Topic: Average day (or week or month or even a year) as a Combat Engineer

[Colin P]

My experience is out of date, but I found the Combat Engineers a very switched on bunch and if you are willing to learn, you will learn a lot about many different things.

[????????]

Hi everyone, looking for answers from experience. Simple question.

Would anyone currently or previously in the trade ever look back and trade it all in for a different career? Not because of the wife/girlfriend... she's fine with it, but because of their children? Missing them grow up, missing sports, miss helping with homework, Misout on teaching life lessons and Raising them into adults? I'm ready for the travel and time away as well I know it's different for everybody, but I have 2 boys. One almost 2 yrs. and the other is 3 months. I couldn't stand going through with this just to make myself happy and risk jeopardizing my relationship with my kids. I grew up in military family but never got the brunt of it, parents divorced, father stayed on the coast in the navy, step dad only posted once and was hardly away besides one tour in Afghanistan. I know other trades are worse just don't know how bad.

So again, would anyone ever take back choosing combat engineer? Regretting it for their kids?

[mariomike]

I couldn't stand going through with this just to make myself happy and risk jeopardizing my relationship with my kids.

I guess you read this upthread,

Expect to spend a fair amount of time away from home and your family, so ensure you have your **** wired tight administratively and your family has contingency and care plans in place.

[ConsideringCareers…]

Good Morning,

This is my third post (all today), I have been trying to find answers to this all over the web, and have also been using the search function to try to find an answer to these questions.

I am interested in a few different trades, one being Combat Engineer (Reg Force) and just had a few questions
How much infantry work does the average Combat Engineer do?

How often do the Engineers do breachings (in Afghanistan lets say) (since the infantry lost the pioneers)?

How often do Engineers do Humanitarian aid missions (like Haiti the other decade)?

How often do Engineers do building tasks (FOBs in Afghanistan, bridging, etc.)?

Which regiment of Combat engineers is the “best” for each of these types of missions? Does each regiment lean towards one of them, or do they all do the same stuff?

Thank you in advance!

[ConsideringCareers…]

Good Morning,

This is my third post (all today), I have been trying to find answers to this all over the web, and have also been using the search function to try to find an answer to these questions.

I am interested in a few different trades, one being Combat Engineer (Reg Force) and just had a few questions
How much infantry work does the average Combat Engineer do?

How often do the Engineers do breachings (in Afghanistan lets say) (since the infantry lost the pioneers)?

How often do Engineers do Humanitarian aid missions (like Haiti the other decade)?

How often do Engineers do building tasks (FOBs in Afghanistan, bridging, etc.)?

Which regiment of Combat engineers is the “best” for each of these types of missions? Does each regiment lean towards one of them, or do they all do the same stuff?

Thank you in advance!

Why did my post get clumped in here, I have read this thread and it did nothing to answer my questions as I am 15 and not in a relationship, not even thinking about it. I wanted answers on the actual job, not on the home life behind the job.

Sorry for my bitterness, I just don’t understand.

[mariomike]

Why did my post get clumped in here,

I am interested in a few different trades, one being Combat Engineer (Reg Force) and just had a few questions

I merged your post with, "Average day (or week or month or even a year) as a Combat Engineer" because I felt it was on topic,
OP: "what does an average day consist of as a Combat Engineer?"

See also, Combat Engineer
https://www.google.ca/search?rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-CA%3AIE-Address&rlz=1I7GGHP_en-GBCA592&dcr=0&q=site%3Aarmy.ca+%22combat+engineer%22&oq=site%3Aarmy.ca+%22combat+engineer%22&gs_l=psy-ab.3...8601.11600.0.12494.2.2.0.0.0.0.92.171.2.2.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.8kYRPQpMnHk

[EpicBeardedMan]

Why did my post get clumped in here, I have read this thread and it did nothing to answer my questions as I am 15 and not in a relationship, not even thinking about it. I wanted answers on the actual job, not on the home life behind the job.

Sorry for my bitterness, I just don’t understand.

Instead of having several different threads about the same topic all over the place, the DS merge them into one location so people have an easier time finding all the information they need.

[ConsideringCareers…]

Instead of having several different threads about the same topic all over the place, the DS merge them into one location so people have an easier time finding all the information they need.

Okay, true, I shouldn’t be so selfish, it makes sense then that anyone coming to find more information find everything that may apply to themselves in the same place.

Sorry, and thank you for responding!

[DueFall]

Hi everyone, looking for answers from experience. Simple question.

Would anyone currently or previously in the trade ever look back and trade it all in for a different career? Not because of the wife/girlfriend... she's fine with it, but because of their children? Missing them grow up, missing sports, miss helping with homework, Misout on teaching life lessons and Raising them into adults? I'm ready for the travel and time away as well I know it's different for everybody, but I have 2 boys. One almost 2 yrs. and the other is 3 months. I couldn't stand going through with this just to make myself happy and risk jeopardizing my relationship with my kids. I grew up in military family but never got the brunt of it, parents divorced, father stayed on the coast in the navy, step dad only posted once and was hardly away besides one tour in Afghanistan. I know other trades are worse just don't know how bad.

So again, would anyone ever take back choosing combat engineer? Regretting it for their kids?

I realize this was posted two years ago, and I myself am not a CAF member but a family member. My father-in-law is Infantry, so not exactly Combat Engineer, but he was deployed on tour overseas throughout a lot of my partner's childhood. My partner doesn't resent it at all; I can tell you that he has the utmost respect for his father and is following in his footsteps, only pursuing the Combat Engineer trade instead.

His father, when not on deployment, had two weeks (maybe more? I'm not certain on that) off at Christmas, three weeks off in the summer, was home by dinner time and always there for hockey games and functions. He did miss his eldest son's graduation, and it broke his heart - but his son understood.

Obviously, it's important to factor in the potential of being deployed, sent on course etc. But when posted to your base (okay, I realize that my terminology is probably all over the place - please forgive me as I'm still learning the lingo) you can expect a pretty average schedule, and an ample amount of quality time to be spent with your family.

When my partner first expressed interest in joining, I was terrified. We don't have any children yet, but it scared me. But now seeing the life for what it really is, and knowing his motivation and desire to serve and protect our country - I couldn't be more excited. Of course, I hope that he never has to see an overseas battlefield, but that's the risk.

I'm not sure if you're still active on the site, but I'm curious to know what you ended up doing, and how things have progressed.

[Eye In The Sky]

I myself am not a CAF member but a family member. My father-in-law is Infantry, so not exactly Combat Engineer...

Considering the above part and the thread title...

[ConsideringCareers…]

Thank you DueFall for the reply!

There was definitely helpful information, even though it may only be very loosely related.