I recently have decided to finish out my contract with the Navy and go civilian side whether it be for a company such as hornbeck or MSC to pursue a career instead of with the military. as a boatswains mate I will stay Deck side and my experience is only 2 Deployments and 4 years on a ship and then transferred to a small boat unit (Rivron). Im starting classes in July at the Mid Atlantic Maritime Academy and just wanted to know where I should begin when it comes to finding a job and being able to support my family once I’m out of the navy, i do have concerns about the risk of getting out of the navy but i see myself making a lot more money on the civilian side. if anyone has any helpful information to get me started and lead me in the right path that would be great.
[QUOTE=DeckApe1208;184237]I recently have decided to finish out my contract with the Navy and go civilian side whether it be for a company such as hornbeck or MSC to pursue a career instead of with the military. as a boatswains mate I will stay Deck side and my experience is only 2 Deployments and 4 years on a ship and then transferred to a small boat unit (Rivron). Im starting classes in July at the Mid Atlantic Maritime Academy and just wanted to know where I should begin when it comes to finding a job and being able to support my family once I’m out of the navy, i do have concerns about the risk of getting out of the navy but i see myself making a lot more money on the civilian side. if anyone has any helpful information to get me started and lead me in the right path that would be great.[/QUOTE]
I would be concerned as well. Zero income is less than a little bit, and there are a large amount of mariners, experienced licensed mariners sitting at home after losing their jobs. Many mariners out there are knocking on doors just praying on getting lucky. Unfortunately, that is the reality of the industry at this point in time; there is no special advice on what perfect timing is or what luck looks like.
Don’t get out. Msc is not hiring at all and I went looking for tug jobs down in Pasadena tx only to have them say nothing is open. Even going back to offshore catering food service not hiring. In fact Sodexo closed the Houston office completely down lights out. This is what you are walking into.
Check yer messages/notifications
Don’t do it man! Terrible timing. For a single man, you could gamble but with a family I definitely would not.
[QUOTE=Slick Cam;184282]Don’t do it man! Terrible timing. For a single man, you could gamble but with a family I definitely would not.[/QUOTE]
2 years from now, that’s how long I have left on my contract
[QUOTE=Menizzi;184278]Don’t get out. Msc is not hiring at all and I went looking for tug jobs down in Pasadena tx only to have them say nothing is open. Even going back to offshore catering food service not hiring. In fact Sodexo closed the Houston office completely down lights out. This is what you are walking into.[/QUOTE]
Even though I still have two years in my contract?
I second the opinion that if possible you should stay in for another 2-4 years until things pick up. Oil is still looking pretty grim and there are a lot of mariners with more experience sitting on the beach looking for work. Even if you don’t want to be in you’ll have a job and a place for the family to live.
I don’t like having to dissuade an aspirant merchant mariner but Tugboater203’s assessment is very sound. This is a great industry and I hope that anyone who wants to gets the opportunity to join it, but timing is everything. There are plenty of good mariners on the beach who can fill any openings that might occur in sectors that are still busy. There will be a time for newcomers to join but that may still be a couple years away.
While all of the above is true you should ABSOLUTELY start getting your credentials NOW. Get your license and sail on it in the Navy and upgrade as much as possible, then when things pick back up you’ll be even more marketable.
Reading the thread I will comment with other thoughts, since you obviously want to get out of the gray ships and board the green fleet. (comparatively)
Most (if not all) training you receive from the navy will NOT be accepted by Uncle Sams Confused Group. The absolute largest portion of your problem will be documenting seatime.
Just DD214’s won’t cut it, neither will your word. According the USCG officialdom sea service letters [B][I][U]must[/U][/I][/B] be signed by the officer who actually SAW (observed) you doing the sea service. And this must be on each vessel. Letters from shoreside command, or other Non underway officers does not count. Most seaman I know didn’t bother to keep this kind of records when they started as a young buck. It is too bad the USCG is so lame about it.
Regarding training, the USCG only accepts USCG appproved training. And, as you probably know interservice rivalry pretty much lets you know how many navy training courses are USCG approved.
So accept that you will have to start over on training, but dig up all the accredited seatime you can. It will make your life progress faster with more seatime.
This has been seen to be the largest sticking point in sea service accumulation to hasten entry into the Merchant side of life.
[QUOTE=cappy208;184363]Reading the thread I will comment with other thoughts, since you obviously want to get out of the gray ships and board the green fleet. (comparatively)
Most (if not all) training you receive from the navy will NOT be accepted by Uncle Sams Confused Group. The absolute largest portion of your problem will be documenting seatime.
Just DD214’s won’t cut it, neither will your word. According the USCG officialdom sea service letters [B][I][U]must[/U][/I][/B] be signed by the officer who actually SAW (observed) you doing the sea service. And this must be on each vessel. Letters from shoreside command, or other Non underway officers does not count. Most seaman I know didn’t bother to keep this kind of records when they started as a young buck. It is too bad the USCG is so lame about it.
Regarding training, the USCG only accepts USCG appproved training. And, as you probably know interservice rivalry pretty much lets you know how many navy training courses are USCG approved.
So accept that you will have to start over on training, but dig up all the accredited seatime you can. It will make your life progress faster with more seatime.
This has been seen to be the largest sticking point in sea service accumulation to hasten entry into the Merchant side of life.[/QUOTE]
You are correct that you cannot use a DD214. However, the Coast Guard will accept a Transcript of Creditable Sea Service from the Navy. It does not require a letter from each individual ship.
I’m currently at a riverine squadron and it is considered type 2 sea duty… Will the Coast Guard still recognize my time at the small boat squadron as sea time because I need about 120 more days to count towards my sea time so I can get my AB Unlimited. (1080 days)
I’m currently at a riverine squadron and it is a type 2 sea duty will the coast guard except that as sea time mind you it is a small boat command… I need about 120 days to do the AB to Mate program so I can be eligible to take the 3rd mates test.
Horror story inbound.
If you get out with out those transcript of sea service you are going to regret it. Man when I called talked to the navy personal records they were like yeah sure mail your request in and wait in line.
*3 weeks later. Did you guys get my shit? Oh sorry we don’t have anything on record for you.
*sent again this time over night. 2 weeks later did you get my shit? No sorry we don’t have anything for you Try faxing it.
- Did you get the fax? No please resend it WTF
I had to hire a ex coast guard guy that helps people with the MMD paper work and holy shit he called and called and faxed and fucking mailed his own god damn letters till they send him the CD with all the information on it then the requested info was not on the CD. He called up the navy personal command and told them its been 2+ months of all the back and forth. She put him in touch with THE PERSON pulling the records and he explained everything that was going on and she gave him some personal direct fax # to fax the my story and request too and she promised it would be taken care of. and it was. So about 3 months of dicking around i got my shit. FUCK THAT. Do NOT leave the navy with out those papers.
I can’t give you the guys # because he’s dead but that dude was the fucking bomb and i am so glad i got my shit from him before he died.
Call REC Boston and get Meghan Jones on the phone. (617.223.3040) She will ask you for a lot of paperwork but she knows what she is doing, even got a guy here to test for a 3rd Mate when he thought he’d only get AB ltd with the service he had.
Another guy went thru REC Houston with Larry Griffon and had a good experience but said they only helped worth what he requested and wouldn’t tell him about other licenses. Don’t have the number for them saved so I can’t share that one.