🔍 Key Concepts

• Voluntary surrender vs. revocation/suspension of a Merchant Mariner Credential • Procedural due process rights in USCG marine casualty / misconduct investigations • What it means legally to waive hearing rights when dealing with an investigating officer

💭 Think About

• Ask yourself: If you voluntarily hand over (surrender) your credential during an investigation, what key legal protection might the Coast Guard want to be sure you clearly understand you are giving up? • Consider whether the Coast Guard can promise a new credential in a set time period just because you surrendered it voluntarily, or whether that would depend on a later evaluation. • Think about whether a voluntary surrender is about temporary custody of a document or about giving up specific rights connected to formal suspension and revocation proceedings.

✅ Before You Answer

• Verify which option specifically involves waiver of procedural rights, such as the right to a hearing. • Check whether there is any regulatory guarantee of automatic re‑issuance in 5 years just by surrendering the credential—does that sound like something the Coast Guard can promise in advance? • Consider whether the phrase "for 5 years" correctly matches how voluntary surrender and waiver of rights actually work in USCG merchant mariner discipline procedures.