U.S. Expedited Officer Program

Professional Mariner Forum
1

With the recent passing of the 2025 U.S. National Defense Authorization Act there were several maritime related subsections aimed at bolstering the maritime industry. Section 3534 titled the “Armed Forces Merchant Mariner Officer Expedited Preparation Program” in particular caught my eye when reading through the legislation - details attached below:

SEC. 3534. ARMED FORCES MERCHANT MARINER OFFICER
EXPEDITED PREPARATION PROGRAM.

Section 51506 of title 46, United States Code, is
amended—
	(1) in subsection (a)(2), by inserting before the
semicolon the following: ‘‘, which shall include standards for a 
program described in subsection (c)’’;
	(2) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub-
section (d); and
	(3) by inserting after subsection (b) the following 
new subsection (c):

‘‘(c) ARMED FORCES MERCHANT MARINER OFFICER
EXPEDITED PREPARATION PROGRAM .—

	‘‘(1) IN GENERAL .—A State maritime academy
may offer a program under which an eligible individual 
may complete a merchant marine officer preparation 
program approved by the Secretary, and the
requirements for the issuance of a license under 
section 7101 of this title, in less than 3 years, without
a requirement to earn a baccalaureate or other 
degree from the State maritime academy.

‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS .—For purposes of
this subsection, an eligible individual is an individual—
	‘‘(A) who is—

		‘‘(i) a person who served in the Armed
	Forces, and who was discharged or re
	leased therefrom under honorable conditions; or
		‘‘(ii) a member of the National Guard
	or Reserves who has performed at least six
	years of service therein; and

	‘‘(B) who has earned a baccalaureate degree 
	from an institution of higher education (as
	defined in section 102 of the Higher Education
	Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)).’’.

Has anyone heard of any talks amongst any of the academies with regard to implementing this type of program? Noticed a substantial population that fall into either category and would benefit from such a program given the current state of affairs with programs taking 3 to 4 years typically to graduate as an officer.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

2

Haven’t heard anything, but I would love a program like this. I contacted the grad programs that offer a deck license, but never heard anything back, I assume because I wanted to do the program while still sailing and not doing the regimental stuff.

3

I think most people that already have a four year college degree can go through an Academy now in three years.

Unless Academies decide to do special programs of less than three years, I don’t see that this is much of a change.

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4

With the caveat that this is the first I’ve heard of it, and I’m just doing the math in my head…

I’m not sure how much under three years they can cut it. Still need 180 days sea time, right? That’s six months.

Even if you cut out every elective/humanities/social science/whatever class that is part of the regular degree program you’re still left with a lot of professional classes taught in a particular sequence.

I doubt that many of the state academies would do the math and decide it’s worth building an entire parallel track.

Ultimately I don’t expect this to amount to much of anything.

5

360, but who’s counting? Time other than cruise is part of the total.

6

It seems to fit in with DOD Career Intermission Program (CIP).

This program was to offer active military members a sabbatical (I believe up to 3 years) before returning to active duty. During this period they can pursue additional education and other goals. The governing instruction for the Navy is OPNAVINST 1330.2C.

I am not sure of the Maritime Academies have any programs for the Career Intermission Programs. However, I do know service members that have used the CIP to study for and get their license and then returned to active duty.

7

I was thinking if it was an Academy program. If they have to do 360 then I really can’t see how they get it under three years total.

8

Mr. Cavo,

Could you explain this in more detail? Here’s how I think I understand it. Students are doing 180 days of cruise IAW 46 CFR 310.3(c)(1), receiving day-and-a-half credit for it IAW MSM Vol III Part A Ch 7 Para (D)(3). That gets them to 270 days, 90 days short. MSM Vol III Part A Ch 7 Para (D)(1) says up to 10% of required service can be awarded by training, is that where the days come from? If you subtract the cruise time from their enrollment time, 1080-180, that leaves 900 days, 10% of which is 90 days, all good. But then in MSM Vol III Part A Ch 7 Para (D)(4)(a) it says only two thirds of sea time can be substituted with school time. That would suggest to me that cadets would need at least 240 days of actual underway calendar days, if receiving day-and-a-half, and no ‘double dipping’ would be allowed. How are the cadets getting credit for the balance of their days not earned on cruise in our current system, and how would it work under this new program?

9

To meet STCW, they need a total of 360 days. For deck cadets, this is met with:

  • At least 300 days on training ship cruises, commercial vessels in normal operating service and/or academy vessels underway other than cruise (as specified in 46 CFR 10.232(h)(5), academy vessels are credited at 1.5:1)
  • Not more than 30 days of in port watchkeeping and maintenance on seagoing vessels (other than cruises)
  • 30 days sea service equivalency for simulation training.

For engineers:

  • At least 180 days on training ship cruises, commercial vessels in normal operating service and/or academy vessels underway other than cruise.
  • Not more than 180 days of workshop skills training.
    See also 46 CFR 11.309(a)(1)(ii) and 11.329(a)(1)(ii).

It is possible the statute for the program envisions that service earned in the military could be used to meet the total service requirement, but that may not be consistent with STCW, which requires that the approved program include the twelve months as part of an approved training program. [emphasis added]

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10

Thank you for the breakdown. Based on that it looks like cadets are getting around 180-200 calendar days of underway time. I find it all interesting because while I think this expedited program is great sounding, I am far more bothered by how the calculation of Navy sea time is derived (currently 60% of total onboard time). It feels like such an arbitrary number. Our boatswains mates are working long hours on deck in port at least five days a week, plus at least one 24 hour duty day. Operations specialists almost always stand port and starboard (a two watch system) underway. Engineers find themselves just as busy whether cold iron or steaming. All of that to be told almost half our time doesn’t count. And while you may point out “the periods of operation of each vessel may be evaluated separately”, it is also true that there is an uphill battle for the applicant against a presumption of regularity, with evaluators which, to be honest, are far less familiar with naval operations than commercial ones. I would love to know how that 60% was derived (especially since it was at one time 70%), and what the Navy could do (or what individual Sailors could do) to best make the case for as much sea time as possible.