Did you just ask yourself, “The Marine Corps has engineers?” The answer is YES!
The United States Marine Corps has a huge engineering field, ranging in all sorts of military occupational specialties (MOS). Within these MOS options are metal workers (better known as welders), engineer equipment mechanics, small craft mechanics, Assault breacher vehicle/joint assault bridge (JAB) mechanics, engineer equipment operators, engineer equipment chiefs, engineer assistants, and combat engineers. Out of all of these options, an individual can cross train becoming extremely vital to the Corps.
Have you ever driven down the highway and actually looked at the road? Have you ever thought, “How does a road become a road?” What about driving along the coast and seeing a cargo ship out at sea and wondering, “How do things get loaded onto a vessel?” That is the job of engineers. Not the kind that design and build houses; but the ones that design and build roads, aircraft runways, helicopter pads; engineers that pick up and move shipping containers ranging in size from 20 feet to 40 feet in length. What about salvaging a fighter jet that may have crashed to return it to base?
There are other engineers that can turn muddy water into 100% clean, clear, refreshing water; or provide energy, heat, and/or air conditioning even in the most sever weather. Others can strategically build obstacles designed to maneuver the enemy into a trap or a less than fortunate situation; or reverse the obstacles to provide support and cover to protect the themselves from an enemy assault.
First focus on the Heavy Equipment Operators. The basic operator training will provide an individual with seven licenses to various equipment. An individual who has obtained these seven licenses could literally use them all to build a road in some way, shape or form. Although all seven pieces of gear can work to make a road or aircraft runway, there are four major contributers for these tasks.
Heavy Equipment 