I’m going to expand even further. Those that work at NMC are lower level bureaucrats that have never been mariners and have very little idea of what is necessary to actually sail competently. They prefer to go to extremes in following regulations and often have a very difficult time of interpreting these correctly.
Although the regulations are written to give CG some latitude in applying the rules, it is almost impossible to expect NMC to use any common sense when evaluating applications.
Take the easy path of least resistance and follow the checklist.
I guess you’re an expert at this? Lower Level Bureaucrats that have never been a Mariner?- I guess my currently being renewed 9-13 Chief Engineer’s License is an illusion…
For your information smart guy- you are FAR from the mark- my division is comprised of mostly Deep Sea Masters and Chief Engineers with LOTS of sea time.
Clearly your division isn’t evaluators (who he was referring to). If you are evaluators then bragging about all your years of experience just makes you look even more incompetent.
Furthermore (as I note that there 6 Masters and 4 Chief Engineers in my division as of right now there were 7 Masters) if you’re such an expert- why not apply for a job.
Really, although not PQE’s (Professional Qualification Evaluators) we sometimes aid the evaluators. What have I noticed? What have I saw? A lot of “confusing” sea service letters (know of any vessels which have two Masters?- Multiple Chief Engineers? Deckhands signed off as Mates? Oilers given time as Assistant Engineers?)
It comes down to this- the number of incomplete, out of date, out of recency, not properly signed and dated applications, missing sea time components (and the list goes on and on) is truly staggering.
While it might be true that a fair amount of evaluators are not merchant mariners, their new checklist system is an expanded one- with a lot of input from those of us with years of sea service.
My advice? Grab the checklist- read it carefully, read and properly fill out the application, sign it and send all of the required documents.
I have been dealing with the USCG Credentialing process since 1976- never had a problem except once (in regard to a PIC renewal)- Oh, and thanks for your spin…
Nope, still there. Be on the look out for Job opportunities- maybe once you see how the process works- you’ll change your tune. Also; remember that only a minor percentage of credential holders are deep sea unlimited- a little more on the 1600T and DDE Unlimited lanes- most of our transactions, courses and etc are “recreational” in background (OUPV, Limited Master restricted by OCMI’s)…
Yes, that might be true in some cases- but I have seen medcerts and “simple” renewals turned around a lot faster. I just submitted my renewal- guess we’ll see. I expect NO preferential treatment. Again- the amount of AI’d applications is legendary mostly because of missing or incomplete components.
Let me throw something out there- most of the Deep Sea (and probably a bunch of the Limited folks) generally process their renewals in the summer months around their vacation times- I have often thought that that volume needs to be staggered- +/- 3 to 6 months at the issuance- so to lower the number of raw application processing in any given quarter and spread it out more evenly- but this would require changes to the USC as well as CFR… No small task.
A not infrequent one says the mariner sailed on a number of vessels (of different tonnages) in capacities from deckhand to Master on western rivers, inland, near coastal, and oceans routes. No breakdown of how many days for any of those.
That was done almost 10 years ago, see 46 CFR 10.205(a). But making mariners renew early is another story, it’s the widely perceived problem that the 8 month post-dating was intended to fix. But, since you can renew 8 months early and not lose any time to the much-despised “license creep” there’s really no reason to wait until expiration is imminent.
Never had a problem with NMC when all information is in order. Always good to use the memo/fact page that lists the most frequent mistakes/omissions from incomplete applications. 10 minutes can save a month.
Every once in a while, we will get back a reference to a non applicable NVIC for OIM applications, confusing a FOI with a DP MODU.
Ummm… Comer is just another Congressional asshole.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the federal workforce stayed home.
They relied on telework because they could.
Well, perhaps they actually relied on telework because it was a way to serve the American people and that stopped the Government from shutting down completely. I’d say they went above and beyond and proved the effectiveness of remote work.
Now he wants it back to how it was before? If that happens, then the next time the offices close down I’d offer a work stoppage would be in order.
The next time is more likely to be the regularly recurring failure to fund the government, in which cases everyone except “essential” managers and military have to stay home. But, your suggestion might apply to days the offices are closed for weather and employees have to telecommute.