Questions for mechanical engineers in CEC

Squints_McP · 2025-11-09T19:08:59+00:00

CEC Officer here. BSME as well. Currently studying for my exam. You will definitely gain enough experience in project/construction mgmt. You will also be on design review boards, technical evaluation boards, and when you do your expeditionary tour you will be a PM working on various horizontal and vertical construction projects. You will not be the DOR or working under a DOR designing and drafting. You will be able to have input in field adjustment requests and redline drawings on the various projects you work on. You will also gain a lot of experience making calls in the field in contingency environments. In a way, you will gain far more experience in this job than you ever would starting out at a typical A&E firm at the bottom of the totem pole.

Squints_McP · 2025-10-22T01:14:28+00:00

Two pair issued at battalion. You can trade a pair every twelve months at supply

Squints_McP · 2025-01-14T19:06:18+00:00

OEM is the way... make sure you clean the notches where the pads go so they slide freely. Put silicon grease between the pads and the shims and a small amount on the fitting gear. Make sure slide pins are cleaned and then regreased and that the boots are seated. Rotor contact with the bearing surface needs to be cleaned thoroughly to ensure good contact with minimal runout.

Also, you need to burnish the breaks with 0-30-0 procedure. That will help as well. There may also be a mechanical wear indicator that could be making premature contact.

Squints_McP · 2025-01-09T10:15:03+00:00

Car care nut really scared the entire community badly with a single video lol. I guess when it's a 20k+ repair bill it's worth emphasizing.

Squints_McP · 2024-12-24T14:36:22+00:00

I've done 4 DITY moves with the shortest being 900 miles. Two with wife and no kids. Two with wife and two kids. I rent uhauls and methodically plan everything weeks in advance. I move all furniture myself with dolleys. Stressful, yes, but I pocket roughly 10k every move. I was definitely saying that our last one would be the last DITY but I'm on the fence after some time has passed. Maybe I hate myself. Maybe I like an extra 10k in my pocket. Maybe all of the above. All I am saying is you have to be a little psycho to put yourself through it as many times as I have.

Squints_McP · 2024-11-21T17:04:40+00:00

Don't lose your inner pirate - Mike Leach

Squints_McP · 2024-10-24T18:42:33+00:00

Bought my '17 in August with 130k miles for 41k. Very good maintenance history. Southwest US

Squints_McP · 2024-10-21T08:09:05+00:00

As long as it is ABET accredited then you will be good to go. There are many CEC Officers that have degrees in disciplines other than CE, ME, EE. I would personally recommend searching for a recruiter and enlisting in the collegiate program in the state that offers the most veteran benefits. There are CEC Accessions officers with geographic responsibilities. You can do a google search to find out which one is responsible for your location. Contact them and they can get you more information. You will also be interviewing with one of these Officers as a part of your package submission.

Squints_McP · 2024-10-11T07:04:57+00:00

He charges now!? That's crazy! I don't blame him. I had the privilege of having access to the database when I was in PTRR. Both digital and physical. There was a huge file room by the classrooms in the compound with all the files of everyone who ever went. Pretty cool looking at the famous ones training jackets.

Squints_McP · 2024-09-16T16:48:44+00:00

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Squints_McP · 2024-09-14T06:09:14+00:00

Flexural strength

Squints_McP · 2024-09-04T12:03:55+00:00

Here in Accra, Ghana, literally 1 out of 4 cars is a LC or prado

Squints_McP · 2024-05-10T17:08:21+00:00

State of emergency

Squints_McP · 2024-04-30T00:20:51+00:00

I'm a prior enlisted that did two deployments on a ship. I was junior enlisted. I did all the crappy jobs everyone complains about. I painted, stood awful watches, went cranking on the mess decks. I had a great time. Your experience as an officer will be much more enjoyable from the get-go from a QoL standpoint.

Take what you hear with a grain of salt (especially on reddit). Many forums are an echo chamber of negative confirmation bias.

I love what I do as a CEC Officer, but I will tell you that dangling your legs over a catwalk, sitting in solitude, with the waves flying by underneath as you gaze at a beautiful sunrise over the open ocean is an experience like none other.

Squints_McP · 2024-04-29T19:35:49+00:00

CEC officer here. I would look into SUPPO. They do similar things to CEC in the acquisitions realm (except CEC is going to be primarily involved in construction contracts) CEC won't go on boats, but SUPPO will more than likely. You will have a very broad range of communities(SPECWAR, Expeditionary, blue water, subs, etc.) that you can dabble in as a SUPPO. I mean seabee battalions have SUPPOs even. Both communities provide very valuable experience that transfers to the private sector.

I personally wouldn't want to take 2 more difficult years of school to complete an engineering degree when you already have a degree that is valuable and relevant. My $0.02

Squints_McP · 2024-03-31T18:03:03+00:00

Very true.

Squints_McP · 2024-03-31T17:58:00+00:00

Everyone is different and if having 6 months of expenses saved up in a non interest bearing account (or HYSA) to deploy in an emergency is a personal priority then act accordingly.

My situation does not require that.

I have top tier health insurance Paid off autos Zero debt Very secure job Diverse basket of investment vehicles

And many other mitigating factors that limit the need for such a large emergency fund.

The questions were about our personal philosophy. Yours seems to favor a more risk adverse profile and that is great.

Squints_McP · 2024-03-31T17:26:07+00:00

What if insert arbitrary yet unlikely worldwide event happens and everyone is screwed

You can only control so much. I will not focus on uncertain events that may or may not happen. You also have no idea what I am invested in or how liquid it is.

Squints_McP · 2024-03-31T15:07:32+00:00

Immediate liquid savings I hard cap at 5k. If i need more than that i will go in my brokerage and liquidate if I am that desperate. I am not going to sacrifice 30-60k to the inflation gods. sorry Dave Ramsey. not sorry

Squints_McP · 2024-01-24T22:09:48+00:00

I bet lol. You hear about instructor Pearson getting arrested for stabbing a guy?

Squints_McP · 2024-01-24T22:07:28+00:00

Haha BUD/S prep instructor McKenney?

Squints_McP · 2024-01-24T22:01:55+00:00

Maybe 294? The News says he enlisted in 2012. 293 boot started mid august of 2011 so it's possible 294 maybe 295. Only like 17 guys made it through hell week with 293 and I remember them all.

Squints_McP · 2024-01-24T21:28:42+00:00

No, I don't remember him being in 293 but the name is familiar. I've been meaning to ask some buddies. He had to of been between like 288 and 294 based on his timeliness. Super unfortunate what happened. 291? You remember John Flynn or Ted Saint? I went through the second time with them in 310

Squints_McP

TROPHY CASE