i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
(OP)
any tips or suggestions?
thanks,
thanks,
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i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
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RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
If you can't get a commission, then the experience is not quite as well thought of by industry as preparation for an Engineering career.
David
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
is it hard to get a commission as an officer?
also what are the disadvantages of working for military as engineer for good/long term?
thanks,
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
Don't take my word on this, but Air force and Navy officers actually function somewhat like engineers, but soon move to more of a managerial position working with civilians.
Air force engineering is what I would have done after I got my degree (10 years army), but an Iraq injury gave me some disability which precluded me from attending OCS.
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
The thing I did not like about the experience is that I was assigned a construction MOS of 1331 from DA, with a construction specialty and special training from the Army, but was slotted to a combat engineer battalion position (1328 MOS) where I did absolutely no engineering for four years. The "engineering" was laying minefields, constructing obstacles, bridge building, and demolitions. Doing by a cookbook, not original design.
Bottom line, if you do join, go in knowing that you may not be doing any design engineering. Very few do. However, as an officer, you will have time to learn and practice management skills.
To be an Army officer you have three options - West Point, ROTC, or OCS. OCS would probably be the quickest for you, but you have to be enlisted first, apply and be accepted.
Good luck.
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
that sounds good to me, i've always wanted to be in site supervising construction.
you said you had an injury, how dangerous is it for engineers if he is assigned to iraq?
thanks,
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
ok thanks, i'll look into OCS.
do you think i will qualify even if my experience are all in Oil and Gas?
Do they have "technical" exam?
I do have a PE license, will it help?
Thanks,
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
There are also engineers involved in various R & D programs, and there are engineers involved in several other scopes of work.
There are commissioning programs available for degreed applicants, though, and a conversation with a recruiter will get you more details than I have.
Just make sure you know EXACTLY what you're getting into before you sign anything. Some recruiters are masters of "bait and switch".
old field guy
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
thanks,
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
TTFN
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RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
They are mostly involved in more management activities, though where some technical knowledge is required. Corps of Engineers looking after levies and the like might be a bit different but generally speaking I'd say what I said holds true across the services.
Even those involved in R & D programs don't generally get very deep into the technical details - they are more about project management.
Most of the more technical stuff is done by govt civilians or even contractors.
Within reason, once you've taken the queens schilling (or I suppose Presidents Nickel) they can do with you pretty much what they want. Ever heard of 'stop loss' and the like?
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
Like my old boss, who was in the back seat of a Harrier as the Squadron Engineering Officer on a test flight when the main Landing wheels fell off. It was up to him to make the call on if the pilot should try landing on the out riggers & nose gear, or do a wheels up landing with the resultant damage.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
...And the notion of the FACT that you are theirs and they will put you where THEY need you. I say that though with tongue in cheek as I was granted a compassionate reassignment to the Northwest to be with my father as he was passing away from cancer. Sometimes, the Army does listen to your needs. Sometimes...
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
thanks, honestly i am jobless and looking where else i can work that's why i thought about going to military..
i'll probably pass for now.. i'll reconsider it later..
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
TTFN
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RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
It's not for everyone and you need to be in a right frame of mind because some of the work / tasks that you'll encounter or assigned to can be mentally and emotionally taxing, not to mention being physically fit as a given.
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
What degree? What do you like doing? (Mechanical? Structural? Thermo and fluids? Power plant ops or simple mechanical component design?
What jobs did you do before now (work or school or whatever) and what did enjoy doing (during summer school or in previous jobs?
My answers (on which service and what fields in what service) will depend on what your answers are. 8<) I've known (family members) engineers in the USAF in aircraft maintenance and repair, USAF computers/radars/air plane planning, flight control/weather control, USN reactor operations, USN ship construction and conversion and repair, Army missile design and testing, USN field and base construction and design as SeaBee engineers - NOT the "Army destruction and blow-up" jobs mentioned above! .... Also regular USN engineers working as ship officers running gas turbine maintenance and operation, nuclear operations, and electronics and ship maintenance.
For my brother - who signed in after his BS degree, Officer Candidate school was 90 days, then you have a 4-5 year commitment to serve. For me, I had a 4-year scholarship then 1 year nuclear power school, then a 6 year service - but I added 5 more years running shipyard nuclear repairs. My college roommate took a 4 year BSCE then ran construction projects for the Navy for 5 years. My younger brother never flew with the USAF after his commision, but ran computer and electronics projects worldwide for 20 years, then "retired" at age 43. Etc.
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
i recently had an interview with Bechtel but didnt get the job.. maybe becoz i didnt wear a suit just a tie.. hahahaha
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
Eons ago a group of us university engineering students (members of student chapter of AIAA...airplane geeks) arranged a road trip to Eglin AFB in Ft. Walton Beach FL. USAF recruiters showed up in two USAF vans for the trip. We climbed in and were pleasantly surprised to find there was a half-55 gallon drum full of ice & beer in each. The USAF officers drove us while we got tanked. We were housed for the weekend in nice quarters, had access to the officer's club (more free beer), and got a tour of the facilities. At the time Eglin was the laboratory site for testing all non-nuclear weapons the USAF had. Stinking cool stuff to a wide-eyed student. When I asked about joing the USAF to fly jets, the General in charge of us (he had used the AF to fund his Ph.D.) replied "If you joined the Air Force, we'd want you to be engineers, not pilots."
Also looked into the Navy for their Nuclear Engineer program. Those sailors were frothing at the mouth for new engineers and willing to pay handsomely for them.
Later I attended an ASME meeting and listened to a presentation by an Army Engineer. This young woman was shipped to Antartica. She related the story that when she arrived, her duty assignment was to build a quay or wharf for docking cargo ships in the ice. She stated that she had no experience with this. The Commander's reply was something like "Well, you're the engineer...figure it out."
Personally, after all these years, I wonder if I should have joined the USAF or USN. The 20+ years in the service required for full pension (also would have been in non-combat roles) would have slipped by without notice.
TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
Yes! You are "real" engineer. Since you're a PE already (which is a requirement for promotion in the CEC) and since you have a CE degree already, you only need attend the 90 days Officer Candidate school in Newport RI. (Kind of like a "boot camp" for newbie officers, they need to see if you can take orders before you're commissioned and required (and trusted) to give orders. My older brother went through OCS in 77, then was a Navy nuclear engineer, then sub officer, now is at the South Texas nuclear plant running new construction there.)
htt
Yes, it's a recruiting web page = They are advertising after all.
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
42-90 days, tough school(or it use to be) Learn to run adn do puch-ups
do you think i will qualify even if my experience are all in Oil and Gas?" Most of the Navy and all the Army runs on Oil adn Gas.
"Do they have "technical" exam?" no really but if the did you would pass it with your PE.
have allready passed it -see below
"I do have a PE license, will it help?" -it will help a lot.
Check the pay-it may be more than you think.
You will learn Leadership, you won't be one on the wimpy bosses people complain abbout on variou groups on eng-tips.
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
Well, there are enough stories about green louies being fragged...
However, it would seem to me that there's some misconception about OCS. It's not an engineering discipline: http://
TTFN
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RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
There are slugs in both groups, but the Vet population seems to have a somewhat smaller community of slugs (maybe the worst of them got shot by "friendly fire"? It doesn't pay to be incompetent in leading people with guns).
David
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
No, that's only partially correct (in some cases) but completely incorrect for this particular case: The OP is specifically concerned about USN Engineering jobs - and in particular seems to be interested in the Civil Engineering Corp (CEC) side. (Army may be similar - don't know and so won't comment.) (My Navy years were Navy Nuclear (reactor operations and construction and testing) , then Engineering Duty Officer (shipyard submarine construction, repair, and conversion. He could apply for that as well, but as a CE, ships and reactor power plants probably aren't his interest, since he's already earned a PE in civil.)
But - both of these professionally-oriented "real engineering" communities have a COMMON entry point via the 90 days OCS training for "already graduated" engineers. OCS is ALSO an entry point for Navy Reactor operational submarine officers though a different program. And most of those officer candidates are engineers.
BUT ... as you point out correctly, OCS is ALSO used by other parts of the Navy for "already graduated" people who are NOT selected for any specific engineering jobs. (Though these other people may also be engineers, they probably are not.) These men and women will also be commissioned, also get promoted, also go to schools, and many do very well. But they will NOT be "engineers" working professionally. They'll just be regular officers doing regular officer stuff.
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
I spent 4 years in the Navy. I enjoyed it, but if I where to do it over again it would be as an officer.
http://www.justminisplits.com
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
When I was about 51 (years old), I got a very nice recuiting letter from a "Major" asking if I would like to join the Army in an Engineering capacity. Just for grins - I called her back.
I explained that I was 51 and really didn't think the Army wanted or needed me. She said "On the contrary - lets talk" and so we did.
They needed sanitation engineers (presumably to build outhouses in Iraq). Told her I was a structural and she explained that the Army would be happy to train me. Nothing against any of you who specialize in that area - but frankly - I hated the one and ONLY one college course I had to take in that area - and just passed.
What about my age?? She asked if I had any military experience. Only had some Air Force ROTC at the end of the Viet Nam war in an attempt to stay in college and join up later with a degree so I could go fly. After the war was over - they made it clear that they had about 30,000 pilots they didn't need and I was gone.
But she explained that if I had 6 years of military (in any service) they would add that to the magical number of 45 - come up with 51 and I would be eleigible for re-instatment. I missed it by that much. We left on good terms. I guess they REALLY needed Sanitation Engineers!!!
RE: i'm considering joining the army or navy engineers
If it aint broke, break it, take it apart and make it better.. Thats engineering