What my seatime letter says

Hey, maybe someone can offer a piece of advice. I am fixing to leave here in a week or so, and have only 4 days home before heading to west Africa for 3-6 months. I really want to be able to upgrade to Second Officer in between ( or submit the paperwork, at least). I’ve been here for over a year straight, and got the below seatime letter from the capt. I haven’t done one in a while, and was wondering if there have been any changes lately I am unaware of concerning seatime. Below is my letter. Anyone have any input?
I am assuming I can put in the paperwork, and when the NMC approves it, I can have my license mailed to me. Does anyone know this to be untrue? It’s what I did with my last license, but that was over a year ago…

To Whom It May Concern:
<o></o>This is to confirm that <st1>Eric Thibodeau</st1> served as 3<sup>rd</sup> Officer on board the m/v LOGOS HOPE, in the period of 7<sup>th</sup> December 2008 to 24<sup>th</sup> January 2010.<o></o>
During his time on board we visited 23 ports in 16 different countries in Europe, The Caribbean and <st1>South America</st1><o></o>
Minimum working hours on board are 8 hours/day and working a 4 hours on, 8 hours off rotation at sea.<o></o>
[SIZE=3][SIZE=2]Total time of service on board: 401 Days. [/SIZE]
[/SIZE]
Ships Particulars m/v Logos Hope
[FONT=Arial Black]Call Sign OZ2000
IMO # 7309214
Gr tonnage 12,519
etc
etc
etc
[/FONT]

Apologies if this question has been asked & answered. Tried to find it on here, but we have satellite internet, and satellite internet? Well, it actually kind of sucks.

[quote=eThib;25197]I really want to be able to upgrade to 3rd Officer

… served as 3<SUP>rd</SUP> Officer [/quote]

Maybe I am missing something but how could you serve as 3rd officer on that ship without already holding a license valid for service on an unlimited vessel?

What license do you hold now and what are you looking to upgrade to?

here are the CFR references regarding sea service letters and certificates of discharges: 46CFR 10.225/10.231/11.205/11.211/11.213/11.304

link for CFR search:http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfr-table-search.html#page1

errr…I meant ‘upgrade to Second Officer’. Fixed.

Sorry, I was also chewing gum while typing, and multi-tasking isn’t my strong suit.