<p>My S bounced around on a RoRo up and down the east coast and picked up Humvees and other military transport - now in mid-Atlantic headed for the Persian Gulf.</p>
<p>Sounds like he's on one of the ARC RoRo's...</p>
<p>ISC Green Lake</p>
<p>My son is on the ARC Freedom. Route is East Coast (Texas to Florida, Maryland, Delaware, So. Carolina) then on to the Middle East (Dubai, Kuwait, Jeddah, Egypt) and possibly Italy and other ports as needed. Then back home. He will see more foreign sights in a few months than I'll see in my lifetime!</p>
<p>Our S to hit Egypt this weekend then Kuwait, Bahrain, jebel
ali, Oman, back to Kuwait and probably back to U.S.</p>
<p>i just got off of the Freedom in March. it was a decent ship... they pay overtime, which is a big plus...</p>
<p>Now here's a story. We were supposed to go to the airport tonight to pick up our mid coming home from an MSC replenishment oiler somewhere in the area of the Indian Ocean/Persian Gulf neighborhood. This past Sunday we were just home from spending the weekend in another town for Little League Allstars for our 11 yr old. I was getting the Sunday mopes thinking about the coming week at work when my nephew pulls up our long driveway. We live in a very rural area that is not on the way to anywhere so it was odd, but nice, to see this nephew who rarely stops by. He said he needed to show his Aunt and me something in his Toyota 4Runner. I'm thinking, "Great we get to keep another stray college dog on our farm" As he turns down the rear window sitting in the back is this scruffy person ---whoa it's my boy! We all go wacko jumping up and down. It was great-- pure joy. We live about 4/5 of the way across the country from KP so we havent seen alot of our mid in the last 2 years (maybe 30 days in the last 2 years) so every extra day counts big. He definitely has the salty sailor look about him. The sea stories are starting to come out in slow but steady drips. I figure if I get to hear 65% of the sanitized stories and his mom gets about 40% we'll be good with that. I'm sure there are some stories that are better left to tell among his fellow mids. He has always been a fairly confident kid -- but its even more apparent now. After spending 90 days in the area around the Sandbox and the Horn of Africa, he very much appreciates our corner of the world. I myself am straddling the border of envy and jealousy when looking at his life. To all you new candidate parents, especially those that aren't within an 8 hr drive or non-stop flight from KP, hang tough. When you see your mid after their first sea year experience you will know this was all well worth the wonder.</p>
<p>My son has had some great experiences as a 2010 B splitter.
1st ship: Container ship from West Coast to Alaska, Japan, Korea, China and back, then weekend visit home.
2nd ship: Break bulk ship to Lebanon (just after this summer's blow-up), Libya (Americans still a novelty since Libya dropped from terrorist status 3 years ago) and back with some 2009 A splitters.
Internship: Chevron, then weekend visit home.
3rd ship: Tanker from/to US ports.</p>
<p>my B splitter has been from Jax, FL to east coast of Africa to Diego Garcia. then sat in DG for about a month. Flew home from Diego Garcia by way of Bahrain, London, then NYC.</p>
<p>He was home for a long weekend, then off to New Orleans to catch his next ship which went to TX, before heading back to the east coast of Africa.</p>
<p>He just left port about a day before hurricane Dolly hit TX. The gulf was a "little rough" he has emailed me.</p>
<p>He will then return to the US the end of August, and then an intership in SC til November classes start.</p>
<p>Son is on a MSC Oiler and has really enjoyed time on it. He will be home in August for an Internship and then back to sea prior to returning to KP.</p>
<p>Anyone worked on a US Food Aid vessel?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not sure what you mean here. If you are talking about a ship that is carrying US A.I.D. then I can say I have. Went over to the west coast of Africa (aka fourth level of hell) on a break bulk ship taking a load of vegetable oil, lentils, and all sorts of other goodies.</p>
<p>kp2001 my son was on the same trip last summer, tramp to africa. He loved it, lots of adventure and great working experiences></p>
<p>son is presently at kp waiting for his final ship assignment 2010b. His last ship went from newark to norfolk to charleston, italy, egypt, suez canal oman, pakistan, dubai and india.. his first ship was pacific route including honolulu, guam, hong kong, china and taiwan. He worked indoc as a ems and hopes to get back out next week. till then doing his time on the kings pointer</p>
<p>Thanks KP2001 - that's basically what I meant. For clarity, U.S. Food Aid cargos are carried/overseen by three organizations: State (USAID), USDA (Foreign Ag. Service/FAS) and the WFP. Vessels carrying these cargos go to a whole bunch of places other vessels tend not to venture; and with a cargo mixed as you described, it was most likely an FAS cargo destined for a direct feeding program. </p>
<p>Hope it a good experience for you.</p>
<p>son got assigned to Horizon Challenger with a route of Houston to SanJuan and back..sounds pretty nice, but could get boring doing the same thing over and over again. But he is really happy about it. Got to Houston yesterday and no ship. I guess the tropical storm kept it anchored outside of Galveston waiting to come in. He spent the night at a local motel and will meet the ship today.</p>
<p>Ours now leaving Kuwait for the second time. switched to another RoRo in Dubai and now headed back to the states - will possibly see him end of month in Houston. I bet he never thought he would end up being on a ship for 60 days without ever getting off - might have his sea legs by now.</p>