Yeah, Nolte would be a guy to hit up Spec’s or Vesuvio with
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Do I have to take thr blue pill or can I take the red pill, stay in wonderland, and see how deep the rabbit hole goes?
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RE; vet, a vfw member has to serve in a “combat zone” for a minimum of 30 days. most do a year as opposed to the USAF. (6 mos)
a normal “vet” gets a honorable, more or less, after serving some indiscriminate time.
A retired military who didn’t serve in a combat zone gets a lot of stuff but can’t be a vfw member.
I hope you all can fill in the blanks here and differentiate between a combat vet, a vet, and a retiree who never made it to a combat zone for 30 days min.
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seldom to I get caught up in these sort of ‘discussions’ but having served 24 yrs. in the army and a year in iraq, got shot at, bombed and etc. , I’m not going to allow any mis-information to pass here.
I’d like to image that’s somewhere a People’s Republic Transportation Minister is reading this thread and laughing to himself, but the worse truth is they’re not bc they dgaf, they’ve already won the fight to control worldwide merchant shipping.
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I’ll respectfully disagree on that point. John owns the website and has allowed many conflicting opinions to be aired. He should be able to take the heat as well as other forum members. I do not see that Steamers comment was any more disrespectful to John than many other comments directed between other members in the past. While I greatly respect John on many levels I think John overreacted in this case. We all do at times. On occasion I have gone on watch to relieve an otherwise grand crew mate only to find them “in a mood”. Goodness knows I have been guilty of the same or worse. Such moods are best ignored and filed in the round bin.
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JHC In this article I willingly equate myself to Don Quixote. I don’t know if you have read the books but he’s not “moody” he’s bat sh!t crazy. The man thinks windmills are giants and he attacks them.
Everyone in the book thinks Don Quixote is crazy, as does the reader, untill you start to realize it’s not just him that’s nuts… it’s the world around him too.
This isnt’ a “mood” I’m in. It is a deep seated concern.
How do we defend the nation if the future generations of Merchant Mariners don’t feel part of the team? If they feel their role is no more important than that of a foodservice worker? How do we learn the lessons world war II merchant marine veterans taught us if we stop remembering the past? How we can remeber the past if there are no merchant marine veterans left to remind us?
How can I join as master of a ship and head toward war knowing that, if I die, my children and family are going to be fighting the government and years of broken promises to get basic healthcare and education?
This isn’t a mood I’m in. It’s a topic of great importance to me.
This is true. In fact I want you to get angry. I want you to think I’m crazy. Why? Because I want you to think about the points I made.
Today you might be angry at me… but tomorrow that anger might turn towards those in congress who continue to ignore the merchant marine… and once you get angry at them you might join me in tilting at a few windmills.
And if enough of us start attacking the same windmill… well then it’s not crazy anymore.
So go ahead and call me nuts… but moody I am not. I am angry.
Yep but he’s not the only ones laughing at us.
Merchant Mariners have crabs-in-a-bucket mentality. Some of the worst of any industry I’ve seen.
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Chill out John. I have and will continue to contribute to those who support mariner causes, I also regularly write, not email, my congressmen and senators regarding this issue. However, until there is a voter block similar to the block that existed when unions could change an election I don’t see much happening. Cervantes when writing Don Quixote was after all trying to compare will vs fate.
Stay angry, it keeps you young. 
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Explain please. The crabs in a bucket saying means, “if I can’t have, neither can you”. The mariners I have known do not seem like this.
I was intrigued by the original post. Are you all still talking “impossible dreams”?
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Yes please bring us back on track with your impossible dream.
My last headline.
Ninety Year Old Man Shot
A ninety year old man said to be a retired engineer was shot to death last night by a thirty year old man who discovered the older gentleman with the shooter’s 28 year old wife in a local motel room. Neither the victim or the wife of the shooter were clothed at the time of the shooting according to police reports.
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Dreams can come true.
Not an American Dream but a Mariner’s Dream:
You are quite fortunate then, I think. I have seen lots of common jealousy, greed, envy and crabs-in-a-bucket behavior amongst my fellow merchant seaman. This thread is a perfect example.
Anyways FWIW, I think a reduced tier of benefits is appropriate for merchant seaman.
I do think merchant service is honorable and deserving of recognition and respect. The public must be educated for any of that to be possible.
I’m familiar with the heroics of our WW2 merchant seaman. Afterwards, there is not much of a comparison to me. I consider the crux of the issue to be the respective oaths and commitment levels. One situation is qualified and limited, while the other is all encompassing and unlimited till death. That is a stark difference.
I discovered long ago that controlling your wants, dreams & expectations are the secret to happiness.
For the status of the US. Maritime Industry I have no dreams or expectations. Although I advocate for the US maritime industry by signing petitions, forwarding information & talking, calling & emailing my Senators & Representatives I expect the worst. I’m seldom disappointed.
My personal dreams aren’t that impossible, several have been meet & I had to come up with new ones along the way. I still want to finish the AT, retire early to dedicate time to family & leisure & to run a marathon. All obtainable. My biggest dreams that are out of my control are the ones for my children. If they grow up to be miserable or become miserable people then it was all for naught & I’ll probably be miserable too.
Concerning veteran or quasi veteran recognition for modern day mariners. One problem is many of the most dangerous jobs being done by the military on civilian vessels can’t be publicized. Take for instance Tidewater’s 6 balloon boats used in the '80’s & '90’s in the Caribbean & Pacific on the War on Drugs. The mariners on board had different levels of clearances & were told to never talk about their job. The vast majority of the world don’t know (nor care) it was a bunch of coonasses driving the US Navy & USCG around. Supposedly the cartels had standing hits put on any contractors helping in the War on Drugs but not on U.S uniformed personnel. The crews had to stop crewchanging in Central America & had to change out in Key West. The US Navy & USCG personnel who worked on board got medals, recognition & monetarily rewarded for the extra risks they took but the civilian mariners got the same misally day-rate of their GoM, oil field counterparts. I don’t know if civilian US mariners are still fighting the War on Drugs but I do know they work elsewhere in the world & won’t talk about it even with their friends & family because of their clearance obligations.
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Merchant mariners in the USA get no benefits of any consequence except for those provided by the company they work for. [Of course MSC and other government employees get government benefits.]
Here’s a novel idea. Adopt the same income tax scheme many other countries use for merchant mariners. They sail for 3-6 months depending on the country and you’re exempt from income tax on the national level. This gives an incentive for folks to take up the maritime trade. If the US or any country was truly serious about promoting the maritime trade this is easy enough to do.
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