<p>It all looks good in news releases. However, sometimes the real world doesn’t measure up. I had dinner this week with a couple of KP grads who had less than a year of sea time between them, one on tugs and the other on a ferry boat. They both then spent a year or so working in ports and then one went back home to become a fire fighter and the other works as a defense contractor in DC. They both admitted not caring for underway life so their claim that there were no sea going jobs might be taken with a grain of salt. The thing that bothers me is that both have either met their obligation or have had it waived.</p>