Thank you Mikey for the warm welcome. My name is Jake, a USN RET Master Chief Electronics Technician, after 21 years of active service. I’m regular surface Navy (non nuke), mostly frigates and missile cruisers. Unfortunately, my last tour of duty was on board a nuke powered missile cruiser (USS Truxtun CGN-35). What a piece of chit that was! Took me awhile to find the best forum and looks like I have just found it. Right off the bat, I noticed 3 MSC openings for 1st and 2nd Radio Electronics Tech, as well as Chief Radio Electronics Tech. Am I assuming correctly that the 1st and 2nd RET’s are RM (comm operators) jobs? I have a long way to go in the application process: renewal of passport, TWIC, MMD and STCW. Is there anything else I miss? I understand just the STCW training cost several hundred bucks before I even start the MMD application. Is MSC really worth the time and effort for all this paperwork drill??
Jake,
You can start the process of your TWIC and MMD right away. Do the TWIC first. You can use the receipt at the REC if you have not received your TWIC. It is not necessary to have STCW to get an OS MMD. If you want to start out with an AB, which you seem to have the sea time, for then you would need SCTW classes. Good Luck
Well, thank you Skipjackmac for the heads up! Now you have opened up a can of worms because this newbie will start asking some really basic questions, like: what is an OS? I think AB means “able body seaman” which I thought only applies to deck department (boatswain mates). I hope I’m not offending anyone. Anyway, thank you sir for your quick response.
[B][U]IMHO[/U][/B]…begin your quest here…the NMC site is an excellent resourse for a “newbie”…alot of answers to alot of questions just for the effort!!
I didn’t know that MSC even hired that type of rating. I know on the commercial contracts that it’s Engine Dept juristiction once they did away with the RO’s on most of the ships. We usually get a small per day amount added to our checks this.
Anyway I’d check with MSC first and see what help they would give in getting some of the training.
Jake, with your Navy qualifications, you’d be a lock for MSC. You are gold. You should call them while you are doing the rest of the paperwork so you can get the ball rolling on their application and hiring processes. It can take six months or more to jump through MSC’s hoops.
You might want to send a CV off to the larger drilling companies. They need qualified electronics types BAD. The money is above average and it’s equal time. 14/14, 28/28 etc. There is no reason a ET working offshore can’t be making $125-150+/yr with excellent benefits in a short amount of time. The drilling companies will help you get your documents too.
With your qualifications and assuming you can pass a physical you should be able to pick and choose your jobs.
Good luck