I don’t get it, are they the military or are they not? Aren’t the ships privately owned? Can you not be a ship captain without going to the Merchant Marine Academy?
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They’re not military, they crew civilian ships, some owned by the government. However since they were taking fire during wartime, they were granted veterans’ status. Any weapons aboard the ships during WW1 and WW2 were the responsibility of Navy sailors assigned to crew weapons (the Naval Armed Guard).
There are several paths to becoming a licensed merchant mariner (third mate) and working up the officer ranks to captain. One does involve the US Merchant Marine Academy and another involves the state maritime academies (there’s like 6 of them).
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