Sea Term 2009: Captain's Blog

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February 2009 S M T W Th F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Jan 2009

Tuesday 10 February

0700 ET/1200 GMT Position
Latitude 17-42.0 N Longitude 065-30.0 W
USTS Kennedy's updated track: Sailwx Track

Air Temperature 25.6 C
Sea Temperature 25.6 C
Sea State 3
Barometric Pressure 1019.0 mb and rising
Wind N @ 26.0 kts
Visibility 12 miles.

Division I Alternate
Division II Maintenance
Division III Training
Division IV Watch

Shift Colors
by Cadet 1/C Peter Beuth

"Shift colors," came the call as we weighed anchor and TS Kennedy got underway yet again, ultimate destination...St. Thomas, USVI.

Cadets are busy once again, the freshmen are continuing their rotations through maintenance, training, and watch standing. With over three hundred of them, the same rotation will continue and eventually, by the end of cruise, they will have all spent time in every department, Engine, Deck, Marine Safety/Environmental Protection, Emergency Management, and International Maritime Business. Overall it has all gone smoothly with everyone getting a fair shake at every aspect of cruise. As deck and engine seniors finish up their assessments they are beginning to take on even more of a leadership role in teaching the freshmen and even some sophomore classes.

1/C Joe Loughry spent time out on the fantail this afternoon teaching sophomores how to tie a stopper onto a hawser as it is under strain in order to make the hawser fast around the bitts on deck. There are three types of stoppers that were taught to them today, the three being the 'Port Arthur stopper', the Chinese stopper with', and the 'Chinese without.'

There are beginning to be some signs on board ship that we have been out at sea for quite some time. In the mess deck, the cream cheese for the bagels has only made rare appearances recently, the 'fresh fruit' is now very very ripe, and word has it that we are running very low on paper coffee cups. Our teachers are now pushing us towards the end, frequently urging us to finish up with our projects, as once we leave St. Thomas we will have our engines turning for home at full ahead. There is talk of the talent show coming up, and 'Vegas Night' the last night of sea term.

The watch bills for offloading and watch the week we return home are soon to be posted. The countdown has essentially begun now that we are inside of two weeks to go. First, however, we will spend four fine days in Saint Thomas, USVI, with many cadets venturing off to nearby islands such as Jost Van Dyke, Saint John's, Tortola, or Virgin Gorda. There is much to do, and the islands are flat out beautiful, so before we begin to anxiously await our return trip down the Cape Cod Canal, we are going to cherish every waking moment we will be spending in the Virgin Islands. St. Thomas, get ready, because here we come!

The Inimitable, Quirky Dr. Jop
by Cadet 1/C Peter Beuth

Speaking with a quirky European accent, Dr. Kris Jop is an intriguing character and a great teacher in the Emergency Management and Homeland Security major at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Born in Poland and a naturalized citizen of the United States since 1992, Dr. Jop is in his eighth year teaching at the Academy and is an integral part of MMA's latest and greatest expansion by offering a bachelors degree in emergency management. This degree program became vastly more important in the post 9/11 era. In the not too distant past, safety was a lesser priority but, over the years, OSHA came to the forefront and such things as personal protective equipment and safety briefings became common in the workplace. Today, emergency management and homeland security are what the idea of safety and OSHA were years ago, an emerging concept coming to the forefront based on the need for better oversight in our ports, coasts, and borders ever since 9/11. Given the current state of affairs throughout the world, the need for security and emergency response coordination is greater than ever. It is also essential to recognize that, in order to respond properly to any threat or any emergency, one must be prepared to handle a wide variety of situations.

By educating cadets on the geopolitical situations that currently exist around the globe, Dr. Jop has successfully laid the groundwork for a number of cadets to enter the EMHS major with a solid foundation on the issues we face and the reasons we must coordinate responses for all kinds of situations. Such education involves current health issues such as Avian flu, the potential for a biological terrorist attack, dealing with Islamic Fundamentalists and the Jihadist movement, and domestic terrorism including eco-terrorists and left wing radicals. On board TS Kennedy the cadets take classes which focus on many of these current issues. They also are informed that the EMHS major seeks to prepare students for careers in the field involving structure of command systems, natural disaster response, terror attack response, and building of contingency plans for any number of threats both natural and man-made that we currently face. Command systems are the base for any type of incident response, adopted from the United States Coast Guard response to oil spills and now utilized for all types of emergencies. With the help of two senior EMHS students, 1/C Andrew Graham and 1/C Andrew Puzak, a training plan was formulated during the fall semester and put into action during this year's sea term.

Dr. Jop has significant experience in a classroom at sea and has made his classes extremely interesting, often setting up mock emergency and security exercises for the freshmen cadets...exercises designed to pique cadets' interest. Just a couple of days ago, Dr. Jop hid a "bomb" on board the ship and the cadets had to track it down. As it turns out, he strapped the device to himself and it took the cadets about half an hour to find the bomb. Before coming to MMA, Dr. Jop spent fifteen years in various industry jobs including research and development involving environmental toxicology. He also spent a considerable period teaching at North Texas State University in Denton, Texas, as a part of their graduate program in environmental toxicology. Now teaching at MMA, Dr. Jop is also a part of the master degree program in EMHS which will graduate its first class in June 2009.

There are many possible careers for graduates of the EMHS major and one prime example is last year's graduate Jeremiah Kunz. Jeremiah currently coordinates the response of all major hospitals in the Boston area and draws up their contingency plans. Other possible careers involve law enforcement, security at sea and on land, or careers in domestic disaster response with organizations such as the Federal emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA frequently finds itself responding to disasters such as earthquakes, wildfires, and tsunamis. Currently with a student body of forty-five, the Emergency Management Homeland Security major is a rapidly expanding program which will be a staple group of cadets at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy for a long time to come.

Of all of the sea terms that Dr. Jop has been on he most fondly recalls time spent in Barcelona, Spain, and the Madeira Islands, a small group of islands located south of the Azores and a couple of hundred miles off the coast of Morocco. As Dr. Jop recalled the good times he has had in these foreign ports it didn't take long for his conversation to return to the subject of his job and the cadets that he teaches. As he said himself, "My great passion is to educate as many students as possible about issues and seeing them afterwards being part of the EMHS major and settling in the field after graduating...it is a great feeling." By being a teacher in both the EMHS and MSEP majors, Dr. Jop has contact with a significant portion of the cadets at MMA, especially after first being introduced to them on their freshmen sea term. Of particular pride to him is the privilege to see graduates fresh off a year or two in the field, coming back to him for references for entry into grad school as they seek to further their education and their positions in the field. It is this contact, years later that show the fruits of his labor and verifies his own personal successes as a result of the sacrifices he has made for his students throughout their education. It is for all of his efforts that students in the EMHS and MSEP majors, along with all students who have had the privilege to work under or alongside him, must be thankful. He truly is a wonderful teacher, and a great character.

Follow the Voyage
Here are today's questions:

History: When did the United States take possession of the U.S. Virgin Islands? From whom?
Math: What is the area of a circle whose diameter is 6 inches? What is the volume of a sphere with the same diameter (6)?
Science: Pure water is composed of which elements?
Geography: Where is the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route?

LINKS:
Official MMA Photography

Christiaan Conover Blog Page
Buzzards Bay Weather
MMA Parents Association

Departure Photos
Cape Cod Times Online Departure Photos
217 Photos of TS Kennedy's Arrival in Tampa

Should you have an emergency and need to contact someone at MMA regarding your cadet or a crew member, please contact Commander Stephen Kelleher:
Commander Stephen Kelleher
508-830-6485 (daytime)
508-364-6217 (Evenings/Weekends)
seaterm@maritime.edu

If Commander Kelleher is not available, you may contact me at any time:
Captain Allen Hansen
508-269-0925
ahansen@maritime.edu

Parting Shots...Sunday At Sea Smiles

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