I’ve received a number of e-mails and a Skribit suggestion in response to my SPOT review asking how much it costs.  I decided I’d just make another post to address this, rather than answer all the individual requests.  Here’s how the pricing breaks down:

Basic Service: $99.99/year
This provides check-in (send “I’m OK” messages to people you pre-select along with your location), help requests (non emergency) and 911 requests.  You get unlimited usage of these services for this fee.  In order to use SPOT at all, you have to at least purchase Basic Service.

Tracking: $49.99/year
This is an additional feature on top of Basic Service.  This allows you to keep a “breadcrumb trail” as I discussed in my review.  In Tracking mode, the device will send a position update to the SPOT system every 10 minutes, which you can go back later and look at in your account control panel.  This also provides public Shared pages, which allow you to share your tracking with other people on publicly viewable pages.  Each page has a 500 views-per-day limit as of this writing, but don’t worry: you can create multiple public pages, and even password protect a page if you want.  I make use of this by having a general public page at spot.cconover.com, but I also have a password-protected page for my family so that they’ll always have a page they can see, without having to worry about exceeding the view count.

Search & Rescue: $7.95/year up front, $150/year each subsequent year
The pricing on this one may seem a little confusing.  Basically, you have the option to purchase this service when you first activate your SPOT.  If you do this, then you’ll only pay $7.95 for this for the first year.  Every year after that, it will be $150 per year.  So what does this buy you?  SPOT has partnered with GEOS, who provide private search & rescue services worldwide.  For this yearly fee, you’ll receive up to $100,000 of search & rescue services when you hit that 911 button.  This will cover not only the cost of the private SAR services from GEOS, but fees incurred from any public/official SAR agency for which you may be responsible.  It’s also nice if you spend a lot of time in places where public SAR agencies may be poor or non-existant.  I would think that this wouldn’t be as important for mariners who transit the waters of developed nations where public SAR services are very good, such as the Coast Guard.  However, in areas that don’t have such organizations, this may prove to be vital.

SPOT has a page on their web site that covers pricing if you want to see it there.

What services would/do you use if you got/have a SPOT?

As I’m sure regular readers know, I went to Coast Guard Basic Training this past summer, having enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve.  Since coming back to MMA, I’ve had quite a few of my shipmates ask me about it, some of whom are interested in doing it themselves.  In my Internet travels, I have discovered some resources, some new and some well-established, that may be of interest to those with questions about recruit training.

First off, there is a video series that the Coast Guard has put together called “It’s Just Eight Weeks” which highlights portions of recruit training, to give prospective enlistees an idea of what training is like.  My understanding is that the videos will soon be obsolete, as they are overhauling the training program and a lot of things are going to change.  That said, it’s still an interesting series.  You can find it here:
It’s Just Eight Weeks

The next sites seem to have shown up in time for the Commandant’s announcement of expanding social media and Web 2.0 usage in the Coast Guard.  First up the TRACEN Cape May’s own web site, which seems to still be under construction, but has useful information nonetheless.  You can find that by going to www.uscgbootcamp.com.

The last site appears to be the newest of all.  TRACEN Cape May now has a blog on Blogger, with the very first post dated 23SEP08, which is only a day or two after the Commandant’s announcement.  The first “from recruit training” post on the blog shows a recruit company doing pugil stick training, so they’re obviously wasting no time in getting cool information out on the web.  You can find the blog at uscgbootcamp.blogspot.com.

One thing I find really cool about the last two sites is that they say right up front that they will be posting submissions from recruits during their training.  Some of you may be aware that while I was in boot camp, I posted on CGBlog.org via snail mail about my experiences.  I think it’s awesome that the Coast Guard is now embracing this idea as official policy.

This year my classmates in license majors and I started the Merchant Mariner Documentation process.  Merchant Mariner Documentation, or MMD, is the Coast Guard’s merchant marine identification and management system, keeping track of all registered merchant mariners in the United States.  It is required to have MMD in order to ship on any commercial vessel in the U.S., so we start the process about 15 months prior to shipping commercially.

We started the process by filling out the initial application, which included the usual pedigree information, as well as questions about personal history (legal issues, etc.) so that the Coast Guard has a record of full disclosure.  Each applicant undergoes a background check, so they want to make sure you’re honest and forthcoming about any issues they may discover in the process.

We’re waiting on the next step right now (I’m not sure when or what that is), but once we reach that I’ll make another post about it.

I’m writing this at about 0130, mere hours before I will be hitting the road to go up to Boston and start my journey through boot camp and into the Coast Guard.  I’m excited, and a little nervous, but I’m confident that I will be able to handle it.

I may or may not be posting through snail mail, having my mom add my posts for me.  I will, however, be posting via snail mail over at AN UNOFFICIAL COAST GUARD BLOG, as I am the newest writer for that blog.  I am excited and honored to join such a great publication, and such fine writers and bloggers.  So keep an eye out for my posts over there (and probably here too!) over the next 8 weeks.

Also, if you feel like writing me a letter, whether it be just to say hi, or to ask me a question about something you’d like me to address in a blog post, here is the address:

SR Conover
USCG Training Center
1 Munro Avenue
Cape May, NJ 08204-5083

I’ll be going almost immediately from boot camp graduation in September up to MMA, so expect normal blogging to resume after boot camp is over.

Semper Paratus!

As I’ve mentioned on here before, along with some of my readers, I’m planning on going into the Coast Guard.  In fact, I’m making that happen very soon.  I’ve been speaking with a Coast Guard recruiter, and last Thursday I went and met with him.  We discussed options, available Reserve positions in the area, and my goals as a Reservist.  I am very serious about doing it, so I scheduled an appointment to take the ASVAB and get a medical examination for this coming Thursday.

As it stands, I’ll be going to boot camp this summer, reporting some time in early July.  While I’d love to be able to make regular blog entries while I’m there to give a glimpse of what it’s like in near-real time, I won’t be allowed to do so.  However, I will make posts periodically between now and then about the enlistment process, and my preparation for boot camp.  I’ll add a category to the Log Book for Coast Guard Reserve so you can follow that if you’d like.

There are a few interesting facts I thought people who are interested in joining the Coast Guard (Reserve) might like to know:

• If you are an Eagle Scout, you can enlist directly as an E-3 instead of an E-1.  For those not familiar with the miliary rank and pay grade system, that means a higher enlisted rank (Seaman instead of Seaman Recruit) and higher pay right off the bat.
• If you’re in college, you can be eligible for up to $4,500 per year in tuition assistance, plus additional money from the G.I. Bill.
• Almost all enlisted rates have involvement with law enforcement, regardless of primary mission.  So, if you like to cook but still want to have to opportunity to do the cool stuff you see in Coast Guard videos and posters, you can probably do both!

I’ll discuss the ASVAB and medical exam more after I get back from it on Thursday.

Semper Paratus!

This week the 1st class cadets in license majors are taking their Coast Guard license exams. The exams last all week, and are given in the gym. Since four years of school and training has been leading up to these exams, it’s obviously a stressful time for these seniors.

This week is different for all cadets. We have “short mofo” in the morning, which means that instead of forming up across the entire parade field, we form up in a half circle around the patio by the mess deck. This makes morning formation much shorter, so that we don’t disturb testing. In the dorms, we’re supposed to be quiet to allow the kids taking tests to study. Freshmen have closed door study hours, so we keep our doors shut but have the deadbolt out so that the doors are propped open to allow squad leaders to come in. License seniors are also exempt from all classes this week. A few of my classes are with seniors, so there are a number of people missing.

The school makes efforts to help the license seniors prepare and perform better on the exams. The library has had longer, more accessible hours to allow better studying. There were massage therapists on campus this week to help testers relax, and reduce tension and stress from taking the exams.

1st Company is in a little bit of an awkward situation at the moment, in that we have Admiral’s Inspection next Wednesday. Usually Admiral’s is held on a Monday, but they’ve pushed it back a couple of days to let us prepare after Coasties are over. That said, it usually takes the week before Admiral’s to get ready, so we have to work on cleaning in off hours when testing is being done, so we don’t disturb the seniors who are studying.

I’ve found it pretty interesting to watch the Deck seniors as they’ve been getting ready for, and taking, the Coast Guard exams. Since I’ll be in that position in 3 years myself, I’ve been curious to see how they’re handling it. From what I’ve heard, the Deck tests have gone very well so far.

Good luck to all the seniors in testing right now. Hopefully you all pass with flying colors.

I’ve recently been spending a lot of time surfing and exploring on Flickr. I’ve been uploading my photo archives to Flickr, so while they’ve been sending I’ve been checking out other photos on the site. Through some natural stumbling, and some guidance from other bloggers, I discovered OneEighteen.

His real name is Louis Vest, and he’s a ship pilot in Houston, Texas. He has a large array of absolutely amazing maritime photographs, covering ships of all shapes and sizes in various lighting and weather conditions. Here are examples of some of my favorites from him:

If you’re interested in maritime photographs, or photography at all, I’d recommend checking out Louis’ Flickr photos.

On Friday I was featured as a CG Blog Find on AN UNOFFICIAL COAST GUARD BLOG.  I haven’t featured this site myself on my blog, but they’ve been in my blogroll for a while.  If you haven’t visited there, definitely check it out.  It’s chock-full of great information about current Coast Guard news, information, and editorials.

Thank you to Joe Coastie and CGBlog.org for featuring me!

This week’s Photo of the Week is a picture that I actually took *gasp* this week! It’s a photograph of an 87′ Coast Guard Cutter passing the Mass Maritime campus as it heads east through the Cape Cod Canal.

Since I’m planning on going into the Coast Guard, I get pretty excited when I see Coast Guard vessels and aircraft around campus, and this was no exception.

Today was the annual Spring Career Fair here at MMA, where dozens of companies come to try and recruit this year’s graduating class, as well as some of the other cadets for internships and cooperatives. There were close to 100 companies represented, from all over the country and the world.

I only stopped and talked with a few companies, since the main focus of this career fair was to help juniors and seniors line up jobs, so underclassmen were a lower priority. I talked to recruiters from the United States Coast Guard, since I plan to do the Reserves, and will be going to boot camp this summer. I also talked to McAllister Towing, where I was told that I might be able to get an internship in Baltimore this summer on a tug. I didn’t even know that internships were offered to freshmen before tonight! I stopped by the American Maritime Officers union booth, and I only talked for a minute with the representative, but I got a sweet Merchant Marine bumper sticker out of it

I had planned to take my camera with me, but in my haste to get out the door after sailing practice to make sure I got there before it closed for underclassmen, I forgot to grab it (I really need to start getting better about bringing it with me more often). Regardless, it was a really good experience, and gave me a sense of what’s available after graduation.