Will it be math-intensive to serve as an Engineer Officer?

2017-09-28T10:15:52-04:00

I'm heading to Army OCS in a few months and I've been doing reading into the branches and Engineer Officer has really peaked my interest.

I find the sorts of jobs they engage in to be very appealing. My main hesitance comes from the fact that I'm not a fan of math. I'm not bad at math, I just don't really enjoy it and I cant see myself doing well in a job that would require a lot of complex math.

By branching Engineer, am I asking for trouble?

Response by CPT Lawrence Cable made Sep 28 at 2017 10:23 AM

2017-09-28T10:23:34-04:00

The short answer is Yes. Engineering is numbers and if you struggle with Math, a good part of it will be no fun. The two hardest subjects mathematically for me were power distribution and bridging. Bridging is a real bear if you don't have a strong Trig background. I loved my time as an Engineer, but if you struggle at math and want try that branch, my advice is to start hitting the remedial math classes now. I had not done any math at these kind of levels for probably 15 years before I branch transferred and it was a struggle to keep up a decent grade point average.

Response by CSM Richard StCyr made Sep 29 at 2017 12:10 PM

2017-09-29T12:10:44-04:00

Engineers do a lot of math. Nearly all recon missions require some form of calculation, Demo tasks, obstacle bands, bridging, and the construction units have the concrete and material calculations. The Engineer bible has the quick tables and the FMs have examples of how to do the figures.
As long as you can do basic math and high school algebra you should be fine. I figure if a hick like me could learn it and be successful then anyone who wants to learn should be able to master it.

Response by SGT Jim Arnold made Sep 29 at 2017 3:16 PM

2017-09-29T15:16:38-04:00

yes, lots of math for the funs jobs of construction, engineering and communications electronics

Response by SGM Mikel Dawson made Oct 2 at 2017 8:54 AM

2017-10-02T08:54:11-04:00

Do bear shit in the woods??? When I went to BNCOC (12B) it seemed like all we did was math. My head hurt so bad every evening I needed beer to keep it straight (some nights Jack). Just imagine what it is like for an officer.

You're no fan of math, neither was I, but you will be force fed so much you will learn or die trying. In my day we had to learn to do all the demo formulas and math on paper, no calculators, because the mission couldn't stop if your calculator went tits up. Don't know about today.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 2 at 2017 9:29 AM

2017-10-02T09:29:43-04:00

I don't remember anyone who had problems with the math per say, mostly the individuals who struggled had problems managing the many, many variables. The math is very simple in the schoolhouse but there is a lot of it, once you graduate and move on to a real unit the math will be unit dependent. Most of Army Officer job is resource allocation and planning which requires a lot of math, this is true for all branches but more so for engineer construction units. Calculating board feet and quantities to be ordered for even simple buildings is very math intensive and cause mission failure if you screw it up. Again it is not complex math by any means but it deals with a lot of variables and numbers the trick is keeping the numbers relevant in your head.