NOAA refuses to hire USCG certified licensed deck officers for its fleet of research vessels. But instead spends a significant amount money and time to train NOAA Corp personnel to operate ships.
With a national Maritime shortage and a MARAD goal to secure more opportunities and long term employment for US mariners… Why not hire people already certified for the job?
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It’s part of a protect their rice bowl and remain a legitimate uniform service which by the way gets the same military benefits and privileges as the five armed services without ever training to look down the barrel of a gun.
Actually why not eliminate the entire NOAA Corps and let them do the scientific stuff they train for and leave the ship handling to professionals?
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Yup, rice bowl.
NOAA should be manned by CivMars, top to bottom.
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If it works for dozens of ships owned by the actual U.S. Navy (MSC) then why should it not be equally as beneficial for a smaller and less significant organization like NOAA?
It works with MSC in theory but in practice it’s not a model anyone would want to emulate. NOAA would need to create their own system to rotate civmars effectively.
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I was told recently that they are actually allowing their deck crews to hawsepipe up into the officer corps. In a way their version of an AB to Mate program. I have not confirmed that. I am guiding my eldest towards NOAA ships as her entry into offshore life. Less money but some adventure, money is less important when you live out of your parents home. Hahaha
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Actually, rice cooker.
I remember something kicked around in the late 80’s that if NOAA wanted new construction they would have to turn the ships operation over to MSC. Eliminate the Corps once and for all. I think the Officer Unions were pushing it. They are still here. For such a small service they sure have some very influential allies on the beltway. They’ve pushed back other efforts to disband them.
Kudos to you, sir; you are teaching your daughter the right values. It’s a tough outfit to get into. I’ve sent them several resumes in response to AB openings and never heard back once. It was years ago but I’ve heard others express the same frustration since then on this forum so I don’t think it was atypical.
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Thank you. I have actually had the same experience. I also soent many years in the UNOLS fleet. Enjoyed it, but pay was never there. I did read that NOAA was actually sponsoring hiring fairs, over on the west coast.
Since when has it worked? There’s a whole thread on here about MSC nearing manpower collapse that certainly suggests that using MSC’s model isn’t a great idea.
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He’s talking about the USNS Bowditch and those research/ oceanographic ships
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Oh, well he was replying to a post referencing CIVMARs so I thought he was talking about the GOGOs, not the GOCOs. 
I only meant to suggest that in general there’s nothing wrong with manning government ships with civilian mariners. Few would agree more than myself that MSC has made a real pig’s breakfast of the whole thing and that the admirals in charge there should be hung, drawn, and quartered, but the source of those problems is not that the mariners are civilians. Instead, the source of MSC’s issues are government inefficiency and out of touch leadership. As far as I can tell, the nature of civilian manning in and of itself does not pose an issue that would prevent NOAA from employing civilian mariners rather than its own home-brewed officers.
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Actually, there is a secondary problem other than the systemic flaw that stands in the way of scheduling reliefs on time. They don’t appear to be vetting the civilians they hire for entry level jobs. The result is that they stuff the pipeline with civilians who have no work ethic or experience to the point where they are unemployable anywhere else.
NOAA has commissioned officers mainly for the reason that they can perform mapping and survey functions in time of war, serving with military units, and not be shot as spies if caught behind enemy lines. Yes this may be an outdated concept since our current adversaries will most likey not honor the Geneva Convention or any other rules of war.
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When was the last war they performed such a function?
The reason I heard when I worked there was the officers were used for technical / scientific work in addition to duties as a ship’s officer.
Applicants must receive a four-year degree. While all majors are acceptable, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees relevant to NOAA’s missions are preferable. All candidates must meet a minimum of 48 STEM credits, regardless of the degree they hold.
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I think their time has passed. I can’t recall any recent wars they’ve been a part of either.
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There are at last word I got about 330 NOAA officers and 2 admirals to lead them. Seems a little top heavy to me. Back in the 90’s there was a push by the Clinton Administration to turn all marine positions over to to civilians. This failed but at least they went from 5 Admirals to 2. NOAA is an easy gig for someone that wants full military benefits fast promotion and no risk of being in harms way. In my not so humble opinion they are a waste of taxpayer money but if you can get in on it it is a great job. Not too much time at sea compared to the Navy, hardship pay for when you are and then after 20 years retirement at an upper tier officer pay. After retirement go on to sit in another GS job and double up on retirement when you’re 60 or so !
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