I know a young man who is thinking about them because he wants a construction career.
Is it hard to get in? I mean I know certain navy ranks are more competitive than others to get into.
What could a young man do to improve his chances of getting in?
Does a Seabee enlistment allow one to transition pretty well into a civilian construction job? Does it give a person a better chance into getting into a construction union?
Thanks
Chefguy was a career Seabee. I’ve sent him a PM.
It’s my understanding that you can’t just “join the Seabees”. You can join the Navy, and once you do that, the Navy will decide where to put you to make best use of your skills. You can certainly express a preference, and they might honor that preference, but then again they might not.
I was a Seabee for 23 years and retired as a Chief Construction Electrician. And yes, it transitioned very well to the private sector. Someone like your friend would still have to go through a union’s program to become licensed, but could easily work in some of the trades without licensing. I went to work for a private U.S. company overseas that was contracted to the government. They didn’t care about licenses (or even qualifications in some cases).
As for getting into the Seabees, it could be a bit tight. The ratings (electrician, builder, utilitiesman (plumber), mechanic, equipment operator, steelworker, engineering aid (surveyor) are not what are called ‘critical ratings’ like the nuclear field and others, and I don’t know what the manning levels are right now. He should check with a local recruiter and see if what the availability is. If at all possible, he should try to negotiate a guarantee of assignment to Group 8 (Seabees) as a condition of his enlistment, or even a guarantee of a particular rating/school. If he has any construction skills, he should make sure that the recruiter knows about it, even if it was just working with his father as a helper.
Once he goes through ‘A’ school to learn his trade, he will either go to a Mobile Construction Battalion (MCB), which deploys overseas, or to a stateside public works or other entity that needs staffing. In a battalion, he will most likely be assigned to one of several companies: Alpha (mechanics/operators), Bravo (utilities), Charlie (carpenters, steelworkers) or Headquarters (surveyors and support staff). Overseas, he will work in his trade with a crew on various projects, but will also be called upon to help with other work, and will do his share of “shit work” like everyone else does. As he rises in rank, the shit jobs become fewer and the responsibilities increase.
Back in home port, it’s all about training, both professional and military, as Seabees are trained for defensive combat. That means qualifying on the rifle range, going on field exercises to simulate combat conditions, and going through endless readiness inspections.
By the end of a four-year enlistment, if he has kept his nose clean and done his job, he should be able to reach E-5, and will have experience in running a crew, planning out a job, etc., as well as a solid technical knowledge of his trade.
Stepson was a CB for 4 years. Diesel mechanic. Yep, they do more than construction. He got out and was hired immediately by a interstate trucking firm, and has done really well since then.
Great post Chefguy.
Just to add one thing as this bit me. If the recruiter is promising a rate, get it in writing and have others review it.
One friend had Journalist rating promised in writing, when he got done with boot camp he was told there was no room for him and offered other training, he opted to get out instead. Myself, I was going in for Electronics (ET), got talked into Nuke ET and missed the fact that meant they would assign me to either electrician(EM), machinist(MM) or ET. All I could do was drop from the 6 year Nuke commitment to the 4 year EM commitment.
When did this all happen? I joined in 2002 and there was no guarantee that the rate you signed up for you would get, but it was more of that you had a choice in your possible career. For those that did not get what they wanted at first, they could wait forever until a spot opened up, choose something else, or choose something else. There was no “opt to get out” but I’ll ask someone who was in Great Mistakes pushing boots.
Also, you decided to drop a Nuke career in the navy because you couldn’t be an ET?!?! They advance so fast and have huge bonuses. Yeah, something does add up here with this story. Again, I was in from 2002-2010, regularly kept up with people until 2014, and being a non-nuke ET was a six-year commitment. May have changed recently, very possible, also may have changed for new people from 2010-2014 and it never filtered down to me.
Hrmmm…
Time period was 1983 for my friend and 85 for myself. I wanted ET or one of the other Electronic Tech like fields, I was planning to be an Electrical Engineer at the time. No idea what doesn’t add up. They assigned me to EM and I decided 4 years was plenty long enough for me instead of 6.
Also I unlucky enough to miss out on the GI Bill and only got a far inferior program called VEEP.
Your ignorance needs to be addressed rather than dismissing my post. Be more careful in the future please.
Something I forgot for the OP. Seabees almost NEVER serve aboard ships. The only guy I knew in 23 years who bobbed around on the water was an Engineering Aid who was assigned to an oceanographic survey ship. Seabees used to deploy via LGBs (large gray boats), but that was a long time ago. I think the last place was probably Diego Garcia, and it was an incentive to get the airfield built in short order. It’s a pretty sweet gig; you deploy, but you are on land, so your off-duty options are much nicer, unless you’re in a combat zone.
Something else: generally, when you are deployed you are working six days a week and ten hour days. BUT, you aren’t hot-racking with somebody else and working shifts. In home port, it’s usually a regular workweek, with weekends off unless you’re on one of the field exercises.
All of what I’ve posted is based on my own experiences, which may be dated. I retired in 1990. But I’m pretty sure that the real strength of the 'Bees is still there: teamwork, professionalism, leadership, and the notion that you can take on any task presented to you. Can Do!
I guess the John Wayne movie is a bit dated now?
The movie indicated older men, already working in the Trades joined the Seabees. IIRC most of the actors were in their thirties and up.
I remember the Cubans in Grenada were dismissed as “construction workers” that won’t fight. Our troops found out they were experienced soldiers.
Do any ships still hot-rack? Maybe Fast Attack Subs, but no surface ship I knew of still hot-racked even in my time period.
Couldn’t tell you. In all those years, I never set foot on one of those things, thank god. I had friends in the Naval air community, and I knew some CTs pretty well at one time, and I wouldn’t have traded what I did for what they had to do, even though their promotions were much faster than mine. When I made Chief at 17 years, there was a baby Chief at my initiation who had seven fucking years in. Unreal. I wouldn’t follow someone with that little experience into a McDonald’s.
VEAP. What a steaming pile o crap that was.
I paid in, they made their match, and when I separated I had like 6 months to use it or lose it. Having no time in my new civilian career to attend a full time school, I lost it. Including my contribution.
Thanks Obama. Oh yeah, that was Reagan’s doing. Thanks Ronnie.
They started the Seabees during WWII and actually recruited older, skilled people to fill the ranks. They recruited people 50 years old and the average age was 37, but once the ranks were filled, they started taking in people the normal way a few months later.
My grandfather was a Seabee in the Pacific and I think he was a little older than your average teen recruit but I don’t know his exact age when he joined. I’m thinking 30. While not a front line combat troop, he saw enough action.
I of course made all my kids sit through that movie, even though it was typical Hollywood bullshit. Wayne was the unofficial mascot for the 'Bees, and was invited as an honored guest to each year’s Seabee ball. To my knowledge, he never bothered to show up.
Dated? Yeah, I guess comments about “Tojo’s bug-eyed monkeys” could be considered less than optimal dialog these days.
Actually if you didn’t use all your benefits you were able to get back what you put into it. Also it wasn’t Reagan but Congress that didn’t reauthorize the GI bill so VEAP was something he threw together as a temporary replacement and then as I was part way through my term GI bill came back but I was already stuck in the VEAP. As I recall you got $2 for every dollar you put in it was pretty crappy compared to what the GI Bill had provided.
Wayne’s films were propaganda intended to build support on the home front and encourage enlistment.
All of the war films, made during the war years, have inflammatory language directed at the people we were fighting.
It’s a time capsule of that period in world history.
I recall the 2 for 1 match. Other than that the program seems to have changed in details a bit over the years it was in effect. My recollection is that I lost my $2K (maximum) contribution. A look at the VA website suggests that is false. See 404 - Page Not Found - Veterans Benefits Administration
For darn sure it sucked compared to the previous and subsequent incarnations of the GI Bill. All that and we weren’t eligible for IRAs because, had we stayed in for another 12 to 18 years, we’d have been eligible for a pension. They completely ignored the conditional part of that sentence. Bastards.
I did get the Reagan pay raises for which I was grateful. The rest felt sorta like the infamous “notch babies” in the Social Security system.
In 1977, a recruiter could promise an “A” school right out of boot camp. You’d have to qualify and he’d reserve an opening for you. All this would be BEFORE a potential recruit signed the enlistment catalog. THe school deal was on the contract. If they don’t keep their side of the deal, if you want, the enlistment is null and void. If you fail the course, however, you’re still obligated.
When I joined in '67, I was guaranteed a billet in Group 8, but not a school. When I went to the assignments guy, I told him I wanted to be an Engineering Aid, as I had experience as a surveyor on the outside. No billets available, so he offered me plumber or electrician. I didn’t want to be dealing with other people’s shit, so electrician it was. Turned out for the best, as I ended up getting a lot of supervisory and leadership experience, as well as learning a lot about other trades. The EA rating seldom gets that, as their specialty is so narrow.
That career has paid off in more ways than I can count. Even today, I can at least talk with contractors about work on the house and understand what they are telling me and whether or not it’s bullshit. And of course I can still do a lot of work myself. I eventually parlayed my Navy career into good-paying positions and was able to make us financially secure in retirement.