overseas duty

[tryingtojoin]

I don‘t know if this info is accurate but I heard that at current UN & NATO personnel levels, it will take 900 years to clear the land mines from Bosnia. If this is the case is it not reasonable to expect to be shipped straight there after training, or at least be posted to a regiment that is schedueled to go there?, regardless of what regmnt you wish to go to, or branch of engineering you wish to specialize in. And can I pick the regiment I would like to be posted to?

 

[ender]

It‘s my understanding that Canadian engineers are now less involved in the actual clearing of land mines and more in the training of local peoples to do it themsleves. Canadan‘s will mostly clear land mines now if thier own people get stuck in a minefield.

What are you refering to as per "branch of engineering you wish to specialize in". I think ( again, I could be wrong) that many of the other engineering trades are air force/navy related. With the army I believe there are only construction engineers and combat engineers. Unlike the Americans, we don‘t have such things as dedicated bridging or mine clearance companies. A combat engineer (041) does all the functions.

 

[tryingtojoin]

thanks for the input, I didn‘t know that engineers didn‘t specialize after basic engineering school. That just makes it a more exciting trade to go into.Why would anyone go in as a clerk when they could blow stuff up and become a combat diver? By the way, what exactly do combat divers do?

 

[armybuck041]

Ender is quite right, our Sappers are only involved with clearing mines that are a "Force Threat". Such as those laid in close proximity to roads, sites and areas used by the contingent. One thing that we do a lot of, is destroying UXO‘s, and Ammo Caches left over from the war. From my personal experiences, we destroyed 10 times more UXO‘s than mines.

There is a small number of canadians attached to a "Mine Action Team" which supervises trained locals clearing mines etc.

 

[rceme_rat]

If Tryingtojoin is definitely headed for a CER and wondered what kinds of tasks and/or specialization they have, I will defer to a Sapper (but I generally concur that it is construction engineer, combat engineer, and combat diver).

Tryingtojoin‘s question re engineering specialization raises the question of academic specialization and availability of non-Combat Engineering occupations. Academic specialization can be either with respect to which classifications employ which kinds of engineers, or to actual performance of specialized engineering tasks.

If clearing mindfields and building/destroying bridges is not the kind of engineering Tryingtojoin has in mind, but mud, muck and everything green is somehow preferable to clean sheets, there are other options, particularly if Tryingtojoin is interested in being an officer. Sigs officers are in fact "CELE (Land)". Maintenance officers are "EME". The last "E" on each of those is "Engineer". NCM occupations mirroring those classifications are less engineering and more technician but address the same issue.

If the question is one of academics -- different engineering degrees can lead to different classifications. Combat Engineers tend to have more civil engineers among their ranks; Sigs like electrical engineers; EME likes electrical engineers and mechanical engineers. Chemical engineers, engineering management types, etc. have all found homes in the army. Nautical engineers and aeronautical engineers might find better homes elsewhere

As for specialization within an engineering discipline, this is much rarer - chemical engineers working in NDHQ on fuels or biowarfare are good examples. Not many of them!

All of which is moot if you‘re a combat engineer, but I couldn‘t resist reminding the Engineers that they aren‘t the only engineers in the Army.

 

[Yard Ape]

. . . just the only engineers in the combat arms.

Yard Ape