Page 47: of Maritime Logistics Professional Magazine (Q2 2015)

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Courtesy: CAPT Sean P. Tortora

USNS Patuxent T-AO 201 conducting CONREP with two guide missile frigates (FFG) in the Baltic Sea 2007.

And yes: there is industry leading pay and job security, for

UNREP AS A CAREER

The business of UNREP is both exciting and demanding. if you choose UNREP as a career you will most certainly be

Any former or retired UNREP crewmember from Master to employed by MSC, and that translates into a secure federal engine room wiper will say UNREP was the best time they job in which you can build an entire career. Indeed: UNREP is had at sea. Moreover, UNREP is professionally rewarding, serious business. Romeo Closed Up!

providing a sense of tangible accomplishment, a key factor in determining job satisfaction. There are not many jobs ashore, never mind at sea, where the success of a single evolution,

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and not those of the U.S. Merchant such as UNREP, will enable a key national security asset to

Marine Academy, the Maritime Administration, remain on station to defend the Nation.

the Department of Transportation or the United

Other examples of the bene? ts that an UNREP career can

States government. Captain Sean Tortora is a provide include the sheer variety of skills required and the

Master Mariner with twenty-? ve years at sea, lack of boredom at work. No two UNREPS are the same and most of which was spent with the Military the schedule is always changing. Working on the newest and

Sealift Command on their Combat Logistic Force ships. He has most advanced mission orientated ships provides the oppor- conducted over 2,000 underway replenishments. He is also an unlimited Master of towing vessels and Master of underway tunity to both expand both sea-going technical knowledge as replenishment vessels. Tortora holds a BS in Marine Transportation well as maritime skills in some of the industry’s toughest con- and MS in International Transportation Management from the ditions. The camaraderie of working with true professionals

State University of New York Maritime College. Today, he is a with decades of experience, and in the process making friends professor at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

for life is yet another intangible bene? t.

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