@Chris Anderson ... I'd say breaching minefields is probably THE most dangerous thing we were trained to do. You have the enemy on one side, friendlies on the other side, and a minefield in the middle. So you send engineers to run up the middle clearing mines and marking a lane for everyone else to follow... probably while getting shot at the whole time. What could go wrong? 😆 That's pretty insane when you think about it. Glad I only ever had to do it in training.
I buy you a beer in person we can even go to a cigar shop, and I sponsor you into a group where yeah the ones in that group are retired millatry personnel, nicoic of certain millatry personnel, and active duty military personnel, plus law enforcement officials, and lawyers. We'll make sure you get back to wherever you are going. Just well you'll be 40 steps passed fubar. But once in you're family. No matter what we have your back.
"I could maybe un-roadblock that if I had about 200 hundred of these. Problem is I've only got about...ten...plus five of my own...some cherry bombs...road flare. Hey, too bad we don't have some nitroglycerin, eh Milo?" Thank you Vinny. XD
My cousin is a former Marine Combat Engineer… sometimes when he stares at landmarks or structures I just know he’s thinking of how to blow it up. “P is for plenty!”
My 3 favorite tools to use as a former combat engineer: C-4, Bangalore torpedo, and the Javelin missile launcher system. Best thing I learned? Everything is explosive with enough pressure and heat.
My STEM teacher in middle school was a combat engineer. During his time he rewrote the majority of the handbook on bridge building after he called it stupid straight to a generals face. The absolute balls of that man impresses me to this day.
Combat engineers are built fucking different. My Uncle rewrote the entire goddamn book on dealing with mine removal because he just was not okay with what he was taught. He is also far too okay with explosives.
As a 1371. I agree lol Non combat engineers- What if it goes off?!? Combat engineers- well….we’ll be nothing but a pink mist and a memory…anyways… I heard we getting hot chow tonight lol.
I was straddling two stacked crater charges cause someone made the ring main to small. My only thought was, "I hope my balls don't get blown up!" Never mind that's over 84lbs oh explosives I'm straddling in a hole, as I'm hooking up the initiator 😂😂😂 Oh the good old days
As a 1371 the juggling bricks of c4 is very accurate. We lit some c4 on fire because it was cold as shit and the utilities guys we brought along were freaking out. The only thing that is scary as shit are blasting caps. I had to carry 100 of them at once and those things will make your foot unexist if u drop it the wrong way
Eh, the blasting cap stuff is a little overblown imo. We dropped a bunch of shit on one at a demo range one time and couldn't make it pop. Still arguably the most volatile component in a charge, handle with care.
A friend of mine was a demo specialist before becoming a manager of one of the local ADF armories, his final exam in his demo course was to transport a several ton tree from one side of a river, to a designated box on the other side of the river about 30m away, and was given a limited amount of detcord, C4 and a couple bags of ANFO. You failed if the tree ended up obliterated. He passed by using detcord to sever the tree roots, a bag or two of ANFO to lift the tree, and a couple well placed bricks of C4 to push it across the river and into the landing zone.
My first deployment the engineers were the fucking gods. Literally had a video series called "blowing shit up" where they documented every door, tunnel and building the permanently yeeted like it was making scrambled eggs.
@@pyronationgaming3937 clean up? You see, if you properly destroyed the building there’s be no clean up. It’d just become a gravel road with slight incline
My Father was a retired SGM Combat Engineer, two things I can remember him saying when I was a kid, "Remember son, there is no problem in the world that cannot be rectified with the proper use of enough high explosive." and "Yesterday I couldn't spell en-ga-neer, now I are one." He was definitely a character...LOL.
My grandfather was a US Army Combat Engineer in the European theater of WW2. He was part of first wave to hit Utah Beach. Got shot in the shoulder and was stubborn enough to get back into the fight 3 weeks later. He would go onto fighting alongside the 101st Airborne in the Battle of the Bulge and got shot again and still was a stubborn man to keep fighting. He told me that if you want another harder job in the Army, be a Medic. He's with my Grandmother in heaven now.
Love Combat Engineers. Absolute respect. Anyone that can look at a problem big or small, say "...Gimme a minute.", and then eventually comes back, hold up a remote and say "Problem solved" before causing either a surprisingly small , surprisingly large, or surprisingly directed explosion that solves your issues... my favorite person.
Out of ammo? Give the engineer a couple of minutes and we'll be launching boulders. Would love to see the report on that, position wiped out due to improvised meteor shower.
@thomasschulz2167 "reports indicate the enemy position was destroyed by.. wait am I reading this right? 'Chunks of the other enemy position that had previously been captured, launched from trebuchets.' .... what YEAR is it?!"
Combat engineers: Solves practical problems with guns and high explosives. When that doesn't work... use more gun and more explosives. Tf2 Engineer: **[Literally the same thing, except he's from Texas; so he'll probably say yeehaw while he does it.]**
I'm 99% certain that someone saw a Texan solving problems on a farm or something and went "huh... We need that in the military" and made the Combat Engineer "job" a thing
My professor is a 22 year Seabees vet. when he said he was a "navy combat engineer, focusing on 'contingency Contruction', and building stuff" and i was the ONLY person who understood what "contingency construction" meant...
As a Combat Engineer Non Commissioned Officer, we did live mine training with our soldier's. Those of us that have done this know what it's like to have a nervous and scared soldier arming and disarming a live anti tank or anti personel mine. I've done it many times but I put myself right next to that soldier. So close I could whisper to him. This one Soldier asked me one time. "Damn Sergeant! Do you have to be right there?" I'm literally face to face with my soldier, with the mine between us. (Inches) My response. "Hell Yes, Soldier. Because if we do something wrong, I want to make sure I get the full blast effect and I won't have to tell your parent's what you did wrong. So, lets do this right for our parents. 😉 😁 being scared or nervous is a normal reaction. The hazard is there and it not something we do every day. I would show confidence that we will be fine even if there is a little joking around and a smile. Slap him on the side of the helmet. "GOOD JOB, My Man! NEXT MAN!" Range Walk Soldier! We haven't got all day. AHA closes at 1800 and these damn things will self destruct if their not back at the AHA in time for Chow. Soldier's are more scared of me than the mines sometimes. "He's "F"ing crazy. Cool, but crazy. 🤣 🤣 🤣 scared and nervous laughter? Yuup 🤣 🤣 🤣 not really. "Sapper's Lead the Way" 👍🏽
Clean up after a demo range is always fun " Gunny, what do you want us to do with the extra constatina and barbed wire?" (unlocks blueprint for frankenstein charge) if you know you know.
my late ex husband was a combat engineer. i met him after his service when he was doing weekend training. he was done with all of that shortly after we married so i don't know the terms. but i remember when ppl ask him what they did on the weekends he said they "camped"(i later learned that meant get wasted , pass out) friday night. build something on Saturday morning, blow it up Saturday afternoon and get drunk.. clean up the mess Sunday morning. i have no clue if thats what really happened but i assume it was. he missed it so so bad that 2 years later, at 26 he went to reenlist back in the regular army. he got to the medical testing they sent him home and told to get to a doctor asap, couldn't/wouldn't tell him why. he waited and had a massive heart attack, they called it a widow maker, at 27 years old. he was gone for 4 minutes.. wasn't my husband that came back. but his time in the army was the best he ever had ya me and the boys were great but not like he needed. he was not a 9-5, family picnics on the weekend guy. he was take off in the deep back woods for a weekend with his fishing pole and rucksack (it was a big dark green back pack looking thing). he would come home days later filthy and happy. i never had an issue with him going.. because it made him happy. especially after the heart attack. i just ask him to let me know where to come look for him and be back exactly when he said. the repeated heart attacks and his depression from his whole life stopping made the alcohol and weed become harder drugs and he knew i wouldn't live that way. he was in his element building shit and blowing it up. he could look at a drawing of what they needed done and never really look again. its like he could memorize it in minutes. he was smart as fuck but just a crazy. he had crazy aim as well. luckily our boys got that from him. i was raised around guns so i was an ok shot but he was like really accurate quick. not just with a gun but with a bow as well. he taught the boys how use a bow early. our boys were down at the pond. a snake came out of the water and went after the younger boy. the older one nailed that snake in the head from over by the dock. they were 8 and 9. sorry tangent. most ppl in my world don't seem to understand when i talk about him but other former service seem to understand. he was a good man. but he should have stayed in the service. that was his home. he got out to help him mom. she had her second back surgery and a heart attack. she needed lots of help then met me. i peeved off his mom because i wanted him to go back in. he was just not ok out here in the civilian world. my little brother did the same thing a few years later. did his time in the navy. got out within a year he reenlisted and spent 17 more years in the army. tried being "normal" for a few years. now he's a deputy sheriff has been one for over 15 years. i don't know if he will ever retire. i think not being in some form of uniform (not just the clothes) would kill him too. thank you for letting me go on. like i said ppl in the regular world don't seem to get it when i talk about him like service ppl do. we were really lousy married but great friends. he even liked my now husband.. was very jealous because well ya. he never remarried or really had any girlfriends. his best friends said he always figured if he couldn't make it with me no one else would work because i really understood and accepted him..but like i said the heart attack made him someone else. took what little he had to be able to be "outside" of that life. he needed to be in an altered state after that just to survive.
Some people goes to war, and never return alive, enclosed in a casket covered in a flag, a chest filled with medals, and received with honor and bitter tears. Some people return from war, their bodies mangled - some blind, some deaf, some limbless, some comatose, all covered in pride and pain. Some people return from war physicaly intact, with a scar in their bodies here and there, but their minds were broken - their better years were there, with moments of unity and brotherhood impossible for us civilians to comprehend, and when they return, they see a world that is less vivid, less passionate, less colorful, and over their souls hang a dark shroud of glory and sorrow. Do not feel guilty, for you tried your best - you gave your love, your comprehension and your patience, and your children are the proof that he, in his awkward way, loved you too. And even when, in the most dark times of his life, where the stare towards the horizon seemed the only moment of peace he only showed, you always where there, a gentle hand and a loving embrace. And while the pain is inevitable (for no pain is inexcapable), do not ever think that the fault was yours - Fate is a fickle mistress, and the vagaries of life are unpredictable. You did your best, and that is what truly matters. "Only the dead see the true end of War" - Plato.
This tore me up i just lost my pops officialy about a month ago but he was gone long before that im 28 now id say he wasnt dad anymore by 14 he was a marine force recon in vietnam and up till 14 he was a great dad he replaced service with working ungodly hours and taking care of his family taking us on trips as mutch as possible when i was young we would go camping every weekend he got injured in a crash ad lost his trucking company when 9/11 happened united owed him for running asphalt to build the new at the time extra runways at dia and they went bankrupt and defualted on him he never recovered he started doing coke in secret until it ruined his sinuses and he could no lomger snort it so he moved on to rocking it up so he could smoke crack and that went for a long time i left home they day i finished highschool to get away but my mom being a nurse and just a saintly person satyed eventualy after 12 years of bs she finnaly seprated from him but necer divorced never stopped helping him even wgen it hurt her and he just got worse treated her worse and then just stopped trying all around she had a hip sirgery and couldnt get in and out of the house they had so he was left to his own devices for a month i recieved a call to check on him from a family friend he had started letting squaters stay with him he was so large he couldnt move had started doing meth and was barely alive i got an ambulance and after that he had to stay in a facility my mom finnaly told him she wouldnt live with him again .... that was 5 years ago he continued to use anywich way he could further alienating his family by becoming more delusional about his faults and more angry too and i still cant hate him people are asking me why its so important to make sure everything is just right for his funeral and stuf after all hes done because they wouldnt they dont get it he still dad hes still the entirety of my knowledge that matters school wasnt worth shit to what he taught me as a kid but above all that he was a marine sorry to ramble but yeah thank you for sharing that ive never had the courage to just say that to anyone let alone post it online im sorry for your loss
@@todydn im sorry for your loss. Not just in his passing...but well you and i both understand... the might have beens and the should have beens we will never know. Hugs to you.
"There is no personal problem that cannot be resolved with the proper application of high explosives..." "... my personal best is a break of six." Blaster from the movie UNCOMMON VALOR A great movie by the way.
I remember a story a Drill Instructor told me when I was in MRP after he asked me what my MOS was going to be and I told him it was combat engineer he said they are some of the craziest fuckers you will meet, when he was deployed in Afghanistan and the convoy he was in stopped because a suspected IED was in the road, a lone combat engineer walked over to it examined the IED he either saw that it was a dud or something then proceeded to pick it up holding it in the air and yelled to the rest of the guys saying “hey it’s fine now!” Didn’t end up graduating but I still remember that story among others
One of my first jobs as a 12B was to be the "runner" when breaching a minefield. My job was to pull a line of det cord through the minefield so we could plant angry play-doh on the mines. The rest of the squad waited around the spool of det cord. No one ever mentioned how this could go badly. Also, you forgot to mention the most hated piece of equipment in the US Army, the Armored Combat Earthmover (ACE), one giant hydraulic leak.
We had an ace, our alcoholics and overweights almost never used the thing because we had two Vietnam era excavators with buckets on the front, that never broke down.
Yep... as another former 12b, I can tell you that one method of making a door involves taping a bangalore to a wall. He's also right about how blase you can get handling c4, too... during one demo range our smoking area was about 10 feet from the prep circle.
Love the little joke about 21b for a hot minute, since I was 12b and some vets at school had no idea what that was because they served during the 21b window.
Hell when I got called in out of the IRR in 04 the Drills at Leonard Wood told me i was a 21B. I responded no Sergeant I was an 11B, a 12B and a 62B but never a 21B. That is when they told me about the reallignment. Now back to 12B and 62B is a 91L. Someone really needed an OER bullet.
As a Combat Engineer and tabbed "Sapper" for more than half that, I enjoyed that depiction. When it came time to play Sapper, we did get scary serious. A platoon of Combat Engineers, that can fight like infantry and operate like an elite group of Rangers. Failure was not an option. Mobility, Survivability and Counter Mobility. My elements trained at higher standards than that of the infantry unit we supported. You will be able to do your job, you will not have to do ours. Mostly never utilized by our infantry task force back then. 😀 No Problem 👍🏽. "Sapper's Lead The Way"
I was an army engineer. I wasn't a combat engineer, but at my unit they still trained me in c4, det chord, catering charges, all kinds of fun stuff. The craziest feeling is det'ing 30lbs of course, watching the shock wave cross the field, then hit you like standing in front a massive bass speaker at a concert... FIRE IN THE HOLE!!! Good times lol
Yes I was a 62E in my time which is a heavy equipment construction engineer. Don't get me wrong I served in construction units called ECB(h) engineer combat battalion ( heavy) and 12B units. We where the guys trained to do 12 Bravo stuff but added fun of heavy equipment like bulldozers. Amazing to watch or see after in pitch black darkness dig a fighting position for M1 tank just by feel of the dozer. We had in my last unit 3 levels of demo and I tested out on the highest and loved blowing stuff up. Since then fireworks just dont have the same effects on me as a civilian. I think of my days and thought we had better fireworks lol
@@sapper2497 you're a sapper, so I really don't want to question you... but when did you serve...? And do you know the "sapper daddy" cadence, that uses the tune from "the candy man can" song from the original willy Wonka movie? One of the best cadences I ever heard lol
I was a 21B1E8 in Afghanistan (before we became 12's again) The ASI "E8" if from a School in Ft Leonardwood where E-4's to O-2's become Explosive Ordnance Clearance Agents. That's a Combat Engineer, trained by EOD to be "EOD light". We can Identify, categorize, report on, build barricades around, and destroy in place all UXO other than nukes. And operate EOD's cool little robot toys. the 82nd moved into my FOB while we were out on a two-week IED patrol, took over our Husky mine detecter's proving field, expanded it and gravelled it over for Apaches. Withour removing our training mines. I get called to the flight line one day when I was on TOC duty. one of our training mines was sticking out from the gravel, very close to an Apache. They point it out to me and ask me if it's live. Being the proper member of the E-4 Mafia and still pissed that they stole our property without asking, gave him the EOCA standard Briefing. "Get a fire extinguisher and a stretcher team, stage here where it's safe. If the UXO goes off, wait for debris to stop falling and take the exact path I did out to me, if the UXO is on fire, let it burn. If I am on fire, put me out. Then CASEVAC me... got it?" I then walked out to the "mine" carefully removed my armor and helmet, circled it a few times, peering at it closely with my flashlight, stood up, scratched my head.... then stomped on it really hard. Grabbed my gear, walked back to him and said "nah, it's a dud"
When we were in Fallujah in 2004 they sent us to the power plant and water treatment facility to see if we could fix them and get them on line. I can not think of anyone I would least like to go into my power plant or water treatment facility than a squad of Combat Engineers...
pretty sure the motorpool people are better at dealing with power and stuff. how are you going to fix a power plant with 12B anyways? get the turbine unstuck with some explosives? aerate the water with some c4?
Fing loved you Dr's. Always delivered the right pain adjustment. If I needed to stay alert it was 9, if not 10 please Doc. I tear up when I see a Doc on the streets or VA. LOVE you, all.
I just learned that my grandfather was an Army combat engineer (this was like 70ish years ago I think).... and apparently a good one that cleared bomb ranges. According to all of my relatives that knew the man, he had a reflex. He'd scan a building he just entered, and spot the optimal places to bring the building straight down.
You forgot to mention the combat engineers favorite toy, the M58 MiCLiC. [Mine Clearing Line Charge] basically a rocket with 1,750 pounds of danger putty strapped to it with string launched from a trailer for clearing mine fields. It’s also on the top of a modified Abrams the ABV. Did I mention it’s triggered from inside the tank about 50’ away and it has two. B6 heavy track course trains 12B’s how to use this danger putty applicator.
Love them. They're a tanker's best friend besides 11 bravos. Nice to roll up in a m1 and have a place dug out to hide in already is great. A tank is powerful, but a large target. Being able to play peekaboo safely while sending rounds instead of worrying about being too open can change the pace of a fight really quick.
I remember right out of basic and with my unit. We were in the field, 4 guys in the back of an M113, setting blasting caps in a crate of C4. Every one of us smoking cigarettes in the back of that tin can. My squad leader looked at me calmly and said don’t worry… but if the C4 catches fire just don’t stomp out the flame. We also used that C4 to blow all the limbs of an old oak tree down field. Those were the days!!
VINNY! “ I got Gunpowder, nitroglycerin, notepads, fuses, wicks, glue, and uh… Paperclips, big ones. You know, just, uh, office supplies.” Best character in any movie.
Can confirm, we use Kevin as a meat shield. Except it's David in our instance. Nobody carries that stupid heavy ass blast shield anyway. Sappers lead the way. 🏰
I had the great fortune to serve with some rather awesome 12Bs; we nicknamed the most awesomest one Rambo bc he was tabbed out... Airborne, Ranger School, and SF... but our senior 11B NCOs were most-impressed with his Sapper tab, which we believed to be the most difficult combat arms school in the Army. He definitely earned his nick when we essentially got assigned his personal security detail on route-running & -clearing. I remember this thing he had about the ROE: "we can't & won't shoot people that are interfering with our mission bc that's just wrong; but we can throw rocks at them, so make sure you load up on various sizes... lots and lots of golf balls bc those offer the greatest travel plus they also hurt like hell when delivered in close quarters. But don't forget your baseballs & softballs too, bc we'll wind up using those. And if you can actually throw a basketball-size rock, those are in play too." It's been 20+ years, so I've completely forgotten his name... but SFC (P) Rambo will always have a soft spot in my heart. His exploits during the GWOT wouldn't necessarily be worthy of a TFE video... but he punched hardest & always had his men ready for the worst... resulting in deploying with something like 32 Joes & coming home with... 32 Joes.
My cousin was a combat engineer in Viet Nam. He got out of the Army & went to his county's road department where his explosives experience got him assigned to blow some stumps for a farmer's road crossing the county road. He showed up,looked the job over & starts showing the farmer how he calculates the amount of explosives needed & if the older man wants to walk or to run after lighting the fuse. They took cover behind the work truck & my cousin hits the detonator. They watch as the tree stump describes a perfect parabolic arc & lands on the truck cab. He's standing there trying to figure out how to explain demolishing the first brand new truck that the road department had ever owned when the farmer patted his shoulder & said"Son,when you get a little more experience,you'll land them stumps in the truck bed every time."
My great Grandfather was in the 1284th Combat Engineer Battalion during WWII. I can barely find information on his battalion, but what I have found out so far is that he fought in the battle of the Ruhr Pocket.
Thanks for posting...my grandaddy was CoE in WW2 and was landed the day after D-Day and from that point was on the front line all the way across France. He told me some crazy cool stories as a young boy that I remember to this day.
My dad while an officer in the Army Corps of Engineers many years ago had some old surplus C4 that needed to be used and there happened to be some armored jeeps that needed to be decommissioned. Yeah... you can probably guess where this is going. So he organized his men into teams and held competition to see which team could launch an armored jeep highest into the air.
Proud to have been a 12B! The state of North Carolina was building a reservoir back in 79-80 outside of Raleigh. We had one of 3 bridges to come out. We used 10k of explosives on that one bridge...40 lb shaped charges,cratering charges,C-4 and TNT. What a glorious day! We took our bridge out in one shot....it took 82nd two times.
Rewatching this is a trip. Been a crazy watching how far FE has grown and couldn't be happier. One of the few people who I try to watch every video as soon as possible when he uploads.
My Dad, a 20 year US Army combat veteran starting in 1967, was a 12B Combat Engineer. His personal motto was, "If I can't build it, I can blow it up." My mother would find blasting caps and det cord in his BDU pockets when she did the laundry. Dad would use our family car to carry "supplies" to and from FTXs. By "supplies" I mean C4, assorted mines, frags, primacord, etc. It got to the point that Mom went to the 1st Sergeant's office and reamed Top into giving Dad a Dodge truck to carry his "supplies". Not only was Dad in love with making things go BOOM, he was also the battalion supply NCO and was ALWAYS "creatively reaquiring" gear and equipment his battalion needed. After retiring from the Army in 1987, he became a deputy sheriff. At a WMD class the department gave after 9-11, a fire marshal was explaining how IEDs could look and had examples. Assuring the class of deputies that everything he had on display was "not live". To which Dad proceed to explain and physically show how he could make everything the fire marshal had on display, live. In summation, if you want an army built to take over the world, simply man said army with copious amounts Cannon Cockers, Mad Turtles, 19Deltas and 12 Boom Booms. Let the pussy ass grunt shits guard the rear.
You should do a video about sappers, the elite of the combat engineers. I had a drill sergeant in basic that was a sapper. He told stories about breaching with a brick a danger putty or a AT4. So forget those Marines and their little grenades. Lol. Think about it and I look forward to more of your videos. Keep up the great work brother!
And it's Sapper Leader Coarse. All 12b are sappers. We all trained the same way SLC prepared you to transfer that knowledge down so it was not lost. The school was not big enough to train everyone.
I just very recently discovered/got into Electrician's content, I can honestly say that one of my favorite things is always the comments section. Specifically the folks in the military community confirming so much of it. Y'all are legends. Thank you for your service. o7
@@the_fat_electrician If you've got any opportunity to do a video about weird weapons, the Dambusters raid during WW2 and the RAF 617th bombers (never before in history has so much been owed by so many to so few, these guys were some of them) is certainly worth the time. Love your content, Military culture deserves more people like you.
The Army Corps of Engineers built some really nice locks in my city (The kind that move boats up and down between two different water levels), though I have no illusions about their ability to un-build those locks at the drop of a hat if they wanted.
Don't forget AF's CE and Red Horse, we all trained in the same place, Ft Leonard Wood, and you are correct about the loose terminology of the word "Engineer."
To be clear, only certain AFSC's go to FLW. All CE, I.E. seebees, army corps., AF CE, go to several bases for specific training, but only the lucky few get a RED HORSE Squadron, anywhere in the world, with a potable source or water and dirt patch long and flat enough for some C130s and you have a new air base to put warheads on foreheads.
Love the video, tomorrow (oktober 11th) I will start my training for combat engineer for the Netherlands(dutch armed forces) and I'm very excited for it and this video pumpt me up even more, keep the vids rolling I love all of them and could certainly use em for my training 😁
My dad was a WWII combat engineer attached to Patton’s 3rd Army, (the 505th combat battalion). They outran Patton’s flank into South-Western Germany and were the first over the Elba River. They fought into Germany as forward scouts, blew bridges, blew up German depots of fuel, ammo, cleared minefields, and blew up artillery and tanks. RIP Dad.
Man I loved Vinny in Atlantis! Still hate the House of Mouse for intentionally shafting the movie so hard just so they could get rid of the hand drawn animation department.
I was a 12B in the mid 80's stationed just outside Nuremberg, West German (two Germany's then). We has M113 apc's and being out in the field was mostly fun. Once we were training with some infantry and we were getting ready to lay a quick anti-tank minefield. The floor of our 113 was full of mines stacked 3 deep with plans to drive across the field arming them and tossing them out the back. (yes, we were walking on them because they were our new floor.) So, the Lt of the infantry comes over and asks if he can get a ride with us because he thinks we have plenty of room with our 6 person squad compared to his 11-12 crowded vehicles. We all got a chuckle when he looked in and quickly changed his mind when he saw what he would be sitting or walking on. Perfectly safe explosives when unarmed, lol.
As a 21 year Army Combat Engineer Master Sergeant i can this is an accurate breakdown. C4 takes a small explosion to detonate so freaking people out by juggling it or nonchalantly tossing it hack and forth is good fun. Great content keep it up.
"What makes me a good combat engineer? If I were a bad combat engineer, I wouldn't be sitting here, discussing it with you now would I?"
I’m an engineer. And that means I solve practical problems.
The difference between a good combat engineer and a bad combat engineer is the bad combat engineer can fit inside a Ziploc.
Combat Engineers:
They solve practical problems, but you so much as offend them, and what's left of you WILL be buried in a soup can.
@Chris Anderson ... I'd say breaching minefields is probably THE most dangerous thing we were trained to do.
You have the enemy on one side, friendlies on the other side, and a minefield in the middle. So you send engineers to run up the middle clearing mines and marking a lane for everyone else to follow... probably while getting shot at the whole time. What could go wrong? 😆
That's pretty insane when you think about it. Glad I only ever had to do it in training.
@@stephencooper3583 engineer: I used a bomb to explode mines, is literally a vehicle they have; granted its not perfect
"There is not a single problem in the world in which the skillful application of explosives cannot resolve."
I buy you a beer in person we can even go to a cigar shop, and I sponsor you into a group where yeah the ones in that group are retired millatry personnel, nicoic of certain millatry personnel, and active duty military personnel, plus law enforcement officials, and lawyers. We'll make sure you get back to wherever you are going. Just well you'll be 40 steps passed fubar. But once in you're family. No matter what we have your back.
best way to make a tank obstacle is....drum roll....det cord around a shit ton of trees.
My old man use to tell me something similar. "Theres no human problem that cant be solved with the appropriate amount of high explosive"
WHEN IN DOUBT, C4!!!!
P = Plenty
"I could maybe un-roadblock that if I had about 200 hundred of these. Problem is I've only got about...ten...plus five of my own...some cherry bombs...road flare. Hey, too bad we don't have some nitroglycerin, eh Milo?" Thank you Vinny. XD
Ehh, just dismantle as few Russian PMN 1 landmines, you'll have plenty of TNT to play with.
U legend. Im going to watch the movie tomorrow
"Oh, ehhh, gunpowder, nitroglycerin, notepads, fuses, wicks, glue, uh, paperclips, big ones. You know, just the office supplies."
"Motor Poo "
@@kilikus822 haha we are all very amused
My cousin is a former Marine Combat Engineer… sometimes when he stares at landmarks or structures I just know he’s thinking of how to blow it up. “P is for plenty!”
Yes.
"He's got that look in his eyes again.Let's get him out here."
My 3 favorite tools to use as a former combat engineer: C-4, Bangalore torpedo, and the Javelin missile launcher system. Best thing I learned? Everything is explosive with enough pressure and heat.
....hey boys pick a number and get in line for the relay.
Everything is also flammable, and has a melting point.
I'm more of a shape-charge kinda guy.
Never got to fire one, but the MICLIC looked like a cool toy.
@@stephencooper3583 it is
My STEM teacher in middle school was a combat engineer. During his time he rewrote the majority of the handbook on bridge building after he called it stupid straight to a generals face. The absolute balls of that man impresses me to this day.
Combat engineers are built fucking different. My Uncle rewrote the entire goddamn book on dealing with mine removal because he just was not okay with what he was taught.
He is also far too okay with explosives.
Names so I can find these handbooks?
@@InitialFailure David Bidwell
@A._.Neill26 seven years enlisted in the Connecticut National Guard (250th ENG) and told off a General. That's awesome!
What handbook did he rewrite?
@@InitialFailure Not a clue. I was in middle school and I lost contact with him through covid.
As a 12B, I'm dying of laughter at the accuracy.
Facts 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Dude, I did the same thing.spot freaking on!
The mother fucking Seabees...I love that was all the mentioning we needed..
Thank you For Your Service ....Vince 2/14 ADF 89-96 Brisbane Australia
When he said "unbuilt" I had to pause it from laughing so hard.
SLTW
As a 1371. I agree lol
Non combat engineers- What if it goes off?!?
Combat engineers- well….we’ll be nothing but a pink mist and a memory…anyways… I heard we getting hot chow tonight lol.
I was straddling two stacked crater charges cause someone made the ring main to small. My only thought was, "I hope my balls don't get blown up!" Never mind that's over 84lbs oh explosives I'm straddling in a hole, as I'm hooking up the initiator 😂😂😂 Oh the good old days
If it goes off its not my problem any more
When has an engineer not had a hot meal or hot shower?
Either I'm right or it's no longer my problem anymore
So basically
No combat engineer: what if it goes off?
Combat engineer: then it is very suddenly not our problem
As a 1371 the juggling bricks of c4 is very accurate. We lit some c4 on fire because it was cold as shit and the utilities guys we brought along were freaking out. The only thing that is scary as shit are blasting caps. I had to carry 100 of them at once and those things will make your foot unexist if u drop it the wrong way
Watch your crimp! I did and I still have all of my fingers.
Don't chew on the blasting caps and you should be fine.
I loved watching the MICLIC . never seen it get to used in theater however
Eh, the blasting cap stuff is a little overblown imo. We dropped a bunch of shit on one at a demo range one time and couldn't make it pop.
Still arguably the most volatile component in a charge, handle with care.
Do you guys do a lot of math?
A friend of mine was a demo specialist before becoming a manager of one of the local ADF armories, his final exam in his demo course was to transport a several ton tree from one side of a river, to a designated box on the other side of the river about 30m away, and was given a limited amount of detcord, C4 and a couple bags of ANFO. You failed if the tree ended up obliterated. He passed by using detcord to sever the tree roots, a bag or two of ANFO to lift the tree, and a couple well placed bricks of C4 to push it across the river and into the landing zone.
Ah yes directional blasting...when shit needs to get moved yesterday and your armored earth mover just broke.
Gay
@@corin1829Only dudes that can get it up are allowed to comment here. I know you didn't know, but just for future reference. Don't do it again.
Best job in the world XD
@@jimdandy8119GOT HIM!!!!!
My first deployment the engineers were the fucking gods. Literally had a video series called "blowing shit up" where they documented every door, tunnel and building the permanently yeeted like it was making scrambled eggs.
Where can I watch IT?
Agreed I want to see this as a 12N I like blowing stuff up but hate the clean up
@@pyronationgaming3937 use more explosive dont have to clean if there is nothing to clean
@@pyronationgaming3937 clean up? You see, if you properly destroyed the building there’s be no clean up. It’d just become a gravel road with slight incline
🏰🇺🇲🥃
My Father was a retired SGM Combat Engineer, two things I can remember him saying when I was a kid, "Remember son, there is no problem in the world that cannot be rectified with the proper use of enough high explosive." and "Yesterday I couldn't spell en-ga-neer, now I are one." He was definitely a character...LOL.
Remember, when using the formula for how much explosive material to destroy your target efficiently: P=Plenty.
My grandfather was a US Army Combat Engineer in the European theater of WW2. He was part of first wave to hit Utah Beach. Got shot in the shoulder and was stubborn enough to get back into the fight 3 weeks later. He would go onto fighting alongside the 101st Airborne in the Battle of the Bulge and got shot again and still was a stubborn man to keep fighting. He told me that if you want another harder job in the Army, be a Medic. He's with my Grandmother in heaven now.
Sorry for your loss. Essayons!
Love Combat Engineers. Absolute respect. Anyone that can look at a problem big or small, say "...Gimme a minute.", and then eventually comes back, hold up a remote and say "Problem solved" before causing either a surprisingly small , surprisingly large, or surprisingly directed explosion that solves your issues... my favorite person.
Out of ammo? Give the engineer a couple of minutes and we'll be launching boulders. Would love to see the report on that, position wiped out due to improvised meteor shower.
@thomasschulz2167 "reports indicate the enemy position was destroyed by.. wait am I reading this right? 'Chunks of the other enemy position that had previously been captured, launched from trebuchets.' .... what YEAR is it?!"
@@thomasschulz2167 I really hope there was a D&D nerd in that group who just described it as "rocks fall, everyone dies".
@@zirconiumdiamond1416Elden ring rock sling sorcery
Combat engineers: Solves practical problems with guns and high explosives. When that doesn't work... use more gun and more explosives.
Tf2 Engineer: **[Literally the same thing, except he's from Texas; so he'll probably say yeehaw while he does it.]**
I'm 99% certain that someone saw a Texan solving problems on a farm or something and went "huh... We need that in the military" and made the Combat Engineer "job" a thing
@@Fyrebird721 Practical problems need practical solutions.
so the dumbest thing to do would be to shoot at the combat engineers and only kill/hit the officer
If guns and explosions don't kill it, we hit it with an E-tool until it's dead!
@@Fyrebird721 ever seen a powder wedge for trees thats pretty mutch it drive it in fill it up make a big log into twigs real fast
My professor is a 22 year Seabees vet. when he said he was a "navy combat engineer, focusing on 'contingency Contruction', and building stuff" and i was the ONLY person who understood what "contingency construction" meant...
As a Combat Engineer Non Commissioned Officer, we did live mine training with our soldier's. Those of us that have done this know what it's like to have a nervous and scared soldier arming and disarming a live anti tank or anti personel mine. I've done it many times but I put myself right next to that soldier. So close I could whisper to him. This one Soldier asked me one time. "Damn Sergeant! Do you have to be right there?" I'm literally face to face with my soldier, with the mine between us. (Inches) My response. "Hell Yes, Soldier. Because if we do something wrong, I want to make sure I get the full blast effect and I won't have to tell your parent's what you did wrong. So, lets do this right for our parents. 😉 😁 being scared or nervous is a normal reaction. The hazard is there and it not something we do every day. I would show confidence that we will be fine even if there is a little joking around and a smile. Slap him on the side of the helmet. "GOOD JOB, My Man! NEXT MAN!" Range Walk Soldier! We haven't got all day. AHA closes at 1800 and these damn things will self destruct if their not back at the AHA in time for Chow. Soldier's are more scared of me than the mines sometimes. "He's "F"ing crazy. Cool, but crazy. 🤣 🤣 🤣 scared and nervous laughter? Yuup 🤣 🤣 🤣 not really. "Sapper's Lead the Way" 👍🏽
@@digitalwarrior6731 Retired 12B 👍🏽 Right On, "Sapper's Lead the Way"
Wait, you a combat engineer AND E4 MAFIA?
@@Joseph_memelord Once upon a time 🤣 😂 🤣 👍🏽
My favorite was Foo Gas. Napalm sticks to kids.
Was there. Scared as hell and loved every minute
Hey you can’t forget about the 12Ns and the fact there are people that have confirmed kills with a dozer XD
You mean besides the Israelis? 😃
My unit devised the first armored D8 and D9s due to land mines and ieds along the Baghdad Hwy we built.
@@ronaldobanion3011 Hobart's funnies, dude. They were up-armoring that D-8 in 1944.
@@ronaldobanion3011 we used them in desert storm. 5th engr bn, 1st bde., 24th id
God I hope for the day I get the chance
Clean up after a demo range is always fun " Gunny, what do you want us to do with the extra constatina and barbed wire?" (unlocks blueprint for frankenstein charge) if you know you know.
With the C4 having fence stakes wrapped around it.
Frankenstein is great. Flaming Fugazi as well.
Ever heard of a birthday cake charge?
@@deathtorch9934 😳 no but it sounds amazing.lol
Roll of barbed wire + C4 shoved in the center = fuck you
My friend was a combat engineer his motto was "everything moves with enough force or explosives"
my late ex husband was a combat engineer. i met him after his service when he was doing weekend training. he was done with all of that shortly after we married so i don't know the terms. but i remember when ppl ask him what they did on the weekends he said they "camped"(i later learned that meant get wasted , pass out) friday night. build something on Saturday morning, blow it up Saturday afternoon and get drunk.. clean up the mess Sunday morning. i have no clue if thats what really happened but i assume it was.
he missed it so so bad that 2 years later, at 26 he went to reenlist back in the regular army. he got to the medical testing they sent him home and told to get to a doctor asap, couldn't/wouldn't tell him why. he waited and had a massive heart attack, they called it a widow maker, at 27 years old. he was gone for 4 minutes.. wasn't my husband that came back. but his time in the army was the best he ever had
ya me and the boys were great but not like he needed. he was not a 9-5, family picnics on the weekend guy. he was take off in the deep back woods for a weekend with his fishing pole and rucksack (it was a big dark green back pack looking thing). he would come home days later filthy and happy. i never had an issue with him going.. because it made him happy. especially after the heart attack. i just ask him to let me know where to come look for him and be back exactly when he said. the repeated heart attacks and his depression from his whole life stopping made the alcohol and weed become harder drugs and he knew i wouldn't live that way. he was in his element building shit and blowing it up. he could look at a drawing of what they needed done and never really look again. its like he could memorize it in minutes. he was smart as fuck but just a crazy. he had crazy aim as well. luckily our boys got that from him. i was raised around guns so i was an ok shot but he was like really accurate quick. not just with a gun but with a bow as well. he taught the boys how use a bow early. our boys were down at the pond. a snake came out of the water and went after the younger boy. the older one nailed that snake in the head from over by the dock. they were 8 and 9. sorry tangent. most ppl in my world don't seem to understand when i talk about him but other former service seem to understand. he was a good man. but he should have stayed in the service. that was his home. he got out to help him mom. she had her second back surgery and a heart attack. she needed lots of help then met me. i peeved off his mom because i wanted him to go back in. he was just not ok out here in the civilian world. my little brother did the same thing a few years later. did his time in the navy. got out within a year he reenlisted and spent 17 more years in the army. tried being "normal" for a few years. now he's a deputy sheriff has been one for over 15 years. i don't know if he will ever retire. i think not being in some form of uniform (not just the clothes) would kill him too. thank you for letting me go on. like i said ppl in the regular world don't seem to get it when i talk about him like service ppl do. we were really lousy married but great friends. he even liked my now husband.. was very jealous because well ya. he never remarried or really had any girlfriends. his best friends said he always figured if he couldn't make it with me no one else would work because i really understood and accepted him..but like i said the heart attack made him someone else. took what little he had to be able to be "outside" of that life. he needed to be in an altered state after that just to survive.
Some people goes to war, and never return alive, enclosed in a casket covered in a flag, a chest filled with medals, and received with honor and bitter tears.
Some people return from war, their bodies mangled - some blind, some deaf, some limbless, some comatose, all covered in pride and pain.
Some people return from war physicaly intact, with a scar in their bodies here and there, but their minds were broken - their better years were there, with moments of unity and brotherhood impossible for us civilians to comprehend, and when they return, they see a world that is less vivid, less passionate, less colorful, and over their souls hang a dark shroud of glory and sorrow.
Do not feel guilty, for you tried your best - you gave your love, your comprehension and your patience, and your children are the proof that he, in his awkward way, loved you too. And even when, in the most dark times of his life, where the stare towards the horizon seemed the only moment of peace he only showed, you always where there, a gentle hand and a loving embrace.
And while the pain is inevitable (for no pain is inexcapable), do not ever think that the fault was yours - Fate is a fickle mistress, and the vagaries of life are unpredictable. You did your best, and that is what truly matters.
"Only the dead see the true end of War" - Plato.
This tore me up i just lost my pops officialy about a month ago but he was gone long before that im 28 now id say he wasnt dad anymore by 14 he was a marine force recon in vietnam and up till 14 he was a great dad he replaced service with working ungodly hours and taking care of his family taking us on trips as mutch as possible when i was young we would go camping every weekend he got injured in a crash ad lost his trucking company when 9/11 happened united owed him for running asphalt to build the new at the time extra runways at dia and they went bankrupt and defualted on him he never recovered he started doing coke in secret until it ruined his sinuses and he could no lomger snort it so he moved on to rocking it up so he could smoke crack and that went for a long time i left home they day i finished highschool to get away but my mom being a nurse and just a saintly person satyed eventualy after 12 years of bs she finnaly seprated from him but necer divorced never stopped helping him even wgen it hurt her and he just got worse treated her worse and then just stopped trying all around she had a hip sirgery and couldnt get in and out of the house they had so he was left to his own devices for a month i recieved a call to check on him from a family friend he had started letting squaters stay with him he was so large he couldnt move had started doing meth and was barely alive i got an ambulance and after that he had to stay in a facility my mom finnaly told him she wouldnt live with him again .... that was 5 years ago he continued to use anywich way he could further alienating his family by becoming more delusional about his faults and more angry too and i still cant hate him people are asking me why its so important to make sure everything is just right for his funeral and stuf after all hes done because they wouldnt they dont get it he still dad hes still the entirety of my knowledge that matters school wasnt worth shit to what he taught me as a kid but above all that he was a marine sorry to ramble but yeah thank you for sharing that ive never had the courage to just say that to anyone let alone post it online im sorry for your loss
@@todydn im sorry for your loss. Not just in his passing...but well you and i both understand... the might have beens and the should have beens we will never know. Hugs to you.
As a former 12b we don’t worry about being blown up either you’re okay or you don’t have to worry anymore 😂🤣
suddenly not my problem lol
"There are very few problems in life that cannot be solved with the proper application of high explosives." - A Combat Engineer (Probably)
And you just know those psychotic motherfuckers will say “Fuck math! Let’s use all of it!”
"There is no personal problem that cannot be resolved with the proper application of high explosives..." "... my personal best is a break of six."
Blaster from the movie UNCOMMON VALOR
A great movie by the way.
@@swaghauler8334 I love that movie!
I remember a story a Drill Instructor told me when I was in MRP after he asked me what my MOS was going to be and I told him it was combat engineer he said they are some of the craziest fuckers you will meet, when he was deployed in Afghanistan and the convoy he was in stopped because a suspected IED was in the road, a lone combat engineer walked over to it examined the IED he either saw that it was a dud or something then proceeded to pick it up holding it in the air and yelled to the rest of the guys saying “hey it’s fine now!”
Didn’t end up graduating but I still remember that story among others
I actually have a few engineer field books, and yeah, half the stuff in them is how much power putty you need to "x"
In those formulas, P = plenty. If 1 pound will do the job, 5 pounds will do the job 5 times as good.
One of my first jobs as a 12B was to be the "runner" when breaching a minefield. My job was to pull a line of det cord through the minefield so we could plant angry play-doh on the mines. The rest of the squad waited around the spool of det cord. No one ever mentioned how this could go badly. Also, you forgot to mention the most hated piece of equipment in the US Army, the Armored Combat Earthmover (ACE), one giant hydraulic leak.
We had an ace, our alcoholics and overweights almost never used the thing because we had two Vietnam era excavators with buckets on the front, that never broke down.
I swore I'd go AWOL if they put me on an ACE. I was an AVLB TC for a quick tick, and that was fun. @@dashhuber2901
Yes the combat engineers have the exact same battle plan every time and the scariest part the scariest part is it's almost always successful.
Yep... as another former 12b, I can tell you that one method of making a door involves taping a bangalore to a wall. He's also right about how blase you can get handling c4, too... during one demo range our smoking area was about 10 feet from the prep circle.
Love the little joke about 21b for a hot minute, since I was 12b and some vets at school had no idea what that was because they served during the 21b window.
Hell when I got called in out of the IRR in 04 the Drills at Leonard Wood told me i was a 21B. I responded no Sergeant I was an 11B, a 12B and a 62B but never a 21B. That is when they told me about the reallignment. Now back to 12B and 62B is a 91L. Someone really needed an OER bullet.
YES!!! Dude from Atlantis was the first thing I thought of when you started talking about how casually they handle high explosives! 🤣
Same
Don't forget the demoman from tf2 but BOTH are amazing
Hey look! I made a bridge. It only took what, twelve seconds."
As a Combat Engineer and tabbed "Sapper" for more than half that, I enjoyed that depiction. When it came time to play Sapper, we did get scary serious. A platoon of Combat Engineers, that can fight like infantry and operate like an elite group of Rangers. Failure was not an option. Mobility, Survivability and Counter Mobility. My elements trained at higher standards than that of the infantry unit we supported. You will be able to do your job, you will not have to do ours. Mostly never utilized by our infantry task force back then. 😀 No Problem 👍🏽. "Sapper's Lead The Way"
Amen
Essayons! 🙏🏼🏰
Chimo brother!
This is so accurate. As a 12B we did a lot of this and more.
Its ridiculous what engineers are capable of doing. Upper echelons really sleep on our talents and capabilities.
21C/12C
When calculating the amount of explosives required combat engineers incorporate the variable "p" in every formula... p=plenty...
Essayons!
As an engineer, I can confirm the accuracy of that assessment.
I was an army engineer. I wasn't a combat engineer, but at my unit they still trained me in c4, det chord, catering charges, all kinds of fun stuff. The craziest feeling is det'ing 30lbs of course, watching the shock wave cross the field, then hit you like standing in front a massive bass speaker at a concert... FIRE IN THE HOLE!!! Good times lol
Which 12/21 series were you?
@@waterbornesapper7953 21e, crosstrained to the "super echo", which later became known as 21n
Yes I was a 62E in my time which is a heavy equipment construction engineer. Don't get me wrong I served in construction units called ECB(h) engineer combat battalion ( heavy) and 12B units.
We where the guys trained to do 12 Bravo stuff but added fun of heavy equipment like bulldozers.
Amazing to watch or see after in pitch black darkness dig a fighting position for M1 tank just by feel of the dozer.
We had in my last unit 3 levels of demo and I tested out on the highest and loved blowing stuff up.
Since then fireworks just dont have the same effects on me as a civilian. I think of my days and thought we had better fireworks lol
@@sapper2497 you're a sapper, so I really don't want to question you... but when did you serve...? And do you know the "sapper daddy" cadence, that uses the tune from "the candy man can" song from the original willy Wonka movie? One of the best cadences I ever heard lol
Do you know the engineer song
A line I loved from the SeaBee Combat Manual: "When laying a minefield or barbwire entanglement, finish on the inside."
This lesson generalizes well.
Sounds like the same guy wrote the instructions molded into the claymore - "Front Toward Enemy"
I was a 21B1E8 in Afghanistan (before we became 12's again)
The ASI "E8" if from a School in Ft Leonardwood where E-4's to O-2's become Explosive Ordnance Clearance Agents.
That's a Combat Engineer, trained by EOD to be "EOD light".
We can Identify, categorize, report on, build barricades around, and destroy in place all UXO other than nukes. And operate EOD's cool little robot toys.
the 82nd moved into my FOB while we were out on a two-week IED patrol, took over our Husky mine detecter's proving field, expanded it and gravelled it over for Apaches. Withour removing our training mines. I get called to the flight line one day when I was on TOC duty. one of our training mines was sticking out from the gravel, very close to an Apache. They point it out to me and ask me if it's live. Being the proper member of the E-4 Mafia and still pissed that they stole our property without asking, gave him the EOCA standard Briefing.
"Get a fire extinguisher and a stretcher team, stage here where it's safe. If the UXO goes off, wait for debris to stop falling and take the exact path I did out to me, if the UXO is on fire, let it burn. If I am on fire, put me out. Then CASEVAC me... got it?"
I then walked out to the "mine" carefully removed my armor and helmet, circled it a few times, peering at it closely with my flashlight, stood up, scratched my head.... then stomped on it really hard. Grabbed my gear, walked back to him and said "nah, it's a dud"
Name this story "A Practical Guide On How To Be An Asshole."
My grandfather was a combat engineer in Korea. Can confirm the answer is ALWAYS brute force.
Essayons et Faisons!
My battalion motto.
Let us try, let us do!
54th engineer battalion, 370 sapper company.
2:29 "hey look! i made a bridge, and it took like, what, 10 seconds?"
When we were in Fallujah in 2004 they sent us to the power plant and water treatment facility to see if we could fix them and get them on line. I can not think of anyone I would least like to go into my power plant or water treatment facility than a squad of Combat Engineers...
pretty sure the motorpool people are better at dealing with power and stuff. how are you going to fix a power plant with 12B anyways? get the turbine unstuck with some explosives? aerate the water with some c4?
I was doc attached to engineers. This was great! Your videos are amazing! Thanks so much and don't stop the grind!
Fing loved you Dr's. Always delivered the right pain adjustment. If I needed to stay alert it was 9, if not 10 please Doc. I tear up when I see a Doc on the streets or VA. LOVE you, all.
I want to thank all of you for your service. I greatly appreciate and respect you for serving.
When the infantry says "Follow Me", they only do so with our permission. Essayons.
No.. no they don’t
Yep. Want to see a confused infantry man? Put a triple strand of C-wire across a road with a handmade "mine" placard on it.
Infantry may be the Queen of Battle. Sappers make sure that bitch doesn't get raped.
@@andrewshoaf1842 Ha.. want to confuse an Engineer? Walk around the dumb C-wire they just put up.
@@kgot7436 yes yes, you guys really got the grunts back with those combat excavators.
I just learned that my grandfather was an Army combat engineer (this was like 70ish years ago I think).... and apparently a good one that cleared bomb ranges. According to all of my relatives that knew the man, he had a reflex. He'd scan a building he just entered, and spot the optimal places to bring the building straight down.
You forgot to mention the combat engineers favorite toy, the M58 MiCLiC. [Mine Clearing Line Charge] basically a rocket with 1,750 pounds of danger putty strapped to it with string launched from a trailer for clearing mine fields. It’s also on the top of a modified Abrams the ABV. Did I mention it’s triggered from inside the tank about 50’ away and it has two. B6 heavy track course trains 12B’s how to use this danger putty applicator.
Love them. They're a tanker's best friend besides 11 bravos. Nice to roll up in a m1 and have a place dug out to hide in already is great. A tank is powerful, but a large target. Being able to play peekaboo safely while sending rounds instead of worrying about being too open can change the pace of a fight really quick.
My team leader once breached a wood fence with four blocks of C4 spaced apart with a foot of det cord.
Wonderful stuff.
Hahaha...been there
If it's worth killing, it's worth overkilling.
New quote "Its not a war crime if you have a fun time"
"How much explosives did you use?!?!?!?"
"Enough."
I remember right out of basic and with my unit. We were in the field, 4 guys in the back of an M113, setting blasting caps in a crate of C4. Every one of us smoking cigarettes in the back of that tin can. My squad leader looked at me calmly and said don’t worry… but if the C4 catches fire just don’t stomp out the flame.
We also used that C4 to blow all the limbs of an old oak tree down field. Those were the days!!
As the size of an explosion increases, the number of problems it can't solve reduces exponentially. Edit. A word
VINNY! “ I got Gunpowder, nitroglycerin, notepads, fuses, wicks, glue, and uh… Paperclips, big ones. You know, just, uh, office supplies.” Best character in any movie.
Can confirm, we use Kevin as a meat shield. Except it's David in our instance. Nobody carries that stupid heavy ass blast shield anyway. Sappers lead the way. 🏰
I have both been Kevin and hidden behind Kevin. Useful tactic.
Former 12B here (with sapper badge) we appreciate the seabees doing our light work. ;)
as a 12B, who became a 21B, then went back to 12B... im fucking dead :D
You should do EOD next.
I had the great fortune to serve with some rather awesome 12Bs; we nicknamed the most awesomest one Rambo bc he was tabbed out... Airborne, Ranger School, and SF... but our senior 11B NCOs were most-impressed with his Sapper tab, which we believed to be the most difficult combat arms school in the Army. He definitely earned his nick when we essentially got assigned his personal security detail on route-running & -clearing. I remember this thing he had about the ROE: "we can't & won't shoot people that are interfering with our mission bc that's just wrong; but we can throw rocks at them, so make sure you load up on various sizes... lots and lots of golf balls bc those offer the greatest travel plus they also hurt like hell when delivered in close quarters. But don't forget your baseballs & softballs too, bc we'll wind up using those. And if you can actually throw a basketball-size rock, those are in play too."
It's been 20+ years, so I've completely forgotten his name... but SFC (P) Rambo will always have a soft spot in my heart. His exploits during the GWOT wouldn't necessarily be worthy of a TFE video... but he punched hardest & always had his men ready for the worst... resulting in deploying with something like 32 Joes & coming home with... 32 Joes.
I must offer a correction. Tree trimming is done with detcord. Much faster to use and easier to Daisy chain.
My cousin was a combat engineer in Viet Nam.
He got out of the Army & went to his county's road department where his explosives experience got him assigned to blow some stumps for a farmer's road crossing the county road.
He showed up,looked the job over & starts showing the farmer how he calculates the amount of explosives needed & if the older man wants to walk or to run after lighting the fuse.
They took cover behind the work truck & my cousin hits the detonator.
They watch as the tree stump describes a perfect parabolic arc & lands on the truck cab.
He's standing there trying to figure out how to explain demolishing the first brand new truck that the road department had ever owned when the farmer patted his shoulder & said"Son,when you get a little more experience,you'll land them stumps in the truck bed every time."
“The same battle plan regardless of the battle or the situation.” Ngl, thought you were going to say “regardless of the battle, or the enemy’s plan”
My great Grandfather was in the 1284th Combat Engineer Battalion during WWII. I can barely find information on his battalion, but what I have found out so far is that he fought in the battle of the Ruhr Pocket.
My son is in basic right now training as a 12B... I watched this going , yep that's my son, lol he picked the right job for him.
Hope he can embrace the suck!
Brandon Floyd , lmao oh He's already said several times he should of been a plumber.
Thanks for posting...my grandaddy was CoE in WW2 and was landed the day after D-Day and from that point was on the front line all the way across France. He told me some crazy cool stories as a young boy that I remember to this day.
Kevin is a good brother...albeit not a smart brother...still a good brother none the less.
My dad while an officer in the Army Corps of Engineers many years ago had some old surplus C4 that needed to be used and there happened to be some armored jeeps that needed to be decommissioned. Yeah... you can probably guess where this is going.
So he organized his men into teams and held competition to see which team could launch an armored jeep highest into the air.
12B here. Thank you for this. 100 percent accurate here. However, you forgot about cratering charges. LOL. Brute force every single time. Lol.
Best way to blow hole in a wall, lol.
Aw the hell with those heavy bastards
Proud to have been a 12B! The state of North Carolina was building a reservoir back in 79-80 outside of Raleigh. We had one of 3 bridges to come out. We used 10k of explosives on that one bridge...40 lb shaped charges,cratering charges,C-4 and TNT. What a glorious day! We took our bridge out in one shot....it took 82nd two times.
So in summary, their answer to every is “let’s blow it up” 😂
Rewatching this is a trip. Been a crazy watching how far FE has grown and couldn't be happier. One of the few people who I try to watch every video as soon as possible when he uploads.
Man I love your videos but as a 13 yr 12b vet, I was absolutely rolling in laughter at this vid. Thank you!
My dad was a combat engineer and I always loved hearing his story’s
Currently signing up for the CAF as a combat engineer, I can't wait
My Dad, a 20 year US Army combat veteran starting in 1967, was a 12B Combat Engineer. His personal motto was, "If I can't build it, I can blow it up." My mother would find blasting caps and det cord in his BDU pockets when she did the laundry. Dad would use our family car to carry "supplies" to and from FTXs. By "supplies" I mean C4, assorted mines, frags, primacord, etc. It got to the point that Mom went to the 1st Sergeant's office and reamed Top into giving Dad a Dodge truck to carry his "supplies". Not only was Dad in love with making things go BOOM, he was also the battalion supply NCO and was ALWAYS "creatively reaquiring" gear and equipment his battalion needed. After retiring from the Army in 1987, he became a deputy sheriff. At a WMD class the department gave after 9-11, a fire marshal was explaining how IEDs could look and had examples. Assuring the class of deputies that everything he had on display was "not live". To which Dad proceed to explain and physically show how he could make everything the fire marshal had on display, live. In summation, if you want an army built to take over the world, simply man said army with copious amounts Cannon Cockers, Mad Turtles, 19Deltas and 12 Boom Booms. Let the pussy ass grunt shits guard the rear.
You should do a video about sappers, the elite of the combat engineers. I had a drill sergeant in basic that was a sapper. He told stories about breaching with a brick a danger putty or a AT4. So forget those Marines and their little grenades. Lol. Think about it and I look forward to more of your videos. Keep up the great work brother!
And it's Sapper Leader Coarse. All 12b are sappers. We all trained the same way SLC prepared you to transfer that knowledge down so it was not lost. The school was not big enough to train everyone.
I just very recently discovered/got into Electrician's content, I can honestly say that one of my favorite things is always the comments section. Specifically the folks in the military community confirming so much of it. Y'all are legends. Thank you for your service. o7
This man needs to colab on all war movies to assure realism.
I'd love 2 😆 🤣
@@the_fat_electrician If you've got any opportunity to do a video about weird weapons, the Dambusters raid during WW2 and the RAF 617th bombers (never before in history has so much been owed by so many to so few, these guys were some of them) is certainly worth the time. Love your content, Military culture deserves more people like you.
@@SegaRihdan thank you I plan on covering as much as possible!
Thank you my grandpa was a combat engineer it's amazing how much stuff they know I wish I had half his knowledge
As a former 12b best shit ever I'm dying of laughter. There isn't anything C4 can't fix
AMEN
The Army Corps of Engineers built some really nice locks in my city (The kind that move boats up and down between two different water levels), though I have no illusions about their ability to un-build those locks at the drop of a hat if they wanted.
You should make an engineer diver video, would include seabee divers too
Been attached to 1371 plt... We used to smoke while on ammo watch... While sitting in boxes of ingredients
Don't forget AF's CE and Red Horse, we all trained in the same place, Ft Leonard Wood, and you are correct about the loose terminology of the word "Engineer."
I can't say I've ever seen Red Horse at FLW. But I've heard good things about yall.
@@waterbornesapper7953 All AF Civil Engineering starts there. Then they either go into base CE or more specialized Red Horse.
TTMFH!
To be clear, only certain AFSC's go to FLW. All CE, I.E. seebees, army corps., AF CE, go to several bases for specific training, but only the lucky few get a RED HORSE Squadron, anywhere in the world, with a potable source or water and dirt patch long and flat enough for some C130s and you have a new air base to put warheads on foreheads.
@@jarredthomas8644 You are correct sir. I was speaking on behalf of Dirt Boyz. Many other bases for AFSC's.
As the old adage goes: "When in doubt, double the amount."
Source: experience.
Love the video, tomorrow (oktober 11th) I will start my training for combat engineer for the Netherlands(dutch armed forces) and I'm very excited for it and this video pumpt me up even more, keep the vids rolling I love all of them and could certainly use em for my training 😁
This was very interesting. Thank you for this video. My grandfather was an Army Combat Engineer during the Battle of the Bulge in WWII.
We went on ordinance search and destruction missions with combat engineers in Iraq circa 2005-06. They gave out C-4 like it was candy. Great day.
Infantryman: What's in the Mrap?
Combat Engineer: Oh, er... gunpowder, nitroglycerin, notepads, fuses, wicks, glue, and... paper clips, big ones. You know, just, uh, office supplies.
Camel spider was found in the tent
Combat engineer brings 12lbs of C4
Sounds like they were feeling merciful
It's the only way to be sure. lol
My dad was a WWII combat engineer attached to Patton’s 3rd Army, (the 505th combat battalion). They outran Patton’s flank into South-Western Germany and were the first over the Elba River. They fought into Germany as forward scouts, blew bridges, blew up German depots of fuel, ammo, cleared minefields, and blew up artillery and tanks. RIP Dad.
I loved Master breacher course!
What one can do with a Copenhagen can or a IV bag c4 and det cord. shape charge lol
My dad spent 22 years as a combat engineer. Retired i. 2000. His version of fun was teaching myself and my cousins how to make low yeild IEDs
I enlisted as a 12B and I leave for BCT in 3 days. Can't wait
Have fun at Ft Lost in the Woods! Ahhh the memories.
@@robynsnest8668 ahahaha I'll try.
Send which unit you get assigned to for basic here be nice to see which one you train under
My neighbor is a Seabee . Went on two tours . Thanks for your service Ken.
Hahaha ESSAYONS!!!! Miss my dudes
Funny about C4 is that you can cook with it as fuel meaning you can catch it on fire without blowing it up.
Man I loved Vinny in Atlantis! Still hate the House of Mouse for intentionally shafting the movie so hard just so they could get rid of the hand drawn animation department.
I was a 12B in the mid 80's stationed just outside Nuremberg, West German (two Germany's then). We has M113 apc's and being out in the field was mostly fun. Once we were training with some infantry and we were getting ready to lay a quick anti-tank minefield. The floor of our 113 was full of mines stacked 3 deep with plans to drive across the field arming them and tossing them out the back. (yes, we were walking on them because they were our new floor.) So, the Lt of the infantry comes over and asks if he can get a ride with us because he thinks we have plenty of room with our 6 person squad compared to his 11-12 crowded vehicles. We all got a chuckle when he looked in and quickly changed his mind when he saw what he would be sitting or walking on. Perfectly safe explosives when unarmed, lol.
Sappers lead the way! P for Plenty is our method of formula. Love this video.
I told this to my math professor who never served and he loved the idea of it.
"How much putty do you need for this mission?"
Correct answer: " how much do we have?"
Yup... better to blow sh*t up too much than not enough!
I joined in 2007 when the MOS was 21B. I wish you would have talked about Sapper school. Regardless, thanks for the love. Essayons!
Build it, blow it up, or just improvise the hell out of it, Combat Engineers.
As a 21 year Army Combat Engineer Master Sergeant i can this is an accurate breakdown. C4 takes a small explosion to detonate so freaking people out by juggling it or nonchalantly tossing it hack and forth is good fun. Great content keep it up.