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Mainly I've reached a point in my career where military experience might be helpful for the future, and I am considering it. If I go through with it I'd like to work in something that my experience applies towards, and as I said at the start, some places online seemed to indicate you could have some certainty of what you'd be doing if you joined as a licensed engineer. In addition out of the military crews I have worked with I found the seabees to be the most professional, and the ones I had the most respect for. Their enlisted men and NCOs never badmouthed the work of guys doing similar work in other branches, and similarly when working with their officers they were ready to step back and respect my opinion as a PE. I also had a conversation with one of their NCOs while we were working together, and I really liked his description that they were formed to be the guys out there building things right in the teeth of everything.
Heard that from a CW4 and soldiers I worked with who were combat engineers amongst others. The fact that I have been hired in the past to do the design on remodeling and new buildings on army and air force facilities led me to believe they were not licensed.
Don't get me wrong, you are 100% correct that they are not licensed engineers, not are they expected to be--that is not their job. My point is that whoever tells you engineer officers receive two weeks of training is either speaking figuratively and derisively (the army trains these guys for two weeks and calls them enigineers) or is simply ignorant about the subject.
My dad was a career naval officer and I get the impression that his time with a seabee battalion in Vietnam was one of the most rewarding assignments of his career, but it was an assignment -- not a career posting.
Edit: I see your recent post. When my dad talks about Viet Nam (which he rarely does) he always mentions that the sailors in the seabee battalion where the hardest working guys he ever served with in spite of the oppressive heat and regardless of the danger posed by snipers, ground attacks, rocket attacks, etc. My dad was the battalion's site recon officer and he frequently (re)tells the story about standing on a hill looking over a site one day and, on the next day, a bulldozer runs over a landmine at the same area he was standing previously.
Last edited by joe from dayton; 05-22-2014 at 07:51 AM..
You can join the Navy and go to Navy OCS with a guaranteed contract for the Navy Civil Engineering Corps. Your assignment is guaranteed and that is what you will be doing. The Navy is not like the other branches when it comes to OCS. You will go in with a job assignment beforehand.
However, the CEC is much more than just the Seabees. One of my best friends is a CEC Officer and does NAVFAC work right now. You'll only do one or two tours in the Seabess throughout a 20 year career.
I believe the requirements are an engineering degree or an architecture degree.
Wrong. Only Surface Warfare Officers are on a ship. If you join to be a CEC Officer, that is exactly what you'll do.
This is incorrect. Only Unrestricted Line Officers - which includes SWO's - may command a ship (or higher up, a fleet, etc.).
Restricted Line Officers, which is essentially everything else (chaplains, doctors, intel officers, engineers, etc.) may still serve aboard ships.
For the OP, whatever your designator, the job you perform relates directly to the mission of the unit you happen to be assigned to. IF you end up with a seebee unit, it'll likely be a stint of only a few years before the Navy rotates you to a different unit/assignment. That way, you get a different experience and skill set. That doesn't mean that you'll never end up back in a seebee unit down the road, but spending a career there is probably not going to happen.
The navy has unrestricted line officers, restricted line officers and staff corps officers. CEC officers are part of the Staff Corps, as are the chaplains and doctors that you mentioned.
But if your specialty is industrial processes or EE, you might find yourself on board a ship as an engineering officer!
This is what you said. You're dead wrong. A CEC officer will not be an ENG no matter what he does. A ENG on the ship is a SWO.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beenaroundabit
This is incorrect. Only Unrestricted Line Officers - which includes SWO's - may command a ship (or higher up, a fleet, etc.).
Restricted Line Officers, which is essentially everything else (chaplains, doctors, intel officers, engineers, etc.) may still serve aboard ships.
For the OP, whatever your designator, the job you perform relates directly to the mission of the unit you happen to be assigned to. IF you end up with a seebee unit, it'll likely be a stint of only a few years before the Navy rotates you to a different unit/assignment. That way, you get a different experience and skill set. That doesn't mean that you'll never end up back in a seebee unit down the road, but spending a career there is probably not going to happen.
Maybe I wasn't clear. A CEC officer will not and cannot be an engineering Officer on a ship since they are not a SWO.
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