Surface Warfare Officer training

Commander Schwartzstein works as a Maryland pilot. He spent four years on active duty sailing Army watercraft and sailed for ten years in the Merchant Marine as chief mate and first assistant engineer. He is a Navy Reserve Strategic Sealift Officer and U.S. Navy Harbor Pilot Detachment Member. A 1996 dual-license graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, he holds master’s degrees from the California State University Maritime Academy and the U.S. Air Force Air Command and Staff College, and multiple Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Credential officer endorsements. 

Articles by Joseph Schwartzstein

Merchant mariners whose ships would carry defense cargoes during a contingency must have the training to operate in a contested environment.

Bring Back the National Sealift Training Program

By Captain Joseph Schwartzstein, U.S. Merchant Marine, and Commander Christopher Anderson, U.S. Navy (Retired)
July 2020
Today’s mariners must have the tools to keep the ever-decreasing number of sealift vessels afloat and continue the flow of logistics when called on.