Eggnog Thoughts

I've never done a Christmas at sea. My ship was always in port, or I was on vacation. Such was the case last year, when I was in a Singapore shipyard. Many of us went 'out to town' and came back to the officer's mess with stories of our adventures in the city-state, where most venues and activities are open on Christmas Day. For Christians, Christmas is about the birth of Jesus; but in the broader societal sense, is about connecting with people, friends and family. In contrast to my experience with United States public vessels, most ships do not take a day off for Christmas. You might need a tap on the shoulder to remember that it is a day of joy and merriment; at the same time the folks back home are caught up in their Christmas activities- shopping, church, and gatherings. Here's to the seafarer in your life.

The Dobbs Genie

When the Dobbs ruling came out last year, I was surprised that the Supreme Court decided to scrap Roe vs. Wade precedent altogether, returning the abortion issue to the states. Initially, I considered the decision as a harbinger for a national return from “hustle culture” to a newfound domesticity. The COVID-19 Pandemic created an environment where this reshaping of norms became possible. Even while the overall birthrate declined, many high-earning professionals took the opportunity to begin families. In national discourse, the 40-hour workweek, going to the office, after-work cocktail hours, and in-person business conferences were dead and buried. Meanwhile, returning to a 1950’s understanding of social responsibility, the government surrendered individual liberty to the needs of the community for the duration of the Pandemic. Some legal scholars have pointed out that Jacobson vs. Massachusetts, a 1905 case often cited in enforcing Pandemic-era restrictions and vaccine mandates, predated the 1960’s focus on individual rights and privacy. The social and political environment made Roe vs. Wade ripe for reconsideration. On one hand, the Roe vs. Wade decision prematurely ended the political process of state abortion law reform that had begun in the 1960’s. Yet, it is naïve to think that the clock can be reset to 1973 without considering how much society had changed. The wage economy was structured differently in 1973, prior to economic deregulation. National policy favored robust wages and a commitment to full employment, instead of stockholder value and free market absolutism. The Nixon Administration supported employment for American seafarers in the post-Vietnam era by subsidizing the construction of merchant ships through the Merchant Marine Act of 1970; a program that was ended by Ronald Reagan in 1981. Reflecting this trend, Roe vs. Wade was a controversial decision in the morals of 1973, but accepted as a commonplace institution by the 1980s. This latter attitude is evident in the movie “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”, where a character obtains an abortion without on-screen commentary. In most professions today, the average wage-earner cannot comfortably support a family on a single income. Yet in certain areas, such as the military services and seafaring, there remains a critical mass of workers who refuse to accept less than family wages. For example, maritime employers are often paying officers a higher salary than agreed upon in “sweetheart” union contracts. Notably, these occupations are male-dominated and socially conservative in general, and were late to engage in political correctness. In the past year, about half the states have found a compelling interest in limiting abortion in the first or second trimester. Few of these states have offered remedies to alleviate social concerns arising from the effects of these restrictions. One promising example is a paid parental leave bank, a voluntary insurance program for employers in Virginia and New Hampshire. Notably, these two Republican-led states are unlikely to enact strict abortion limits. What other ideas could work? GI Bill for Mothers For military members and reservists, the relevant law instituted during World War Two is now known as USERRA. Under this act, a servicemember’s civilian job will be held until they return from military service, up to three years, even if the employer backfills this vacancy with a new hire. In the 1940’s and ‘50’s, these provisions covered up to a quarter of the American workforce due to the large number of war veterans. It is therefore able to scale to cover working mothers, who are currently guaranteed by Congress just 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Enhanced Child Tax Credit or Universal Basic Income plan Local governments invest between $10,000 and $20,000 per year for each school age child. With this in mind, a generous child tax credit would allowing working-class parents to provide infants and toddlers with early childhood enrichment, and offer a standard of living better than mere sustenance that is provided today through SNAP and WIC benefits. Eligibility for Child Support during Pregnancy Lack of paternal involvement is a leading factor in the decision to have an abortion. Especially in the third trimester, a woman’s ability to participate in the workforce may be reduced, and it is reasonable for a single mother to fear this loss of income. Currently, child support proceedings do not commence until the child is born, which often makes it difficult to track down a wayward father, who may have changed addresses or moved out-of-state. Some pro-choice people oppose this kind of policy, as it may implicitly recognize fetal personhood. This policy, however, would be inexpensive to implement.

Adjacent Possibilities

Onboard a ship in the Far East, I found a sort of Edwardian fatalism that prescribed "stuckness" to one's career as a civilian mariner with the Military Sealift Command. I immediately attributed this mentality to the hardships of the COVID-19 era: restriction to the ship, delayed reliefs, no hazard pay. A large percentage of the workforce took retirement or other employment. Some, including myself, took the opportunity to promote into the power vacuum. Others will retire in the next several years, so they endured the transitory inconvenience. But there were others who were institutionalized into the Western Pacific carousel of port visits and girlfriends, before and after COVID-19. They offered advice contrary to my bookshelf of career guidance material: "What are you saving your money for?" "You're too young to have that position, why don't you ask for a demotion and take it easy?" While gray hair might help in establishing gravitas on personnel problems, I held a Master's Degree and Professional Engineer's license that attested to my experience in handling technical and planning issues. A crew swap brought me back to the East Coast this month. While I anticipated the same issues related to personnel readiness and attitude, I was surprised to find the "Old MSC" of competent and hopeful mariners onboard. In a way, this makes sense: While the COVID-19 era hardship conditions lasted 30 months in the Far East, normalcy was restored within 3 months onboard Norfolk, based ships. The attitudes of "Stuckness" were positive in nature, and related to building and supporting one's family in Virginia or a nearby state. Long-timers could see the up-or-out dynamics in the officer's mess: recent college graduates often wear the shirts of their family's contracting business. Implicit was the idea that MSC was a good place to start a career, but that the future was open-ended. The visibility of shore staff, and small repair firms on a daily basis emphasied that work could be found in adjacent fields. The employment relationship, then, was more of a two-way partnership, than a dependency on the employer's paternalistic support.

Looking for the Exclamation Point

When I departed the sailing life in 2019, I did not feel complete. Life felt like a question mark: was there more to be accomplished on the oceans? Yes, I would say; there was within my organization much unfinished business, that eventually pulled me back to sea recently as a First Assistant Engineer. I knew that one of the major challenges onboard would be in regenerating the workforce that dissipated during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Filipino expatriates, with US Citizenship, had made up a significant portion of the Military Sealift Command’s West Coast Fleet, and a stable core of experience for individual vessels. COVID-19 quarantine restrictions made this travel from ship to San Diego, and San Diego to the Philippines, nearly impossible. They faced the choice: Live to work, or work to live. Naturally, many chose to retire, or pursue entrepreneurship opportunities. To meet military logistics requirements, naval supply and other support ships of the Military Sealift Command are christened in a stateside shipyard, then sent to spend the next decades travelling between ports and shipyards in the Far East. It would be the crewmembers flying out to join the ship for four-month tours. This is the model employed by commercial navigation companies, and of the contractors that operate some Military Sealift Command vessels. Under this model, highly skilled and adaptable mariners mesh upon arrival with daily duties and maintenance management plans. To ensure continuity of operations and preservation of institutional knowledge, the Captain and Chief Engineer usually complete multiple tours onboard the vessel. Group performance is based on a model of “Form, Storm, Norm, Perform”. When working with travelling teams of experts, the goal is to have the “form and storm” out of the way so that the team can get together onboard to get the job done. Creating shared, or at least compatible attitudes, is the intent of Maritime Administration organizational guidance that covers nautical instruction at the State Maritime Academies, and the International Maritime Organization’s Minimum Competencies at each rate. Among company and organizational leadership, there is no interest in removing drug testing as a job requirement in the offshore and deep-sea environments. In a previous era, the attraction of a “sea daddy” lifestyle, a carousel of drugs and nightclubs in foreign ports, caused personnel issues that had be dealt with a firm hand. Naturally, these “sea daddies” often showed little interest in developing their professional skills. While drug testing remains, we have by necessity returned to the era where anyone can come off the street and get an entry-level job on the ship. Having been hired on-the-spot, many newcomers have their perception of the Military Sealift Command formed by cruise ship advertisements. So, how do you instill professional attitudes required to succeed in the workplace; in addition to the on-the-job training required to make them skilled tradesmen? As I have written before, maritime academies and Navy skilled ratings schools had satisfied these needs for decades, absolving the Military Sealift Command of a major civil service concept: that someone could be increase their knowledge, skills, and abilities within their employment. While major restructurings of asset management within the Military Sealift Command have occurred as the organization assumed greater operational responsibilities, personnel management has not changed in forty years, despite generational differences: it is still considered a human resources function run by specialists in that field, in contrast to big-picture workforce development inspired by the experience of senior officers of the line. This is where I see the exclamation point, where I felt that unfinished business could be addressed. Two areas where younger, college-educated officers had pushed for were paternity leave: millennial men like to be around for childbirth, and obtaining resignations from AWOL employees who had taken jobs elsewhere. Narrow-visioned application of prevailing Marine Wage Practices had created some unintended effects: without locality pay, entry-level hires in San Diego, CA would earn less than state minimum wage; as such, all new hires are made in lower-cost Norfolk, VA. There were no time-in-grade pay increases (or “steps”), until a retention incentive was applied recently. There is a culture among mariners of avoiding, rather than engaging, decisionmakers on these issues. It was thought to be the purview of labor officials and workmens’ attorneys. Rightly or wrongly, I call this the “enlisted attitude”, where people want to do their job and get their pay, without input from higher-ups. Understanding is the impetus of change, and it must be fostered from within. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All!

Geographic Dispersal

Union Halls, Mariner Clinics, Regional Exam Centers, and Merchant Marine Academies: you either live by one, or you don’t. Decades ago, deep-sea mariners were geographically concentrated in port towns. It made sense: you got a job at the union hall, and then took a subway or taxi ride to the ship. Today, maritime unions guarantee airline travel from any location in the US, to a ship assignment, and back. States without the income tax, such as Florida, New Hampshire, Texas, and Nevada, are popular residences for mariners; even if they are far inland. As for the physical institutions of the maritime industry, there is stickiness to old maritime ports, even if the reasons for their presence are no longer needed locally. There are likely more deep-sea mariners living in arid Las Vegas, Nevada than in the San Francisco Bay Area. Yet, for the tradition of having maritime institutions near the water, I doubt that the US Coast Guard will relocate its Regional Exam Center, or the Marine Engineer Beneficial Association its medical clinic, to where the mariners live today. Baltimore, some 12 hours inland of Norfolk, has not been a primary port-of-call since Bethlehem Steel shut down decades ago. Yet the city retains its maritime union halls, a US Coast Guard testing center, and two maritime conference and training centers in the region. Norfolk has a small union hall shared by two of the three officers’ unions, but no Regional Exam Center: the closest one is a 5-hour northbound drive in Baltimore; or an 8-hour drive south to Charleston, SC. Prior to COVID-19, I inquired to the Mid Atlantic Maritime Academy, a private trade school, about bringing the USCG’s travelling exam team to Norfolk several times a years, as they do for Maine Maritime Academy in rural Castine; and on Massachusetts Maritime Academy on Cape Cod. The idea may be worth another go-around.

Wither the Radio Officer?

 

The Radio Officer is one of the shipboard positions no longer found anymore. The responsibilities for that position were shifted to the Deck Officer, and in a bygone era, the Deck Officers would split the Radio Officer’s pay. The Radio Officer was a member of the Deck department, but on government ships that still retain the position, they usually report to the engineering department. 

The Radio Officer was most famous for being an operator of the radiotelegraph, and later, the teletype. But their weight in gold was their ability to tune and maintain equipment.

Most maritime regulation is made on the basis of safety, not convenience of crewmembers. By 1979, satellite-based GMDSS (Global Maritime Distress Signaling System) replaced morse code as the primary method of distress communications on the high seas.

Crucially, modular components- with spare parts carried onboard, and shore-based servicing available in every port, meant that ship’s officers no longer had the maintainer role, just the operator role. By this point, radio officers were helping the Captain with various paperwork responsibilities: there wasn’t much for “Sparky” to do with reliable, self-adjusting equipment.

The US Coast Guard still offers Radio Officer licensure. A closer look at the requirements, such as telegraphy, reveals that this licensure is designed for legacy ships, including some on the Great Lakes, and the WWII-era museum ships. More relevant are the modern-day endorsements for licensed Deck officers, including GMDSS training, a two-week course.

A Maritime Strategy for Ukraine

 Russian President Vladimir Putin did the unthinkable: There’s a shooting war in Europe. Fear of isolation from the “international community”, whatever that means to liberal democracies, the Geneva Convention, lessons from the Nuremburg Trials, and economic sanctions, failed to stop total war in Ukraine. NATO and the US was afraid of “poking the bear”, but Putin escalated his war nevertheless.

The news has covered the stories of Ukrainian-American expatriates and mercenaries fighting in the ground war; and I have had peers ask “how do I join the fight?”. To those with maritime experience, I advise staying at sea, with a focus on delivering food and supplies. Odessa, accessed through Istanbul’s Bosporus Strait and through the Black Sea, offers the most daring route. Russian harassment and occasional attacks on vessels today harken back to World War Two’s Murmansk Run. A successful convoy of merchant ships can deliver more goods than airplanes and trucks, the current vehicles of logistics. The merchant marine is a business, however, and in wartime conditions, governments must provide assurance to vessels flying their flag. In the United States, various tools can be activated by the Maritime Administration, under the DOT. These include activation of Second Seaman’s War Risk Insurance, to guarantee life insurance benefits for mariners, and vessel insurance for shipowners. Declaring a Sealift Emergency would allow retired and former mariners to crew ships, with the ability to return to their shore-based jobs after completing a voyage (similar to the USERRA benefit provided to military reservists and draftees).          

Dependency on Oil and Gas is the Achille’s heel of the West. During the first week of Putin’s war in Ukraine, which began on February 22^nd, countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom had no plans to curtail fuel purchases from Russia’s war machine. Given that fuel prices at the gas pump had already increased, I was afraid that the politicians in Washington, DC would be afraid of acting decisively. Initially, I felt that some form of rationing or subsidy (such as government-issued fuel cards to consumers) would be required to ease off Russian fuel imports. This would go hand-in-hand with fuel conservation posters asking motorists “if this trip is necessary”. Citizens would be asked to turn down the thermostat in cold-weather environments, and raise it in warm-weather environments, to save fuel.

The transition was easier than expected. Existing domestic production, the price/demand curve for fuel consumption, and cooperation from other OPEC nations allowed the US to adapt to the cut in Russian fuel imports. Idle offshore oil rigs were already being restored to service, as the price of oil had increased over the key threshold of $80 per barrel. In oil rig layup, the drilling rig roughnecks and brown-water mariners bear the brunt of fluctuations: working on a drillship or supply vessel is high-paying work when it is available.  

In World War Two, construction of the Big Inch Pipeline from Texas to New Jersey was prioritized in order to free oil tankers from the dangerous duty of navigating the Atlantic Coast, infested with Nazi U-Boats. Energy security today demands construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, while respecting the rights of the Lakota People. This pipeline alone is reported to have the carrying capacity equivalent to fuel imports from Russia. While the conflict in Ukraine will hopefully be resolved before completion of the pipeline, its existence should change Russia’s geopolitical calculations in the longer term. On the greener side, conservatives and war hawks will find clean energy investments, such as solar and wind farms, to be part of a national security strategy.

President Eisenhower correctly assessed the importance of logistics in wartime. This is evident in reports of frontline Russian soldiers begging for MREs, or pre-packaged meals.  Food, Supplies, and Fuel- both how we use them at home, and how we deliver them to Ukraine, are essential parts for victory.

Coronavirus: Americans’ Independent Streak Began in WWII

One New York Times commentator suggested that anti-mask advocates would’ve spent World War Two shining their headlight beams into the sky to liberate America from civil defense blackouts. They practically did. Through the middle of 1942, bright beachfront lights illuminated silhouettes of American coastal Merchant ships. The leisure economy was back, fueled by war exports to Europe and Nationalist China, and resort owners were loath to give it up. Americans were offended by the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, but were not yet in the mood for national sacrifice.

 Sheer losses of merchant ships along the East Coast changed the tune. Attacks by Nazi U-Boats began in 1941 before the US entered the War, and peaked in early 1942. Referencing the sinking of dozens of unarmed coastwise tankers, a poster proclaimed to motorists: “Think- Sailors have died to give you this ride”.

Despite the grim loss of life, rationing of coffee, alarm clocks, and sliced bread was lifted quickly upon popular demand. As pointed out by Kelly Cantrell in a dissertation, magazines during the War listed recipes with unrationed substitutes, such as corn syrup for sugar; but also featured lavish recipes- which were practically illegal on the basis of strict ration points. To produce a traditional Christmas feast, it was necessary to pool with another family, stockpile canned goods (against government policy), or purchase on the black market.

In contrast to Britons’ stiff upper lips in the face of Blitzkrieg bombings, Americans have a long tradition of flouting the rules, and it was certainly not limited to members of one political ideology.