THE END OF AN ERA

On September 8th, the Coast Guard Regional Examination Center (REC) in Boston will be assymilated into the National Maritime Center(NMC) in West Virginia. This will be the last of the 17 RECs to be restructured into the new Coast Guard system. This will have a profound effect on the thousands of mariners who have used the Boston REC in the past several years. It is truly an end to an era that started back in 1982. The "regional" examination centers were set up to consolodate the licensing and testing of merchant mariners in 17 locations around the U.S. Prior to that, all of the Coast Guard Marine Safety offices had a licensing and exam branch. In 1982, Boston took over those duties from Portland, ME and Providence, RI to become New England's REC. For 26 years, the REC has been under the Command of the Officer in Charge of Marine Inspection (OCMI) in Boston. For most of that period, a civilian Senior Inspector of Personnel (SIP) ran the REC with a staff that varied between 12 and 15 civilian and military members. Most recently, the REC went the way of other government agencies and was staffed with all civilian and contract employees. On September 8th the REC will be under the Command of the Commanding Officer of the National Maritime Center. Captain Dave Stalfort is that CO and will be the "OCMI" for the purposes of issuing merchant mariner credentials for all USCG licensed or documented mariners. The big change will be that all applications will be evaluated at the NMC and ALL credentials will be issued from there as well. Gone are the days when a mariner could walk into the REC in Boston with a Radar Observer course certificate and walk out with his license endorsement. There will be no evaluators or "issuing" official left in Boston. Mariners will now have to submit their application there, be fingerprinted, and have their application shuffled off to West Virginia to be evaluated and approved (or disapproved). The decision will no longer rest in the hands of anyone in Boston. Once approved, NMC will issue the credential OR approve the mariner for testing, which will be done at the RECs. The mariner's record will be kept at the NMC. While the big push for this is to "streamline" the process, it will take away the fundamental need for the public to have access to the person who can have the most effect on a mariner's career. There were literally thousands of mariners who's "case" did not fit the mold of the Coast Guard regulations. Who needed to sit down and talk with the evaluator of the SIP and discuss his or her options. As the Coast Guard moves forward, mariners will have to be their own advocate for their credentialing issues. There will no longer be a "face" with a name to talk to. Mariners will have to have their entire application "ready to be evaluated" before it will be sent into the NMC for evaluation. Communication is the most difficult part of any business or relationship. How information is communicated to mariners is crucial to helping them with their career. Under the new structure, mariners will have to learn how best to communicate with NMC to serve their needs and NMC better be fully ready for the onslaught!! The fine staff at NMC Boston will adapt and go their separate ways. Now the mariners must adapt to the changes that will result and hopefully this will, in the end, be better for all of the maritime community. Time will tell the tale, but this is truly the end of an era for this region.