This letter was a sham. Just something to put out without any real substance. You’re gonna change up how you do things because of COVID? Really, just leading from the front USCG, no one has thought to do that. Meanwhile at my local Lowes, where half the town is at during any hour they are open, people are managing to keep up with their lives. Without dates, mariners cannot plan their lives. Those of us that sail union know that if we take another job, that we could be gone through the end of our letters to test, causing a huge headache in reapplication. Now that 5 out of the 9 months that mine has been good for have been a complete shutdown, I’d like at least a 5 month extension to my letter as reciprocity.
Write to Trump, Senators, and Congressmen.
With Trump demanding that businesses reopen and put people back to work, one would think that he should order the USCG to do the same.
Politicians are worried about people making more on unemployment than they ever did in salary, and being unwilling to go back to work.
The REC staff is getting full pay to do absolutely nothing indefinitely.
They are still making sure t’s are crossed and i’s are dotted on applications passing thru to the NMC, right? They just aren’t talking to anyone in person or allowing testing.
Like i said before, put up plastic barriers like in 7-11, and only let one person a day test. That’s better than what is happening now, which is no testing.
well, i suppose folks that are desperate enough to get testing done can make a trip to se alaska. Thats better than nothing.
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14 day quarantine requirement in Alaska.
if a test involving an upgrade and a raise was in the balance i would do it…but yeah, not exactly convenient to say the least.
The RECs are obsolete and should be closed. They are just a clogged obstructionist filter.
The testing should be outsourced to the companies that do college admissions testing. Offer the exams once a month in hundreds of different places at the same time.
The exams should be redesigned and updated to be multiple choice closed book. Things like paper chart plots (assuming that is even still relevant in the age of chart plotters and ECDIS) could be done at the nautical schools in a mandatory course.
There are plenty of private companies that proctor official government type tests around the country. It would be cheaper to use them than keep all the RECs open. The REC can’t even exam and give input on application, so what is the purpose of keeping them oepn?
I’d agree save Pilotage testing. That’s where having the person that grades it available to ask questions and whatnot.
My SIL just finished her Nurse Practitioner testing a few weeks ago, right in the heart of this COVID crap. Somehow they managed to move through a lot of people taking tests…
Mariner Lives Matter
Defund the NMC and RECs!
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#MLM. I think you’re onto something.
You can get a covid PCR test within 72 hrs upon arrival or get tested upon arrival. Follow-up test after 7 days unless you leave the state before then. Small price to pay if you need to test although the covid test is not the most comfortable.
And they announced opening of Houston REC??? The state that is in the top 3 for coronavirus cases??? What an absolute joke. March through early June they were at about 1500 cases a day, but now that its at over 5k a day for over 2 months it is somehow safe to reopen? USCG needs to relinquish control of MMC issuance and testing, they are obviously ill equipped to manage much of anything.
That’s a piss poor argument @jdcavo
This is simple mismanagement of NMC. A lack of decision making at the top, and now I bet they have just said whatever, let the REC Chiefs decide on reopening.
But no, being shut down for 5 months and putting me in a corner for work with a deadline for testing and my application pending on passing those tests is definitely worth my health. 
Just take it. My carer has been on pause for almost half a year. I am totally happy and glad that they are open. If its okay to for us to riot, drink at bars, and use the DMV, then it ought to be okay for me to go take at test with appropriate social distancing at a REC.
Aren’t you the one who started this discussion to bitch about the RECs closing? Just trying to validate my memory and assess credibility…
"We value the mariner, respect their experience, are considerate of their time, want to get it right the first time "
All I want is information. I’ve waited well beyond my return to work date hoping to be able to test. Now I have to figure out if travelling to an REC that is hundreds, if not thousands of miles away, spending the money on it all and possibly missing jobs is worth it. I have a wife, kid, mortgage, bills, etc. But yea, just a dude bitching about some office closing…
Memphis, Miami, Toledo, and Long Beach are re-opening.
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