SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (Sep. 29, 2022) – World Maritime Day is celebrated today, this last Thursday of September, to honor the tireless work of the international maritime industry workers. The safe and reliable international shipping industry is the foundation of the global free market, and it is vital to the worldwide mission that U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) performs to project the Joint Force anywhere, anytime, or nation calls.
Mariners have participated in every conflict since the American Revolution and the capacity and capability they provide is and will remain a strategic advantage. With 85 percent of the Joint Force based in the continental U.S. and 90 percent of that force traveling by sea in the case of a potential conflict overseas, the seas upon which the ships sail could very well become contested environments.
“Our strategic environment, the one you are about to sail into, is changing,” said Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost, commander of USTRANSCOM while addressing the class of 2022 during the graduation ceremony at the Merchant Marine Academy. “You are about to face challenges our country has not encountered since WWII. Direct challenges across our maritime domain, eroding our advantages, and threatening our ability to deliver and sustain a decisive military force. Contested waters will stress our logistics lines all the way from home port. There are numerous sea stories from current events that demonstrate the continued resolve of the Merchant Marine.”
Navy Lieutenant Commanders James McCabe, James Losse, and Nick Adema carry on family legacies as Merchant Mariners and serve as Strategic Sealift Officers (SSOs) here at USTRANSCOM. Formerly the Merchant Marine (Naval) Reserve, SSOs are commissioned officers in the U.S. Navy who serve either through the Selected Reserves or the Strategic Sealift Readiness Group. They are assigned to reserve activities that support strategic sealift in times of national defense or emergency.
The Jones Act established a merchant marine component within the U.S. Navy and created the Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York. The academy trains its midshipmen to serve as mariners within the Navy and as well as the transportation industry.
McCabe explained that while there are several paths toward serving with the Navy or one of the other military components, the Merchant Marine Academy produces Reserve officers with skillsets to work alongside civilian maritime firms – cargo, transport, fuel – supporting American interests abroad or at home.
“During the time at the Academy, candidates spend about a year at sea, traveling around the world on cargo ships,” said Adema. “When I heard about that, I said to myself, ‘I’ve gotta go do that!’”
Losse added that in addition to the Naval commission, graduates of the four-year program also receive a 3rd Mate or 3rd Engineer commercial shipping license and a Bachelor of Science degree.
Adema, stated that the Merchant Marine was introduced to him by his uncle, who attended the Merchant Marine Academy and similar accounts were told by McCabe and Losse, who also come from a family line of mariners.
“My uncle was an alumnus of the Merchant Marine Academy. He talked it up all the time when I was a kid,” McCabe stated.
Both of Losse’s grandfathers were mariners and their influence, along with the opportunities to travel, was enough for him to continue the legacy.
“A Strategic Sealift Officer is a small part of the Navy’s force structure,” Losse said. “We normally work our civilian lives and get called up to serve with the Navy in some aspect to support the command, putting their shipping knowledge and experiences with the command. In my case, I was a contract Mariner, working for several private companies.”
USTRANSCOM’s SSOs have sailed throughout the world, from Thailand, to Bahrain, to countries throughout Europe.
The best part of being an SSO, McCabe, Adema, and Losse all agreed was the opportunity and flexibility in working at different locations and seeing how things work there.
“Merchant Mariners’ legacy of perseverance and dedication is carried on by today’s civilian mariners, something I know this generation of mariners will pass along,” said Van Ovost. “Our maritime industry has a distinguished legacy of helping to feed, fuel and move our nation as it has grown and expanded; it is critical to both national and economic security.”
Sailors with passions for service and adventure, Adema, McCabe, and Losse have experienced life as a Merchant Mariner and continually impact USTRANSCOM and its mission in a powerful way.
As citizens around the world celebrate World Maritime Day, USTRANSCOM would like to thank U.S. Merchant Mariners and those Strategic Sealift Officers working alongside the Joint Force. These men and women are patriots, critical to our nation’s economy, and our everyday lives.
USTRANSCOM exists as a warfighting combatant command to project and sustain military power at a time and place of the nation’s choosing. Powered by dedicated men and women, USTRANSCOM underwrites the lethality of the Joint Force, advances American interests around the globe, and provides our nation's leaders with strategic flexibility to select from multiple options, while creating multiple dilemmas for our adversaries.
