rating was shuffling paperwork.
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