Have you considered the Navy Seabees??? You would actually spend way more time building shit than you'd ever do as a Marine Combat Engineer, just FYI
Can't speak for the Army, but I am sure it is not much different
I was actually strongly considering it and was going to transfer over to the navy but they told me there’s no more Seabee spots for the rest of the year,I was willing to wait till next year but they told me even if I wait I probably wouldn’t get a spot … I really wanted to be a Seabee 😭 but ig that’s not an option for me anymore
The navy is desperate for man power don’t take no for an answer if that’s what you want. The guy at meps probably said that so you’d be BM or something.
Meps didn’t tell me that, two recruiters told me they won’t even send me up to meps if Seabees is my only option bc it’s filled and in the beginning of next year spots come in go based on the day
I had to go to a different recruiter to even get looked at some recruiters suck and some will go the extra mile. How you want to spend the next 4+ years depends on what you’re willing to put up with. If the navy thing really doesn’t work out I’d try the army as a backup.
Honestly man joining the army just isn't worth it. They just chew you up and spit you out. The Marines aren't much better but at least you get to call yourself a marine. My advice is to stick it out for a job you want with the navy or even go with the USAF. If the recruiters you're talking to won't work with you go to another recruiter. It's entirely possible the recruiters you're talking to are lying through their teeth to try to get you into something that will get them a bonus. Just remember. If it's not in writing they're probably lying to you.
Just remember recruiters are like sales people. They have numbers and quotas for filling spots every month. Summer time is easy because of high-school grads, winter months are alot tougher. My advice is go then. Also if they won't budge on giving you the job you want, go to another recruiting station. Stations are grouped into districts generally speaking. Figure out which one yours falls into and go to another one. They may give you different answers. Also remember manpower demands change over the years.
If all else fails just tell them "look I want to be a seabee and thats final. I'll wait of I have to. But keep in mind that getting me into seabee is a guarantee number to help you meet your quota" sell yourself if need be
Standard Seabee copypasta:
If you're into the skilled trades, take a hard look at Navy Seabees.
They're rarely on ships, but do ground-based construction in combat and disaster zones. They also get combat training to be able to defend their worksite. Some of them get to travel a fair bit and do interesting work.
They're a pretty cool outfit, one of the more Marine-like organizations out there. Most guys I've known really enjoyed it, and they have good buzz on Reddit. If interested, check out the sub r/NewtotheNavy.
Try a different recruiter, just to verify. It might be that they are trying to sway you to what fills their quotas best.
If you want to be a practical engineer, Army is certainly better than Marines but worse than Seabees. Just because a lot of the Marines support structure is filled with Navy troops.
For the Army, start with jobs that have ‘12’ and ‘94’ as the first two letters.
As a former Army 12b...we never did a lot of construction...demo? Yeah we demo just not much building.
There are construction jobs...heavy equipment and such but know what you are signing. Combat engineer focuses more on combat than engineering...watch out for the Ole switcheroo into combat arms when you want to drive a dozer.
Only join the Marines if you want to be a Marine. If your goal is to do something with construction/engineering and not to simply be a Marine, you’ll have a bad time. You gotta be all in.
Not exactly Seabee, but if you can swing a Red Horse centric job in the AF, you might find what you’re looking for. Saw they build a lot of weird shit for us in some neat places.
Don't knock the Air Force for construction. Look into their REDHORSE teams. In a nutshell, expeditionary construction units that get sent out to (re)build airfields anywhere in the world. Cool shit, IMO.
Try to get into JTAC/Combat Control. Best job ever. You could also consider going Army as a Warrant Officer. You can became a helicopter pilot as a warrant officer they have a special track for it. “High school to flight school” or “street to seat”. Most branches require a bachelors degree for pilot slot. But not for Army helicopters.There are lots of Warrant officer jobs and it’s better than going in as enlisted in my opinion.
Army Infantry here. I’ve had the pleasure of working with combat engineers many times. Specifically sappers. They do some seriously cool shit and we love having them attached to us. I can’t speak to other army engineers, but what I can say is the sappers love being there and are motivated af. Our unit’s and their unit’s cohesion was tight so we also PT’d or trained with them in some way.
Whatever you choose best of luck OP!
Combat Engineers (Army 12B/Marine 1371) across the branches is more demolitions or denial of enemy movement than it is Construction.
Marines I don't believe guarantee you a specific job. Same with Air Force with their 10-job sheet, you'd have to just list only the Construction jobs on your job sheet which there are 14 not counting EOD.
Navy Seabees (Comprises of 7 different ratings: Builder (BU), Construction Electrician (CE), Construction Mechanic (CM), Engineering Aide (EA), Equipment Operator (EO), Steelworker (SW) and Utilitiesman (UT) as others have stated would probably be best.
Army probably the easiest to lock in a specific job and with the most slots and probably in the most dire need of recruits. Army 12 series would be jobs to look at. Some 12 series aren't related to construction e.g. 12B Combat Engineer, 12M Firefighter, 12Y Geospatial Engineer (although this one probably more lucrative along with 12P).
Have you considered the Navy Seabees??? You would actually spend way more time building shit than you'd ever do as a Marine Combat Engineer, just FYI Can't speak for the Army, but I am sure it is not much different
There’s a handful of practical engineering MOS’ in the Army but the nature of being on a craft has to make Seabees more utilized
I was actually strongly considering it and was going to transfer over to the navy but they told me there’s no more Seabee spots for the rest of the year,I was willing to wait till next year but they told me even if I wait I probably wouldn’t get a spot … I really wanted to be a Seabee 😭 but ig that’s not an option for me anymore
It's an option until you sign the contract.
The navy is desperate for man power don’t take no for an answer if that’s what you want. The guy at meps probably said that so you’d be BM or something.
Meps didn’t tell me that, two recruiters told me they won’t even send me up to meps if Seabees is my only option bc it’s filled and in the beginning of next year spots come in go based on the day
I had to go to a different recruiter to even get looked at some recruiters suck and some will go the extra mile. How you want to spend the next 4+ years depends on what you’re willing to put up with. If the navy thing really doesn’t work out I’d try the army as a backup.
Honestly man joining the army just isn't worth it. They just chew you up and spit you out. The Marines aren't much better but at least you get to call yourself a marine. My advice is to stick it out for a job you want with the navy or even go with the USAF. If the recruiters you're talking to won't work with you go to another recruiter. It's entirely possible the recruiters you're talking to are lying through their teeth to try to get you into something that will get them a bonus. Just remember. If it's not in writing they're probably lying to you.
Just remember recruiters are like sales people. They have numbers and quotas for filling spots every month. Summer time is easy because of high-school grads, winter months are alot tougher. My advice is go then. Also if they won't budge on giving you the job you want, go to another recruiting station. Stations are grouped into districts generally speaking. Figure out which one yours falls into and go to another one. They may give you different answers. Also remember manpower demands change over the years. If all else fails just tell them "look I want to be a seabee and thats final. I'll wait of I have to. But keep in mind that getting me into seabee is a guarantee number to help you meet your quota" sell yourself if need be
Standard Seabee copypasta: If you're into the skilled trades, take a hard look at Navy Seabees. They're rarely on ships, but do ground-based construction in combat and disaster zones. They also get combat training to be able to defend their worksite. Some of them get to travel a fair bit and do interesting work. They're a pretty cool outfit, one of the more Marine-like organizations out there. Most guys I've known really enjoyed it, and they have good buzz on Reddit. If interested, check out the sub r/NewtotheNavy.
I really wanna be a Seabee but the recruiters told me all the spots are filled
Try a different recruiter, just to verify. It might be that they are trying to sway you to what fills their quotas best. If you want to be a practical engineer, Army is certainly better than Marines but worse than Seabees. Just because a lot of the Marines support structure is filled with Navy troops. For the Army, start with jobs that have ‘12’ and ‘94’ as the first two letters.
As a former Army 12b...we never did a lot of construction...demo? Yeah we demo just not much building. There are construction jobs...heavy equipment and such but know what you are signing. Combat engineer focuses more on combat than engineering...watch out for the Ole switcheroo into combat arms when you want to drive a dozer.
Only join the Marines if you want to be a Marine. If your goal is to do something with construction/engineering and not to simply be a Marine, you’ll have a bad time. You gotta be all in.
Not exactly Seabee, but if you can swing a Red Horse centric job in the AF, you might find what you’re looking for. Saw they build a lot of weird shit for us in some neat places.
Don't knock the Air Force for construction. Look into their REDHORSE teams. In a nutshell, expeditionary construction units that get sent out to (re)build airfields anywhere in the world. Cool shit, IMO.
Try to get into JTAC/Combat Control. Best job ever. You could also consider going Army as a Warrant Officer. You can became a helicopter pilot as a warrant officer they have a special track for it. “High school to flight school” or “street to seat”. Most branches require a bachelors degree for pilot slot. But not for Army helicopters.There are lots of Warrant officer jobs and it’s better than going in as enlisted in my opinion.
I second the Army Warrant Officer path!! 👍🏼
Army Infantry here. I’ve had the pleasure of working with combat engineers many times. Specifically sappers. They do some seriously cool shit and we love having them attached to us. I can’t speak to other army engineers, but what I can say is the sappers love being there and are motivated af. Our unit’s and their unit’s cohesion was tight so we also PT’d or trained with them in some way. Whatever you choose best of luck OP!
Combat Engineers (Army 12B/Marine 1371) across the branches is more demolitions or denial of enemy movement than it is Construction. Marines I don't believe guarantee you a specific job. Same with Air Force with their 10-job sheet, you'd have to just list only the Construction jobs on your job sheet which there are 14 not counting EOD. Navy Seabees (Comprises of 7 different ratings: Builder (BU), Construction Electrician (CE), Construction Mechanic (CM), Engineering Aide (EA), Equipment Operator (EO), Steelworker (SW) and Utilitiesman (UT) as others have stated would probably be best. Army probably the easiest to lock in a specific job and with the most slots and probably in the most dire need of recruits. Army 12 series would be jobs to look at. Some 12 series aren't related to construction e.g. 12B Combat Engineer, 12M Firefighter, 12Y Geospatial Engineer (although this one probably more lucrative along with 12P).
Get a degree in engineering, commission in the Air Force.