[QUOTE=+A465B;80098]That’s a serious respectable homestead there pardner. Enjoy the fruits of that hard labor. U & F[/QUOTE]
Thanks, here is what it looks like in Winter, picture taken last March, some contrast, Eh! U & F
That is about as far from the atmospheric drain tank as it is possible to be. Wonderful indeed.
I wonder if anyone apart from family will ever know the sacrifice it took along the way … wow.
[QUOTE=+A465B;80144]That is about as far from the atmospheric drain tank as it is possible to be. Wonderful indeed.
I wonder if anyone apart from family will ever know the sacrifice it took along the way … wow.[/QUOTE]
Doubtful but it is of no importance to me. I owe a lot to the US Merchant Marine and to my Union, the MEBA, for the opportunities I enjoyed.
Same here, same here !
[QUOTE=Sweat-n-Grease;80095]NEAT
Don’t visit in Aug.
Here are two shots taken yesterday at sunset. The smoke is still here.
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/8690/setsun.jpg
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/1053/smokefq.jpg
Looks like we may meet some day. I would like that.
Pictures taken from my back porch.[/QUOTE]
Dang!!! Sweat-n-Grease very very nice place, as a horse enthusest, and being very fond of the western life style, I am truly jealous.
[QUOTE=Sweat-n-Grease;80095]NEAT
Don’t visit in Aug.
Here are two shots taken yesterday at sunset. The smoke is still here.
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/8690/setsun.jpg
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/1053/smokefq.jpg
Looks like we may meet some day. I would like that.
Pictures taken from my back porch.[/QUOTE]
Just as awesome as I remember it. We even named our dog Trapper after the peak and my favorite picture in the house we got in Wisdom.
[QUOTE=KPEngineer;80186]Just as awesome as I remember it. We even named our dog Trapper after the peak and my favorite picture in the house we got in Wisdom.[/QUOTE]
Wisdom - Use to fish not far from town then head to this bucket-of-blood Saloon, there were only two. The Big Hole - really cold cold winters but hey. Beautiful country! You must have the alumni book - give me a shout should you ever find your way back home.
Small world indeed
[QUOTE=GSCS USN;79920]Greetings All,
I have several questions to ask in regards to life as a civilian mariner and I have visited this forum from time to time and found great advice, so I am going to throw some questions out there to gain some more insight.
My background is Engineering, I have currently served 20 years Active Duty USN as a Gas Turbine Senior Chief, I am currently working on my Engineering License, I am assuming 3rd or 2nd A/E range before I get out in February 2013.
MEBA Union is it worth it or not? Also how do those big retirement annuities work they almost seem to good to be true?
What is the highest endorsement I can probably test for with 13 years of documented Sea Time on 4 different ships (3 CG’s and 1 DDG) all over 80,000 HP, and I have EOOW letters from all four?
Is MSC my best option right out of the gate?
Is it hard to get into MODU’s and is the pay as good as MSC? The MODU rotation of 21 or 28 on and 21 or 28 off is pretty attractive to me and is making 150k a year at either one of these ventures feasible?[/QUOTE]
Im currently an Active Duty ENC with 3 years left in the Navy. I just got my 2nd assistant engineer steam and motor unlimited. I also got my DDE unltd. Basically i was in the same boat you were. Take care if you have any more questions let me know. They say MSC is too much like the military structure bottom of the barrel is what I heard.
[QUOTE=kharris;80234]Im currently an Active Duty ENC with 3 years left in the Navy. I just got my 2nd assistant engineer steam and motor unlimited. I also got my DDE unltd. Basically i was in the same boat you were. Take care if you have any more questions let me know. They say MSC is too much like the military structure bottom of the barrel is what I heard.[/QUOTE]
I don’t know your sources, kharris, I sailed with MSC for several years and found the merchant seamen assigned to MSC vessel to be excellent, Licensed and Unlicensed, hardly “bottom of the barrel.”
[QUOTE=ChiefRob;80181]Dang!!! Sweat-n-Grease very very nice place, as a horse enthusest, and being very fond of the western life style, I am truly jealous.[/QUOTE]
Thanks Chief, what we do not have in Montana are great sea food restaurants. Out West it’s steak and more steak. I miss going to places like Mobile’s Wintzell’s Oyster House but I’m afraid the drive to the famous restaurant is a bit long. I shipped out of New Orleans for quite a spell, owned a shot-gun house in town and got spoiled by New Orleans food. I really miss THAT but’cha can’t have it all. This point in my life I’ll take my humble home in the mountains of Montana. I had horses, can’t ride anymore (lower back problems) so after the horses passed-on I didn’t look for any more. Horses are wonderful companions as are dogs. I do have dogs.
If I could mail you half the menu from Wintzell’s I would. I have one 5 minutes down the road from my house.
[QUOTE=Fraqrat;80321]If I could mail you half the menu from Wintzell’s I would. I have one 5 minutes down the road from my house.[/QUOTE]
Oh - You big tease you
[QUOTE=Fraqrat;80321]If I could mail you half the menu from Wintzell’s I would. I have one 5 minutes down the road from my house.[/QUOTE]
Enjoy - Fragrat - enjoy
[QUOTE=Fraqrat;80321]If I could mail you half the menu from Wintzell’s I would. I have one 5 minutes down the road from my house.[/QUOTE]
I recall the restaurant being in the city’s business district and near the water, probably the original, it’s been operating for way over half a century or more.
Delightful food, I thoroughly enjoyed going there. When I sailed with Lykes the ships often would stop in Mobile. The last time I was there was in 1990 when I was 1st on the SS Joseph Lykes. Man, does time time ever fly!!
Enjoy yourself, Fragrat
Not the people, the organization itself.
[QUOTE=Capt. Phoenix;80768]Not the people, the organization itself.[/QUOTE]
The years I sailed with MSC were way back in the 70’s. I was assigned to Cable and SOSUS vessels, we spent most of our days at sea. The problem I encountered with MSC was their discharge certificate, they didn’t issue the standard US Coast Guard “Certificate of Discharge” which showed the date of shipment, place of shipment, date of discharge, place of discharge, rating held, name of ship, name of employer, type of voyage (Coastwise or Foreign). MSC issued a discharge paper stating the name of the vessel, your name, position, sign-on date, sign off date (which was usually a year or more). The US Coast Guard would take the time on board MSC vessels and eliminate 50%. It seems the reason behind such was the idea that many MSC vessels were tied to the dock for months at a time. While this might be true for satellite vessels in Florida it sure was not correct for those of us on SOSUS and Cable vessels. When I brought this up with the Coast Guard I was told there is no way, by virtue of this discharge paper, to compute actual sea time. Well GOOD, how do you like that. I feel it may be different today.
As far as organizational difficulties, I didn’t notice any but I was working, and I collected my pay.
[QUOTE=kharris;80234]Im currently an Active Duty ENC with 3 years left in the Navy. I just got my 2nd assistant engineer steam and motor unlimited. I also got my DDE unltd. Basically i was in the same boat you were. Take care if you have any more questions let me know. They say MSC is too much like the military structure bottom of the barrel is what I heard.[/QUOTE]
I worked at MSC for a long while. It is what you make of it. There are nice people and good ships, and there are others that are trying at best. I would not paint the organization strictly one way or another. A retired military person might actually find it a good fit because the experience, respect and trust you earned in the service is usually recognized positively by the MSC mariners. My thoughts …
I work with MSC mariners on an almost daily basis, and that’s why I intend to join them. As others have said, it’s what you make of things.
I worked at MSC back in the early 1980s and one hand didn’t know where the other was. I was paid 1st engineers pay for a retroactive pay raise even though I was only a 3rd. The office was staffed with arm chair captains and chief engineers. Now it’s “HR” professionals who went to the beach once or twice and have never been on a ship at sea for any length of time. I showed the moron port engineer an evaluation saying( I did the 2nd engineers job while sailing 3rd) and he said “We don’t look at those”.
Go join MEBA for a no bullshit job. You work when you want, for how long you want, and don’t have to put up with the BS of MSC. I retired from them and they work under a fairness system you won’t get anywhere else. You can make more money elsewhere but if you want to work 3 1/2 months a year and make 75K then head out to SF or LA union halls. At MSC a physical took a week and orders to join the ship took 2-3 days. At MEBA it takes maybe an hour for your physical and clearance to join a ship.
MSC sucked then and it sucks now.
[QUOTE=Too bad steam is gone;81851]I worked at MSC back in the early 1980s and one hand didn’t know where the other was. I was paid 1st engineers pay for a retroactive pay raise even though I was only a 3rd. The office was staffed with arm chair captains and chief engineers. Now it’s “HR” professionals who went to the beach once or twice and have never been on a ship at sea for any length of time. I showed the moron port engineer an evaluation saying( I did the 2nd engineers job while sailing 3rd) and he said “We don’t look at those”.
Go join MEBA for a no bullshit job. You work when you want, for how long you want, and don’t have to put up with the BS of MSC. I retired from them and they work under a fairness system you won’t get anywhere else. You can make more money elsewhere but if you want to work 3 1/2 months a year and make 75K then head out to SF or LA union halls. At MSC a physical took a week and orders to join the ship took 2-3 days. At MEBA it takes maybe an hour for your physical and clearance to join a ship.
MSC sucked then and it sucks now.[/QUOTE]
I need the time and I have enough federal military and civil service time to make a go of it. Plus, I’m pretty frigging old…and MSC stands for Multitudes of Senior Citizens. Hope they save me a walker!