Welcome to the Civil Engineering AFSC discussion blog. The purpose of this blog is to foster discussion between future Air Force officers interested in the CE career field and current officers in CE. The views expressed in this blog are solely the opinions of the individual authors and not of the United States Air Force nor the Department of Defense.
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.
The Air Force has multiple needs for mechanical engineers. The most popular needs are within the developmental engineering (62 Career Field), Acquisitions (63 Career Field), and the Civil Engineering Career Field (32 Career Field). Mechanical Engineers that enter the Civil Engineering Career field are given an AFSC of 32EXF. The "F" designates your degree and is called a shred out. The shred out is ignored unless a specific requirement (rare) calls for that degree specialty. Most CE jobs have to do with infrastructure acquisition and maintenance. We keep a base running and so we deal a lot with project management (From design through construction). You have the same job opportunities as the Environmental, Civil, Electrical Engineers, and Architects do within the career field. As far as the other AFSCs, check their blog sites for info. Most Mechanical Engineers that I new outside of the CE career field were Developmental Engineers and they did program management for Airframes such as ensuring the A-10 or F-16 stay serviceable. This is not all inclusive, its just my experience.
Sir/Ma'am, I just have a few questions about being an environmental engineer...what kind of projects do you work on? Is it mostly paperwork or do you spend time in the field? Are there exciting career opportunities in and out of the air force available to you? Has this career field lived up to your expectations for it? Sorry for all the questions but I really need some help deciding! Thanks a lot!
Jules. First off, I want to let everyone understand that the AF doesn't care about the last letter of your AFSC. That is a mapower code and has a lot to do with your degree type. As a 32EX something, you all will have the same opportunties and the career filed treats you the same regardless of the type of engineering degree you have. How the AF does use the last letter of your AFSC is if deployment taskings or AF needs call for your degree specialty, they know you have the expertise that can be tapped. I'm a structures type guy myself, so I asked a few environmental engineers for input. I was sent the following info:
Environmental projects I have personally worked on include a fire training pit remediation that include biostimulation and land farming; re-design of sewage lagoon rip-rap; multiple spill responses and cleanups; spill prevention plan updates and air and water permits. I have spent a good amount of time doing paperwork and traditional design (e.g., sitting with a draftsman, writing up specifications), but I have also put the waders on and spent a day taking water samples around the base to send to the lab. So, I would generally characterize environmental engineering as a mix of paperwork and field. You should however recognize that you will spend a significant portion of your career outside the environmental engineering discipline.
There are multiple opportunities, particularly outside the AF to work as a consultant, work with a legal firm, work as a project manager, design engineer, regulator, or set policy at the state or federal level. Within the AF you may also want to consider Bioenvironmental engineering, which focuses on environmental engineering in conjunction with occupational health.
Best and worst assignment has everything to do with the Leadership in the chain of command. Good leadership leads to a good assignment. The work is just about the same at every base. The amount of interaction with the enlisted force depends on your specific duties--some duties require more interaction with the enlisted than others. Working in a Readiness or Operations flight will involve more interaction than working in the Environmental or Engineering flights. You will typically get an opportunity to work in every flight throughout your career. Some duties will also require more paperwork than others, but all CE work (both Mil & Civ) includes a great deal of documentation.
swims120: We're not ignoring you, we're just researching an answer. My gut feel would be that you may be a little behind in some areas such as construction management and/or how statics applies to building design, but I would think that you would have a leg up in the thermodynamics area. All CE officers will go to a Management 101 course where we try to get all new officers on the same page. If you were behind, it would just take a little effort to catch up
Just to follow up with the Systems Engineering Aero question: You have the basic skill set to solve problems (that's what the 32E career field does). You may not have the technical knowledge, but hopefully, you have the ability to work with others that do have the knowledge and as a group solve the problems. Technical knowledge will come with experience.
What is the process for getting into EOD? Is it competitive? Once you become an EOD officer, will that be the focus of your career? What is a day in the life of an EOD officer?
Sir/Ma'am I have been assigned to Seymour Johnson AFB as a 32E1A. I commission in May, and was curious as to what kind of work and responsibilities I may have. Would it be similar to what you mentioned before in managing projects and overseeing civilian architecture/engineering firms? Will I be attending a tech school after ASBC? I just want to be as prepared as possible, any insight you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
Do you have any knowledge of RED HORSE? How do you get into RED HORSE? Is it competitive to get into? If you have to apply, what would a competitive application look like?
Sir/Ma'am, I wish to eventually get my PE license in environmental engineering. It is my understanding that all states require four years of qualified professional experience. Since the shred out doesn't matter in the Air Force, and projects aren't exclusively environmental, will the time in the Air Force be accredited as qualified professional experience?
14 comments:
Sir/Ma'am, I'm confused about the difference between CE Mech engineers & regular Mech engineers? Can you please help?
The Air Force has multiple needs for mechanical engineers. The most popular needs are within the developmental engineering (62 Career Field), Acquisitions (63 Career Field), and the Civil Engineering Career Field (32 Career Field).
Mechanical Engineers that enter the Civil Engineering Career field are given an AFSC of 32EXF. The "F" designates your degree and is called a shred out. The shred out is ignored unless a specific requirement (rare) calls for that degree specialty. Most CE jobs have to do with infrastructure acquisition and maintenance. We keep a base running and so we deal a lot with project management (From design through construction). You have the same job opportunities as the Environmental, Civil, Electrical Engineers, and Architects do within the career field.
As far as the other AFSCs, check their blog sites for info. Most Mechanical Engineers that I new outside of the CE career field were Developmental Engineers and they did program management for Airframes such as ensuring the A-10 or F-16 stay serviceable. This is not all inclusive, its just my experience.
Sir/Ma'am, I just have a few questions about being an environmental engineer...what kind of projects do you work on? Is it mostly paperwork or do you spend time in the field? Are there exciting career opportunities in and out of the air force available to you? Has this career field lived up to your expectations for it? Sorry for all the questions but I really need some help deciding! Thanks a lot!
Jules. First off, I want to let everyone understand that the AF doesn't care about the last letter of your AFSC. That is a mapower code and has a lot to do with your degree type. As a 32EX something, you all will have the same opportunties and the career filed treats you the same regardless of the type of engineering degree you have. How the AF does use the last letter of your AFSC is if deployment taskings or AF needs call for your degree specialty, they know you have the expertise that can be tapped. I'm a structures type guy myself, so I asked a few environmental engineers for input. I was sent the following info:
Environmental projects I have personally worked on include a fire training pit remediation that include biostimulation and land farming; re-design of sewage lagoon rip-rap; multiple spill responses and cleanups; spill prevention plan updates and air and water permits. I have spent a good amount of time doing paperwork and traditional design (e.g., sitting with a draftsman, writing up specifications), but I have also put the waders on and spent a day taking water samples around the base to send to the lab. So, I would generally characterize environmental engineering as a mix of paperwork and field. You should however recognize that you will spend a significant portion of your career outside the environmental engineering discipline.
There are multiple opportunities, particularly outside the AF to work as a consultant, work with a legal firm, work as a project manager, design engineer, regulator, or set policy at the state or federal level. Within the AF you may also want to consider Bioenvironmental engineering, which focuses on environmental engineering in conjunction with occupational health.
How much of the CE do you get to do as an officer & how much of it is just overseeing enlisted troops or doing paperwork?
Best and worst assignment has everything to do with the Leadership in the chain of command. Good leadership leads to a good assignment. The work is just about the same at every base. The amount of interaction with the enlisted force depends on your specific duties--some duties require more interaction with the enlisted than others. Working in a Readiness or Operations flight will involve more interaction than working in the Environmental or Engineering flights. You will typically get an opportunity to work in every flight throughout your career. Some duties will also require more paperwork than others, but all CE work (both Mil & Civ) includes a great deal of documentation.
As an Systems Engr Aero guy, I was told I can be in the CE career field. Will I be behind?
swims120: We're not ignoring you, we're just researching an answer. My gut feel would be that you may be a little behind in some areas such as construction management and/or how statics applies to building design, but I would think that you would have a leg up in the thermodynamics area. All CE officers will go to a Management 101 course where we try to get all new officers on the same page. If you were behind, it would just take a little effort to catch up
Just to follow up with the Systems Engineering Aero question: You have the basic skill set to solve problems (that's what the 32E career field does). You may not have the technical knowledge, but hopefully, you have the ability to work with others that do have the knowledge and as a group solve the problems. Technical knowledge will come with experience.
What is the process for getting into EOD? Is it competitive? Once you become an EOD officer, will that be the focus of your career? What is a day in the life of an EOD officer?
Sir/Ma'am I have been assigned to Seymour Johnson AFB as a 32E1A. I commission in May, and was curious as to what kind of work and responsibilities I may have. Would it be similar to what you mentioned before in managing projects and overseeing civilian architecture/engineering firms? Will I be attending a tech school after ASBC? I just want to be as prepared as possible, any insight you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
Sir/Ma'am,
Do you have any knowledge of RED HORSE? How do you get into RED HORSE? Is it competitive to get into? If you have to apply, what would a competitive application look like?
Sir/Ma'am,
I wish to eventually get my PE license in environmental engineering. It is my understanding that all states require four years of qualified professional experience. Since the shred out doesn't matter in the Air Force, and projects aren't exclusively environmental, will the time in the Air Force be accredited as qualified professional experience?
Is there a specific officer AFSC for fire protection?
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