What is it like as a 12B Combat engineer?

Jackson Nnama — Sun, 20 Jan 2019 12:18:46 -0500

Hey Guys,

I ship out in February to basic training as a 12B. I have a few questions if you guys dont mind answering.

1. What's the longevity as a 12B?
2. Do they get to fly in blackhawks as a 12B?
3. Is it possible to get airborne quicker than most people as a 12B?

Thanks!

Response by CPL Mark Andersen made Jan 20 at 2019 12:24 PM

CPL Mark Andersen — Sun, 20 Jan 2019 12:24:34 -0500

12B is what you make of it. I did four years, got out, then went to college. I know guys who did 20 and one was CSM of the army when he retired.

My first unit was armored engineers, no Blackhawks. My second unit was the 326th Engineer Bn in the 101st Airborne. I was Air Assault qualified and rode a lot of Blackhawks and Chinooks.

I also went to Airborne school as it was in my contract.

A lot of what you are asking depends on where you end up, which depends on the needs of the Army.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 20 at 2019 12:31 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 20 Jan 2019 12:31:45 -0500

To answer the opening question, it's awesome! Close to 13 years as one now and it's been really fun.

1) longevity is heavily dependent on your mindset. If you go at it with a positive outlook despite any drawbacks that may happen, you could find yourself retiring with 20 years of good experience under your belt. If you have the attitude that pounding pickets sucks and let that govern the rest, you won't last very long. And, your unit leadership will have a significant effect on all of it.

2) There aren't any MOS's that you don't have the ability to fly in a Blackhawk, or any other troop carrying airframe.

3) Combat arms, in general, typically get the opportunity to get Airborne, Air assault, Pathfinder, etc. easier. However, in addition to those schools you can also get Sapper as an engineer while other MOS's can't.

Also, the type of component you join can have a large effect on your career mindset. Active vs Reserves vs Guard - all have their own pro's and con's.

Hope this helps!

Response by 2LT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 20 at 2019 12:32 PM

2LT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 20 Jan 2019 12:32:49 -0500

You can be a 12B your entire career if you choose. It's definitely versatile enough. There's also an engineer officer branch if you choose to go that route.
Flying in Blackhawks is highly possible. While deployed we fly in Navy Seakings and Chinook.
Airborne will be dependent on your unit. If they are an airborne unit you'll go to airborne school. If not you can request it. If you compete in the Best Warrior competition, a yearly event, the winner gets their choice of schools to go to, which you could choose airborne.

Response by Sgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 20 at 2019 1:27 PM

Sgt Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 20 Jan 2019 13:27:08 -0500

Jackson Nnama Below is a previous post about 12B. In addition, enter "12B" in the Search box above, hit enter, and then click on "Answers," to find other Posts about 12B. Good luck.

https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/how-is-it-being-a-12b-combat-engineer-on-active-duty

How is it being a 12B Combat Engineer on active duty? | RallyPoint

I am currently working on getting a conditional release from the Florida Army National Guard to go Active Duty. My current MOS is 12B. I'm curious as to how things are day to day for an active duty combat engineer. What are the main stateside bases 12bs get stationed at? Just trying to gain some more knowledge. Thanks.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 20 at 2019 3:52 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 20 Jan 2019 15:52:09 -0500

What it is like:
A.) Hard work. Being cold, wet, tired (really tired), dirty, with aches and pains when you are in the field (and sometimes in the motor pool - particularly in the mechanized world).
B.) Interesting if you are interested in explosive demolition, obstacle construction and breaching, and learning some infantry stuff. In mechanized/heavy units, they have some odd vehicles that some 12Bs operate (used to be 12Fs): the M9 ACE, the AVLB and AVLM.
C.) The Army is constantly re-organizing/re-structuring things, but in 1990s (and I assume still today), we were parceled out to the Infantry as squads (about 10 men) to each Infantry line company (about 120+ men) and the Combat Engineer squad leader was the subject matter expert on breaching and other Combat Engineer tasks while you were with the Infantry. As a result, it was my experience that you could get a view into things (during the orders process for instance) at a lower rank than you would have gotten that view in many other MOSes. So, I found it to be a good MOS in which learn lots of things (I was just a fire-team leader, but ended acting as squad leader here and there).

Helicopters:
If you are any type of grunt or associated attachment (Infantry, Cav Scout, Combat Engineer, Forward Observer, combat Medic, some ADA), then you will likely have plenty of opportunity to ride in Blackhawks (UH-60 series) and Chinooks (CH-47 series helicopters - looks a school bus mated with a helicopter and ended up with two separate rotors). Aircraft belong to Aviation. They provide transportation and support as needed/coordinated). If you really want to maximize your time around helicopters, it would best to go with Aviation MOS. There are enlisted MOSes in the Aviation world that spend all their time around Army helicopters.

I was in 2 Combat Engineer battalions, first as a Medic, then years later as a Combat Engineer. The first unit was mechanized, the second was light. We made use of aviation support in the form of riding in helos in both the mechanized and light world, but more so (by far) in the light world.

Overall, being a 12B is hard work. But, if you become a 12B, you will have had the exact same job in the U.S. Army as Corporal Melvin Kaminsky (https://www.usace.army.mil/About/History/Historical-Vignettes/Sports-Entertainment/109-Mel-Brooks/ ) had in World War II.

Headquarters U.S. Army Corps of Engineers About History Historical Vignettes Sports...

The official public website of Headquarters U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 21 at 2019 2:00 AM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 02:00:36 -0500

A 12B flying a blackhawk? Lmfao I wish.

Response by SPC David Saucier made Jan 22 at 2019 8:43 PM

SPC David Saucier — Tue, 22 Jan 2019 20:43:17 -0500

Just in my experience alone, the only time I was in a Blackhawk was for my own medevac, so I don’t know what everyone else’s experience is. When I was in 10th MTN DIV, we rode a lot in chinooks in Afghanistan where they would drop us off for a week while we did recon for future sites of COPs. As far as airborne, if you’re a good soldier, PT stud then they can give it to you.

Response by SPC Lee Burner made Jan 29 at 2019 1:17 PM

SPC Lee Burner — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 13:17:10 -0500

Go put about 150 pounds in a backpack and go walk about 12 miles. Then after that just start doing push-ups until complete exhaustion. Repeat these steps a few times all while having someone yell at you. As far as being airborne just imagine hitting the ground as hard as you can at the point of almost breaking your ankles. Do that a few times a year over the course of your military career and you’ll start to wonder just how much shit you really can take. All joking aside it is a tough job that will test your mind, body, and spirit. I wouldn’t trade my time as a combat engineer and paratrooper for anything else but buckle up kid cause your in for some pretty tough days. Backbone of the army! Essayons!

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 24 at 2020 11:14 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 23:14:05 -0500

1) However long you want it to be. You can do your required contract and get out/transfer MOS or keep re-upping and finish out your twenty as an engineer. I lasted about 5 years in a Sapper unit before I ets'd, though only 4.5 were actually as a 12B because it took forever for a MOS-Q school to open, but we had several guys in our unit who have spent their whole careers as 12B.

2) We'd got to ride blackhawks two out of the last three ATs I did for training purposes. Doesn't happen all the time for a wheeled unit, but isn't totally irregular either. It helps that our state's aviation unit is eager to get their guys training time carrying troops in various simulated situations as well, so its not a big ask to get their help on things.

3) Very few airborne slots in the NG side of the house (I think maybe Texas has some airborne units for the guard), though we had somebody win soldier of the year and he had the option to go, but he was going to go Air Assault instead due to our proximity to Fort Campbell. I believe option 4 is what you want to ask for if you are going AD and want airborne put on your initial contract. We usually had one slot for Sapper school every year which is a tab producing school and pretty high speed in itself.

I enjoyed the MOS but even part time I could feel it wearing on the body. If I could do it over, I would've went 12b first in my twenties and then switched over to field artillery. My body recovered faster then and my vision was better for all the shooting qualifications. If you do go 12b embrace the suck and stay positive. It is a varied MOS with lots to do that is both technical and hooah. I think it would be a better MOS to hold as an active duty soldier simply because it was so varied. I felt I had a whole lot of weaknesses that I was never able to shore up concerning the MOS because we only had a limited window to train in. Breaching charges for instance was something we only seemed to do once about every other year, and certain charges we never got to set off for the yearly demo ranges.

Outside of my initial mos-q school, I never once set off a non improvised Bangalore. We also never seemed to have enough shaped/cratering charges for the whole company either. But there was always plenty of c-4 and det cord.