https://gcaptain.com/watch-kings-points-new-u-s-merchant-marine-ad-campaign/
I’ll dive in first. MARAD spent how much on this? Why not produce a “ra-ra” This is the US Merchant Marine video? Are they supporting the whole industry or just the chosen few who attend USMMA?
“The campaign comes at a time when US policymakers are increasingly concerned …”
What a sick joke. The only thing that bunch of cesspool dwellers are concerned about it how big the next campaign contribution check will be.
If we are to judge them by performance, the condition of the US mariner and the US merchant marine is so far off their radar it may as well be submerged in the ocean of some yet to be discovered planet.
I enjoyed it but only those already interested in the maritime industry will sit through a 4 & half minute infomercial. I can’t imagine any of my family or non maritime friends waiting until the end before moving on to their next click.
IMO, if they wanted a video that would entice voters to tell their representatives to support the merchant marines they should have kept it short, simple & with a memorable phrase. They should have flashed a bunch of small, fast clips of mariners doing stuff that involved military cargo & made a statement about how the military doesn’t move without US Merchant Mariners. They should have kept it under 90 seconds & ended with the statement like, “If you want to protect the nation and supply our military service personnel then support the United States Merchant Marines”.
Call me cynical and skeptical but follow the money spent on that self serving infomercial.
There’s nothing wrong with tooting your own horn but you should try to play in a tune that people won’t mind hearing. Overall I think it is good when the maritime industry is promoted because our lack of PR & marketing was a major cause of our industry’s decline. The latest Kings Point video is a step in the right direction but the delivery needs some improvements to appeal to a broader audience IMO.
I have no clue what message MarAd is hoping to send in this puff piece other that KP is somehow the foundation for whatever merchant fleet we still have and that its graduates are the only persons to man a surge sealift (which obviously is not true). While I was one of the KP grads who went to man the RRF ships activated in 1990 for Desert Shield, my having been a graduate meant absolutely nothing to my going. I could just as easily been from any other school or a hawsepiper. I was not mobilized through my MMR commission but was simply hired based on my credentials. I truly wonder in terms of percentages of mariners who served on RRF ships how many were KP? maybe 5%? How many today manning commercial deepsea ships are KP grads? again, maybe 5%? certainly no more than 10%! hardly what anyone can call a foundation or a backbone.
I am through calling for KP to be closed. I think the place is a joke and a waste but I know it is not going to be shuttered so just fuck that kiddie playschool. I only wished our esteemed Maritime Administrator would do his job and promulgate policy that might foster having a healthy merchant marine and work with Congress to enact meaningful legislation to start building a larger more modern fleet of ships however all I see “The Buzz” doing there in Washingtoon is collecting a nice paycheck in addition to his military retirement…nice work if you can get it and he certainly has. Nothing more than a hapless, useless, parasite on the taxpayer…but what do you expect these days with this President? Talk about being HAPLESS, USELESS AND A PARASITE!
so go on all you Drumpf sycophants…tell me in any meaningful way how his Grandiose Bloated Majesty has in any way done anything to make our once great merchant marine any better or stronger now as we near 2 years of his rule? Make American Great Again was his slogan…yeah right! Some greatness!
This seems a lot less sinister than at first blush. Unless I’m misreading the propaganda they send me, this video was produced by/ paid for by the Alumni. That organization is funded by donations not by MARAD.
At other times in other threads some have bemoaned the lack of visibility of the US merchant marine and I have no reason to doubt the stated “goal” of the AAF stated below which seems aligned with raising general awareness.
It’s hardly unusual for a specific schools alumni to toot their own horn especially at a 75th anniversary.
While it may be true some people may find it difficult to make it through a 4.5 minute video, I think that speaks volumes about the viewer more than the video.
A single video does not a campaign make. If MARAD doesn’t think it’s worth it to make a generic pro merchant marine infomercial, print ads, radio PSA type spots and place them in enough markets then maybe all the other maritime schools alumni could chip in and pool their money to launch and sustain such a campaign for a year to spread the word.
However, the time for that approach has probably long passed by. The state of our industry and the state of the general public’s ability to give a shit is probably such that it would all be sending good money after bad.
As to the @c.captain stats, have no idea but one stat they had on the AAF site is that KP grads make up 80% of the USN Strategiac Sealift Officer Program. It could be during some future conflict many of those guys might be called up for active duty while the “surge” merchant seamen would come from wherever. So it would appear KP grads would be filling some roll in a surge sealift overall effort.
But let’s face it videos, RRF manning, Jones act repeal are all distractions from what MARAD should be doing - proposing and advocating for a unified all encompassing maritime policy aimed at stopping the decline and planning for a gradual but steady restoration of the US flag fleet (jones act eligible and not).
The chances of that with the present state of the federal government is not very likely though is it.
Yesterday, the USMMA Alumni Association and Foundation (AAF) released a video to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) and memorialize the Midshipmen who have died in service to the nation.
Over the course of the summer, the AAF executed a multi-faceted campaign to mark USMMA’s decades of service and the foundational role it plays in our nation’s security and economic well-being.
The goal of the video—and the overall campaign—is to help connect the dots for citizens who might not fully understand the role our graduates play in defending the nation and supporting the economy.
I’m all for it… I’m betting the Alumni Association paid most of the bill and we (the Merchant Marine) need all the press we can get.
I just wish they used pictures of American ships rather than pulling stock photos of FOC ships: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/tanker-at-sunrise-high-res-stock-photography/85540267
I don’t know about the still photography but quite a bit of the footage looks like it was shot on the St. Louis Express which is US flag. I recognized the Captain who is alumni.
what do you mean “press”? who is this being seen and reported by the Press? The KP Alumni Association is not the press. They publish nothing except a useless rag which is rah, rah KP and KP grads which is written by and for KP grads. I used to get it but suddenly it stopped coming (thankfully!) I never read it and immediately tossed it in the the recycling bin with all the other unsolicited junk mail.
as an aside, I know that they know who I am. I contacted the Academy waterfront department not long after I acquired the DAUNTLESS (because they have the sistership there) and of course they put two and two together to discover who c.captain is when he isn’t firing broadsides at that kiddie preschool. when they further discovered the man who decries them all so vociferously happens to be one of them placed me in the ranks of being a great traitor. they literally believe any grad will be a mindless sycophant send a never ending supply of checks to his old alma mater without thought that the money is going into another bottomless pit.
btw, I wonder if Capt. Kenneth R. Force USMS is in a home yet? Certainly he can’t “still” be there!
The pasted those ads all over the Washigton DC subway and are getting washington rags to write about it plus the maritime press.
My guess is that the ads and press are likely targeted at congressman and such to raise awareness of KP within the beltway.
Well I still think we should double their funding!
fine but only after the MSP program funding is doubled first.
Deal!
ok, just get on the phone to Admiral Buzzbie first thing Monday and if he isn’t in to take your call, I am just certain he will call you right back…
yeah right…sure he will
this is the kind of excessive wasteful spending that makes me simply say FUCK THE WHOLE GODDAMNED MILITARY
we don’t need to be spending billions upon more billions to build new boomers when the OHIO class can be kept sailing for decades longer…they aren’t that old for Christ’s sake!
We do if their CEO expects to maintain her standard of living:
https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2017/03/24/general-dynamics-ceo-phebe-novakovic-sees-bump-in.html
And maintain the level of political bribery that keeps the wheels greased:
A Google search of GD’s political wing pretty much explains why we are building shit we don’t need as fast as we are scrapping shit that we didn’t need and still work (or not) as well as when they were delivered.
Some figures from a couple years ago:
After 20 years over 40% of KP grads who started sailing are still active deep sea. All other state schools are in the same place within a few percentage points. GLM was at 66%. Each of the state schools and KP make up about 12% each of active deep sea. KP was the highest of the group.
