Forward With NOAA

If I were back in college, I’d seriously consider a career in the NOAA Corp. For those of you who don’t know me well, I work for a small division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or “NOAA”. Most of us know NOAA when a hurricane or tornado hits, but NOAA does allot of other stuff including management of coastal waters, fisheries and sanctuaries, oceanic studies and general “sciency” things, including fun with submarines!. I manage a small computer network. But the most interesting and least known field within NOAA has got to be the NOAA Corp.



In order to accomplish their mission, NOAA maintains a fleet of ships and a group of officers to manage them. The NOAA Corp cadets are trained at The U. S. Merchant Marine Acedamy in Kings Point, New York. They have their own fight song! (lyrics here) They wear uniforms, salute and have ranks similar to the Navy. The NOAA Corp even maintains a website were interested people can track their ships as they conduct SCIENCE! A friend of mine servers on the Oscar Dyson stationed in Kodiak, Ak. Looking at the ship tracker, I hope he brought his mittens!

So three cheers and a huzzah for the NOAA Corp, a military branch for pacifists.