I drove somebody stationed on the Guadalupe, a vessel of the Merchant Marine. The formal name of this service is Military Seaflift Command. I told him he should be in HR for the cause -- he made a convincing case for joining. The pay, with overtime, is fairly good, plus you get to travel the world on a large ship. Similar to the Navy, room and board is included, which has allowed my customer to save a considerable sum of money. It's not so good for people with families and mortgages, but for someone like me, it sounds interesting.
I've driven a lot of people from these supply ships over the last few years. I've driven people from the Guadalupe, the Kaiser, and a few others. I ask each what they think of their jobs. To a person, all said they love it.
Stories from a night shift cabbie in San Diego, California
Contributors
Recommended
Cab Blogs
- &games (Fairbanks, Alaska)
- A crab die (Portland, OR)
- All in a Day's Work (London)
- Bangkok taxi photos
- Blank Top Cab (Arlington)
- Buddha Cab (NYC)
- Cabby Advice (Singapore)
- Cablog (Sydney)
- Cabs Are For Kissing
- Conversations w/drivers
- DC Cab Rider
- Freddybeach Cabbie (Canada)
- Irish Taxi (Dublin)
- Las Vegas Cabbie Chronicles
- Mad DC Cabbie
- New York Hack
- NYC Taxi
- Paradise Driver (Hawaii)
- PDX Cabbie (Portland, OR)
- Pictures from a Taxi (NYC)
- Taxi Tales (Cumbria, UK)
- Taxi Vignettes (San Jose, CA)
- This Fare City (Portland, OR)
- Through a Windshield, Darkly (Oregon)
- Where to? (Canada)
1 comment:
Hi Ted!
I think you are due some HR kudos yourself! I am with Military Sealift Command public affairs and I noticed your reference to our command. Military Sealift Command is actually part of the U.S. Navy and the ships you mentioned are crewed by civil service mariners. Each of these mariners are also merchant mariners as well, but they are U.S. federal government civil servants, not private contractors. The ships they sail, like United States Naval Ship Guadalupe you mentioned, are U.S. Navy ships, though they are considered noncombatant. MSC is the largest single employer of mariners in the U.S. to be sure and perhaps even the world. MSC's civil service mariners are some of the most interesting people one could ever hope to meet and I am honored and privileged to work with them. They are truly unsung heroes--without them, the aircraft carriers and other Navy ships could not do what they do. Our ships resupply them while underway with fuel, food, ammunition, and all the other necessities. Again, thanks for the kind words,
Bill
Post a Comment