We've changed the post for this career field to have one all encompassing post. Rather than have seperate posts asking what's it like to be a General Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Civil Engineer, Environmental Engineer, etc. we've changed it to a single post so that you can understand how the AF uses the degree types within the Civil Engineering (32E) Career field.
The most important thing to understand is that, for the most part, the two alpha-numeric codes that appear in the AFSC after the 32E are not looked at that much. The fourth alpha-numeric symbol is an experience identifier (1,3, or 4) and has to do with your rank. The last Alpha-numeric character for an assession is usually one of the following: 32E1A -- Architect, 32E1C -- Civil Engineer, 32E1E -- Electrical Engineer, 32E1F -- Mechanical Engineer, 32E1G -- General Engineer, 32E1J -- Environmental Engineer. All accredited engineering degree programs qualify for at least two of the AFSCs above: The one associated with your degree and the General Engineer (32E1G). All the extra letter does is allow the AF to do manpower calculations. They have authorizations for X number of engineers with exact degrees and then we have X number of authorizations for additional engineers. Anyone with an ABET accreddited engineering degree qualifies. "General Engineering" as a major is not an ABET accredited degree and will disqualify you from being able to have any 32E AFSC.
As far as assignments and job opportunities, all versions of the 32E AFSC are treated the same. You can do any 32E job unless in a rare instance, the specific degree/expertise is coded into the job. I've only seen this in deployment tasking orders and I know of 4 or 5 other jobs that have a shred out (degree specialty) that is mandatory. Other than that, you are elligible regardless of your specific 32E AFSC for all 32E jobs. You will be expected at times to work outside of your specialty. See the Day in the Life of A Civil Engineer (32E) Post for more info.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Questions
Cadets, post questions here as comments on this post that you'd like to see turned into new threads for discussion.
A day in the life of a CE officer (32E)
Unfortunately, their is not really a typical day in the life of a CE officer. It all depends on what job you have and what squadron your in. For an accession, lets go with the assumption that you will be assigned to a CE squadron at an Air Force Base. We'll try to have someone create a post for a typical day for a RED HORSE squadron but just understand that they RED HORSE positions have been rare for an assession to get because so many people want the positions.
At a squadron, we have multiple positions. Typically, you will get rotated through the different parts of a squadron to get breadth. There are 3-4 officer positions within the engineering flight (Project management from design through construction), 1 or 2 positions within the environmental flight (project management and compliance issues), 2 or 3 officer positions in the operations flight (maintenance engineering: smaller value infrastructure projects to repair/maintain the infrastructure of the base and usually all road/roofing/HVAC/electrical maintenance contracts), 1 officer in the Readiness Flight (Chemical Warfare, Base Emergency/Disaster Planning, Deployment Manager for the squadron). Other positions that may exist at the base are a resources flight chief (budget and real estate manager) and an Explosive Ordinance Diposal Flight Commander (Must be selected for and complete EOD School to qualify for this job).
For most jobs, the typical day consists of managing projects, going on job site inspections, working with your enlisted troops/counterparts. Project Management consists of working with civilian engineering firms and consulting/reviewing their engineering plans and at the same time you may be able to do small, in-house designs. Typically one or two days a month you will do squadron training for deployments/readiness requirements.
Your opportunities for leadership experience is unlimited. From day one, you will be in an authority position of some sort with respect to the enlisted troops in your squadron and civilians. This should get some discussion started
At a squadron, we have multiple positions. Typically, you will get rotated through the different parts of a squadron to get breadth. There are 3-4 officer positions within the engineering flight (Project management from design through construction), 1 or 2 positions within the environmental flight (project management and compliance issues), 2 or 3 officer positions in the operations flight (maintenance engineering: smaller value infrastructure projects to repair/maintain the infrastructure of the base and usually all road/roofing/HVAC/electrical maintenance contracts), 1 officer in the Readiness Flight (Chemical Warfare, Base Emergency/Disaster Planning, Deployment Manager for the squadron). Other positions that may exist at the base are a resources flight chief (budget and real estate manager) and an Explosive Ordinance Diposal Flight Commander (Must be selected for and complete EOD School to qualify for this job).
For most jobs, the typical day consists of managing projects, going on job site inspections, working with your enlisted troops/counterparts. Project Management consists of working with civilian engineering firms and consulting/reviewing their engineering plans and at the same time you may be able to do small, in-house designs. Typically one or two days a month you will do squadron training for deployments/readiness requirements.
Your opportunities for leadership experience is unlimited. From day one, you will be in an authority position of some sort with respect to the enlisted troops in your squadron and civilians. This should get some discussion started
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