Combat Engineers

[fusilier]

I am currently in the middle of a component transfer from reserve infantry to reg force field engineer.  Can anyone give me an idea of what to look forward to/ prepare for?

 

[Soldier of Fortune]

I would like to know a little bit about the Field Engineer too. I thought I read somewhere on a different site that they plan attacks, and decide like how to destroy stuff. I read the other posts and they fight in front of the Infantry and clear objects and stuff. And how long do you have to train to become a field engineer. do you have to go to college/ university to become one?

 

[McG]

By the text book the roll of the Engineers is "To assist freindly troops to live, move and fight, and to deny the same to the enemy." The second role of the Engineers is "To fight as infantry." To fulfill these roles there are five groups of Engineer tasks:

Mobility: natural and artificial obstacle breaching/destruction, construction and maintenance of bridges and roads.

Counter Mobility: Emplacement of obstacles, barriers and mines for rear area security, flank protection, or to deny the use of terrain to the enemy.

Enhance Survivability: the removal of battle feild hazzards (mines and UXO), assistance in cam & concealment, conduct of non-electronic deception, and the construction of field fortifications for the protection of personel and equipment.

Sustainment Engineering: vertical and horozontal construction (buildings, roads, & airfields), provision of utilities (water and elcetricity), rear area restoration, and maintence of lines of comunication (roads, railways, & bridges).

Geomatics: surveying and mapping.

With the technical stuff aside lets get to the heart of the questions. Yes, the engineers are often fighting forward of the infantry and armour. We often lead the other combat arms into battle. Prior to an assult, Engineers may spend the night crawling through the aproaches , proding for and clearing mines and setting charges destroy obstacles. Or, engineers can plow through right at the front of the assult in the Armoured Engineer Vehicle (AEV) and leave an obstacle free path for tanks and APC‘s to follow.

While Engineers do not plan the attack, they do provide a major roll in advising the comander where and how breaches can be made, where obstacles should be placed, what types of obstacles should be employed, and any other engineering capabilities. This advice will have a significant impact on how the battle is conducted.

Do you need university or collage? Only if you plan to join as an officer, in which case a BEng of BEngSci is desired. If you join as an NCM you will eventually recieve the equivalent to a collage education through your training (however, you will not get a fancy diploma to hang on your wall).

What can you expect? A lot of heavy lifting. Engineers build a lot of prefabricated bridges (MGB and ACRROW) which require the lifting of some very heavy pannels. Uperbody strength is an asset on a bridge build (and if you are tall you can expect to be doing more lifting as the short people cannot always reach the top pannels). You can also look forward to working with construction equipment, and (everybody‘s favorite) explosives. Engineers are the demolitions experts of the army.

SoF, another aspect you may be intrested in is the Combat Diver. This is the Exclusive domain of Army Engineers.

And, finaly, here is some additional information taken from the recruiting website and links to the site.

Field Engineer (041)

The role of the Field Engineers (FD ENGR) is to assist their own troops to live, move and fight on the battlefield, and to deny enemy troops the same ability. As combat troops, they are an important member of the Infantry/Armour/Artillery/Field Engineer Combat Arms team on the battlefield.
The men and women employed in this occupation can be compared to various tradespersons in a large and versatile construction firm; however, they work under far more difficult and challenging conditions.

What They Do:

Construct accommodations in the field;
Construct runways;
Construct and maintain roads, airfields, heliports, bridges, causeways and rafts;
Construct and maintain buildings for the protection of personnel, equipment, aircraft and vehicles;
Construct field defences and obstacles;
Provide drinking water by testing, purification, filtration and construction of local distribution systems;
Detect and dispose of land mines, booby traps and bulk explosives;
Deny enemy mobility on the battlefield by demolishing roads and bridges, and laying minefields and booby traps;
Demolish enemy roads, airfields and buildings
Maintain engineering equipment, weapons, vehicles and supplies;
Provide engineer communications on the battlefield; and
Fight to protect themselves, or in an infantry defensive role in land battles, when required.

In combat and training situations, Field Engineers works under very demanding physical conditions, outdoors and exposed to the elements for extended periods, day and night. However, during non-combat and non-training times, working and living conditions are similar to other military personnel—living at home or in barrack type accommodation.
Working conditions often include risk of bodily injury and exposure to noise, vibration, dust or fumes. Mental stress can be high when working under adverse conditions with explosives, mines or booby traps, or with limited time to complete an assignment.

Personnel who demonstrate the required ability and ambition will undertake advanced MOC training through formal courses or on-job training as they progress in their careers. Specialty training may also be available. Field Engineers who have completed their qualification level 4 can apply for the Field Engineer Equipment Operator occupation (042).

Field Engineer (041)
Army Engineering Officer (24)

** The Field Engineer (041) and Field Engineer Equipment Operator (042) have just been reunified into Field Engineer (043). The recruiting site has yet to be updated. **

 

[Nfld Sapper]

Just looking over some of the posts here and noticed the one by McG stating that 042 and 041 have been unified to 043, 043 will not come into exsitience until Jan. 2002. 042 has been unfied with 041.

Chimo!

 

[ender]

Engineers rule!

I was going to post stuff on what Sappers do but McG has covered it pretty well so I won‘t. What Iike about being a Sapper is that we always do different things. And that even at Private level you are expected to be able to think, and to improvise. "You‘re and Engineer, you figure it out" is a common phrase at my unit. And you do.

Chimo!

 

[Duotone81]

I have a dumb question to ask but can‘t figure it out so might as well ask. I have a package with all the Combat Engineer info and the MOC is 041 but on the dnd site it‘s 043. Are there 2 different trades closely related that i missed?

 

[The_Falcon]

The MOC 041 is for Field Engineer. It has been discontiued and been replaced by MOC 043 Combat Engineer. Other than that I do not know the difference

 

[zoran]

Hi everybody, I am currently doing a research report on different engineering careers available in Canada, and I would like to ask a few general questions about Combat Engineering. If anybody can answer these questions for me before Friday I would be very grateful. Here they are:

1. Give a general description of the daily duties of a Combat Engineer.

2. What are some personality traits or characteristics that they possess?

3. What is the pay range?

4. What is the certification required to become a Combat Engineer.


Thanks in advance to anybody that replies, as this is a very important (read: Summative) project and I need detailed information.

 

[McG]

1. A "typical day" would vary greatly depending on if the Cbt Engr is in garrison, in the field, or deployed on a mission.  A sapper in a Fd Sect will also experience life differently than a sapper in resources troop.  What do you want to know about?

3.  Same pay as every other non-spec trade in the CF.  (Do a search as the details are posted on this site)

4.  Same as the basic requirements to join the Infantry and most other trades.  (Do a search as the details are posted on this site)

 

[zoran]

I need to know the duties that they perform while on a mission, some of the things Combat Engineers routinely do, not something that happens once in a blue moon...as for the others, do you know where on the site they are posted?
Oh and what about the characteristics and personality traits that Combat Engineers possess?

 

[arctictern]

I got most of my information from http://www.recruiting.forces.gc.ca/engraph/army/jobs_e.aspx but I have summarized it for your questions.

1. Give a general description of the daily duties of a Combat Engineer.

Combat Engineers have the following primary duties:

  - Construct and maintain roads, airfields, heliports, bridges, causeways, rafts, permanent and temporary buildings;
  - Construct field defences and obstacles;
  - Provide drinking water by testing, purifying and filtering local supplies and by constructing local distribution systems;
  - Detect and dispose of mines, booby traps and bulk explosives;
  - Deny mobility to the enemy on the battlefield by demolishing roads and bridges, and laying minefields and booby traps;
  - Maintain and operate engineering equipment, including weapons, vehicles, heavy equipment and supplies;
  - Provide engineer communications on the battlefield; and
  - When necessary, fight as infantry (includes use of personal weapons, reconnaissance and section-level tactics).

2. What are some personality traits or characteristics that they possess?

Combat Engineers should enjoy outdoor work, be physically fit and mechanically and technically oriented, and be resourceful, innovative and self-reliant in nature. They should also be good learners with good hand-eye co-ordination and manual dexterity. Above-average mathematical ability is required for promotion to the higher ranks.

3. What is the pay range?

I am not sure what the pay range is but when you first join the CF as Full-Time Regular Force you start out at about $2100 a month.
(for more info click this link http://www.recruiting.forces.gc.ca/media/pdf/Reserve_benefits_en.pdf)

4. What is the certification required to become a Combat Engineer.

Not sure what you mean by this question but visit this link and I think it will answer your questions.
http://www.recruiting.forces.gc.ca/engraph/howtojoin/eligibility_e.aspx

 

[zoran]

thanks a lot, that really helped  ;D

 

[ArmyRick]

As an infantry who has worked with sappers, you guys are every bit as hard core as infantry ! It takes some serious nuts and brains to be a sapper !

 

[McG]

can you specialize in something like explosives? after takeing all basic courses ofcouse

There are many specializations you can get as an engineer:

• Explosive Ordnance Disposal
• Heavy Equipment
• Bridge design & inspection
• Combat Diving
• Water Purification
• etc

 

[043]

You want to know what a Combat Engineer does on a daily basis? It is really no different in garrison or on Operation or Exercise........we train. There is nothing worse then having troops sitting around in Tp Stores cleaning shovels or doing squat. Our section commanders are very skilled and are able to ramp up trg on a moments notice. As well, the parking lot of an Engineer Regiment has many many resources laying around in it that are available for trg on: Bridging Equipment (how long does it take to set up a building frame?), ropes and pulleys, trg mines, etc.

During an operation, your Tp Leadership has to have the ability to look into the future, that way they can have you rehearsing your skills so when you get a task, you are squared away. As well, Engr's posess a large quantity of equipment that requires constant trg and maintenance. For example, with the LAV 3, there is a lot of maint that is required. Mine detectors take little time to fire up so there is ample opportunity to train on those.

Just a sample........there should be no bored troops. The soldier of today is highly intelligent and by shining shovels or sitting around collecting dust does not do them justice. Challenge your men at all times.

Chimo!!

 

[Rouge]

Hello All,

Another thread was started asking individuals what they felt were the least appealing aspects of the infantry (http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/41790.0.html).  I have a similar question regarding the combat engineer.  I have my interview at the end of this month and wanted to make certain I would have time to gather a few more answers. 

So here's the question: What are the least appealing aspects of being a combat engineer?

Everything I've been able to dig up about the sapper seems to tell me sleep is something I'll rarely have enough of and the physical demands will be huge.  Paracowboy started an awesome thread regarding fitness which I've been using it to prep myself.  It's sure to be beneficial to anyone wanting to get into better shape so here's the link http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/33109.0.html

I'm a 29 year old male applying as a NCM and consider myself in good shape.  None the less I'd be lying if I thought perhaps my body wouldn't be up to the beating (though my mind is  >).  I appreciate any information/feedback/anecdotes I might be able to put down on my 'preparing for the interview' sheet.  I've done a search for a similar post but didn't find any (sincerely hope i didn't miss any). 

Thanks,

Rouge.

 

[HItorMiss]

Least Appealing....


NOT being Infantry HAHAHAHAHA! >

Seriously though I got nothing but respect for the Engineers, they are Hard MOFO's the lot of them.

 

[NL_engineer]

From an Engineer, the least appealing part of the job is....(no offence to any one)...... working with the Infantry.

Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of Infantry friends, but most of there higher ups don't seem to know what we do, and won't take the time to find out; let alone ask.

Just a few quoits from some infantry people I have worked with (all Sargent's or above)
"We don't need the engineers to Clair a path through a mine field, we can just walk around it"
"Why do we want you to lay a mine field, when my troops can probably do a better job" from an officer
"Why do we need the door blown off, we can just bash it in"
And the best of all:
"The engineers are best employed cleaning up after us real soldiers"

 

[Sapper6]

NL_engineer,

Careful my friend.  I know you are entitled to your opinion, but let's be as professional as possible.  For every comment you have heard, I can give you twice as many form "higher up" infantry Sr NCOs/officers that know exactly what we do and employ us properly.

Rouge,

I personally think you are looking at your dilemma a#@ backwards.  Why look for all the negative stuff on a trade instead of focusing on the good points?  You should base your decision on what interests you, not what guys say is the crap part.  Whether you are a Gunner, Infantryman, Crewman or Sapper, there will always be someone who can relate a story that is bad news.  I would suggest, there are more good times than bad.  So pick what turns you on.

Let's not make this into a flame war.

Sapper 6 out.

 

[Rouge]

Rouge,

I personally think you are looking at your dilemma a#@ backwards.  Why look for all the negative stuff on a trade instead of focusing on the good points?  You should base your decision on what interests you, not what guys say is the crap part.  Whether you are a Gunner, Infantryman, Crewman or Sapper, there will always be someone who can relate a story that is bad news.  I would suggest, there are more good times than bad.  So pick what turns you on.

Let's not make this into a flame war.

Sapper 6 out.

Hi Sappe6

Certainly had not considered looking at it from this point of view (flame war).  I was interested in hearing something like "You'll find yourself doing __________ often enough".  I thought the same question in the infantry thread was informative and funny so I was interested in hearing what the engineers would answer.  Having said that; maybe i'll come back to answer my own question about the trade in a few years. 

Thanks,
Rouge