Good luck Wolfie !

I knew a few guys that worked tugs on the Mississippi River when I lived in Paducah. One was a deckhand, one a port tug pilot, and one was a river tug pilot. All made good money. The river pilot made six figure money but was away from home for long stretches. The port tug pilot made good money and was home every night. Hard workers were rewarded. I think you will do well.

If you get as far as Houston port and channel I've got a good friend who captains tugs there. M. Terry. Good luck to ya

I'll be running either the yellow or red. Hoping for the yellow

USCG MSO used to allow 8 hrs sea time per underway time as a per day count even though you were underway 24 / 7. The Capt. / Master of the vessel should give you a written underway time document at the end of each of your crew change or your "scheduled" duty time. :-)

Kind of humorous what are called "Western Rivers". It must have been a long time ago when that name was coined; like probably in the early 1800's.

there is good money in it , keep taking all the training you can

my cousin just retired from tugs he left the Navy at 38 and went strait to tug work now at 58 he is retired well only sort of , he is working on his own boat , and commercial fishing on Michigan , boats , water and fishing have been his love since he was a kid working his dads fish tug.
now he is back to fishing where he started after years of other peoples boats.

he was 23 on 23 off for a lot of years , if you can make that work with your home life and girl then you can live a lot in the 22 your home

he ran out of NY for a lot of years but lived here in WI or in AZ company would fly him in and kept a van at the air port he would pick up his crew and buy supplies the day he flew in then take over his tug , tanker barge the next day and the crew getting off would take the van back to the air port where they could all fly home.
he did his last 7-8 years in the gulf , lots of work down there.

he was the captain so I am sure that makes more money but decent money all around especially if you like the work it is a very specific skill set

Wolfdog, it won't take that many years to get enough time to get a license of some sort. If you do decide to pursue it, make sure you don't just waltz into the local USCG office and take the test. Passing the test on your own is next to impossible to do.

There are private schools you can attend for about three weeks that are authorized to give the tests; if you have a pulse you will pass the test if you go that route. These schools are pretty inexpensive. When I did it nearly 20 years ago in Seattle the cost was $750.

Wish you well.

Now I know how to float my houseboat between Souix City and St Paul.

Yes, western rivers was the big muddy aka Missouri River, the Red River of Louisiana and Arkansas rivers. Important in the later part of the fur trade and following Buffalo trade and before the rail was laid.

Years ? I've been talking to the guys who come here ( our dorms double as a hub so lots of deckhand tankermans ext com though) and most of theme are telling me if I don't have my tankermans license in 6months or less that's just my fault. Most are getting it in under 3months. Also my company does all training and schools in house. Every thing from basic deckhand to captains training. Apparently they get guys in from the bavle academy that paid for their own private schooling and other then give them a four month head start they have to do everything we do. Accoito them with three years I could easily be in the wheel house

Don't want to discourge ya, but unless things have drastically changed in the Maritime Trade, three years in the wheelhouse as a First Mate / Capt.??? . . . you better have a lot of underway time, knowledge of plotting, charting, radar, etc. and passing a bunch of USCG MOS tests with at least a 90%.

Wolfdog 91 when you get up to Cattosa up the end of Arkansaw look me up we will go out to eat and talk Trapping TOM

If you ever make it up this way on the MKARNS give me a shout. We do a fair amount of work out at the Port of Catoosa.

Mike

Happy for You!!!

Congratulations wolfdog. I didn't mind traveling for work being gone when I was younger. Now I'm only 127 miles from home but to far to get back home daily and I absolutely hate being away from my wife and kids.

But I can't find anything else close in pay and benefits close to home. It's very hard on my wife and kids also.
Stock most of your money into investments and forget about it for a few decades. Then you can have options when your older and traveling may no longer be for you.

Thank you for taking us along for the ride, Wolfdog91!

Wolfdog91, that is a great career!! Keep learning and stay focused and do what you are told, work harder than the rest and stay with it. Very glad to see young people working to get the best out of life and actually have the want to get someplace in life.

Great Job!!

The tests are VERY difficult if you don't go through one of the private schools.

I agree, the testing is very difficult if you try to do it yourself. In three weeks I learned, plotting, set and drift, all that stuff that hardly anyone really uses nowadays. Even though I never operate anywhere other than the west coast, in order to pass the USCG tests i had to know worthless things like the arrangement of lights on the "Hughy P Long Bridge" somewhere on the Mississippi River. If I hadn't gone the route of the private school I never would have known that I would need to know about those lights.
It sounds like Wolfdog is on a great track.