# Army Engineer Troops Used in Combat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-engineer-troops-used-in-combat/541215 "2010-05-29T19:31:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-engineer-troops-used-in-combat/541215/21 "2010-05-31T00:01:15Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > “First In, Last Out” And the Seabees greet them going both ways. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-engineer-troops-used-in-combat/541215/22 "2010-05-31T01:50:47Z")
I am (or was) an Infantryman. Engineers are just about as neat as the Infantry. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-engineer-troops-used-in-combat/541215/23 "2010-05-31T02:56:59Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > And the Seabees greet them going both ways. 😃 There was a story in the book [Can Do!](http://www.amazon.com/Story-Seabees-William-Bradford-Huie/dp/1436706351/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275274249&sr=8-1)that the Marines made an amphibious assault on an island in the Pacific. Unknown to them, the day before, a group of Seabees put ashore to see if an airfield could be built there. Anyway as the story goes, as the ramps drop on the landing craft, the first thing the Marines see is a Seabee leaning against a palm tree. The Seabee says “The Seabees are always happy to greet the Marines.” What made this doubly funny was that the average age in the Seabees was quite a few years older than the Marines, since Seabees were recruited from various trades. They were the old men in combat during WWII. My father was a JG in the Seabees in his 30s. I make no claim as to the truth of this story, just repeating what I read. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-engineer-troops-used-in-combat/541215/24 "2010-05-31T15:05:11Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > There was a story in the book [Can Do!](http://www.amazon.com/Story-Seabees-William-Bradford-Huie/dp/1436706351/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275274249&sr=8-1)that the Marines made an amphibious assault on an island in the Pacific. > Unknown to them, the day before, a group of Seabees put ashore to see if an airfield could be built there. > Anyway as the story goes, as the ramps drop on the landing craft, the first thing the Marines see is a Seabee leaning against a palm tree. The Seabee says “The Seabees are always happy to greet the Marines.” > What made this doubly funny was that the average age in the Seabees was quite a few years older than the Marines, since Seabees were recruited from various trades. They were the old men in combat during WWII. My father was a JG in the Seabees in his 30s. > I make no claim as to the truth of this story, just repeating what I read. Another story has them making a functioning machine gun in the Aleutian Campaign using, in part, pieces from a washing machine. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-engineer-troops-used-in-combat/541215/25 "2010-05-31T18:52:24Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Old British Indian Army saying, 'sappers first in harms way". Unofficial US Army combat engineer’s motto: First we dig 'em, then we die in 'em (that’s the holes in the ground, trenches and other such fortifications) ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-engineer-troops-used-in-combat/541215/26 "2010-06-01T15:30:54Z")
Don’t combat engineers[also drive these things?](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/grizzly.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Spiny\_Norman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-engineer-troops-used-in-combat/541215/27 "2010-06-01T16:07:17Z")
**Shayna** presented me with a somewhat obscure book - [First across the Rhine](http://www.amazon.com/First-Across-Rhine-Engineer-Battalion/dp/0760324085) describing the history of the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion in WWII. Quite a distinguished unit, and - as the title obviously gives away - the first engineers to construct a bridge across the Rhine. (The one famously taken more-or-less intact didn’t last long.) However, during the Battle of the Bulge, parts of this unit found itself facing the lead elements of no less a foe than the Kampfgruppe Peiper - and while they couldn’t take on an enemy like that in pitched battle, their roadblocks, minefields and demolition work frustrated the advance for long enough that reinforcements were brought up. (In the same battle, 291st patrols were also the first to make contact with survivors of the infamous Malmedy massacre.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-engineer-troops-used-in-combat/541215.md?page=1)