Combat Engineers: 12B

Soldiers with the 572nd Brigade Engineer Battalion, 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain), recently conducted training on Camp Ethan Allen Training Site. This included breaching an obstacle, using an improvised Bangalore charge, and creating a safe lane for the infantry to pass through. A combat engineer’s mission pertains to three things: mobility, counter-mobility and survivability. They shape the movement of forces on the battlefield.

[@melvinbfernandez]

Live for the blast, My Man. "Sapper's Lead the Way"

[@Emmett54321]

Best job ive ever had!!

[@jorgeromero7532]

Be honest bro.. is this job fun.. cause i was artillery and was not having fun.. we shot rounds but usually never see the damage we cause..

[@Emmett54321]

@@jorgeromero7532 I loved being a 12B. It was stressful but playing with uncle Sam's serious putty was amazing.

[@skylerrash9154]

As an 11B, 12Bs make me nervous.

[@Emmett54321]

Haha then dont pass us during route clearance.

[@pillscottvt6628]

Sappers forward!

[@thomaszachariadis634]

Nice👍😊 🇬🇷

[@hoodlumchronicles7648]

I’m planning to be 12b since the Army doesn’t have 11b reserves so my question is would they also clear rooms if necessary? I know there job isn’t to go find the enemy, but would that be a possibility maybe when they get attached to an infantry unit

[@noahgold9694]

From what I’ve read because I plan to be a combat Engineer active duty if shit hits the fan they are capable to perform Infantry duties but that is not their primary use

[@erix7312]

I’m a 12 bravo and my unit trains to also clear rooms but mainly we breach the doors for the infantry with different tools equipment or explosives

[@antoniofranco77]

I just enlisted as a 12B, From what I've heard you will see combat. You are attached to an infantry unit.

[@isaacanderson9714]

It is most likely hence the name Combat Engineering you will either be with an engineering or infantry unit just depends on what the army is looking for .

[@CZuskia]

I don't have hands-on experience as of writing this, nor have I enlisted (but plan to enlist soon). From what I see in the comments, not really... You're a combat engineer, so you're probably gonna be performing engineer duties while Army/Marines clear (or have already cleared out) an area. But if things get really bad, possibly... Best of luck, man!

[@thegaming_panda7284]

So do you guys make bombs?
I’m planning on being a 12b myself

[@vistalacorsa5343]

You make bombs, find Bombs (Route Clearance) Build shit and blow shit up, thats pretty much a life of a Combat Engineer

[@TheGamingReaperAnimations]

you are a construction worker with explosives

[@richnaper6666]

No, they don’t.

[@Emmett54321]

@@richnaper6666 building improvised explosives is part of the job.

[@TSAGamerContent]

looks fun

[@jameswilliams-kz9vf]

Sappers!!!!!

[@misachica5495]

Dumb question what does he mean by survivability

[@th3sh3rm4n4]

Building walls around bases, etc.
Well that is what that means in my country (which isn't America)

[@alexisXcore93]

He literally said it

[@user-um1si4hz8e]

Its actually pretty vast since engineers need to adapt. But survivability can be building defenses, water filtration, controlled munitions disposal, and distracting enemy forces.

[@kang2285]

How long training in oust?

[@lazarus3.023]

16 weeks

[@walker_texas5143]

@@lazarus3.023 i got this mos and mine is 14 weeks

[@laangelsfan]

walker_texas not that long

[@antoniofranco77]

14 weeks

[@kimarhironso437]

It will be longer once covid ends. The program the Army used for the infantry pre covid was deemed a success with longer osut times, jumping infantry osut from 14-22 weeks, and the caliber of soldier coming to the unit was much improved. This is going to trickle down to all combat arms once covid is officially in the rearview.

[@richnaper6666]

Lol you mean NOT infantry and NOT EOD? Why do we even have this job.

[@gart7511]

Seethe

[@kimarhironso437]

I'm pretty sure engineers detonated more roadside bombs than EOD did throughout the entirety of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. No doubt EOD is more skilled and can do more than lump c4 on top of an IED to get rid of it, but there are WAY more 12bs than 89ds. 89ds can't be everywhere. I forget what the miniaturized school that 12bs go to to certify to blow in place IEDs but it is still way shorter than 89d school is.
Also neither 11b or 89d are going to to any kind of fortifications or obstacle clearing. 11bs might take a hill, but they aren't going to knock down all the trees of the top of it, clear them away, and build a cp or a firing point for field artillery. 12bs can.
People get hung up on looking at the way MOS function during the wars that ended/will end soon. 12bs can do and have done more than just route clearance. And some of their history is downright gnarly. Normandy, tunnel rats in vietnam, etc.

[@richnaper6666]

@@kimarhironso437 the course was called EOCA (spelling is wrong)

[@kimarhironso437]

That was it. My point being it was easier to train 12bs to drop c4 on a munition and get the hell away than it was to hold everybody up and wait hours for one of the few eod teams in the area to arrive. 89ds and the other branch counterparts are super sharp. But their school is very long, has a very high attrition rate, and there isn't very many of them.
I forgot that one of last things I was offered to do before I got out was go to an underground breaching course because military leadership thinks that there is a high chance that the US military could find itself fighting beneath ground in secured bunkers.
It wasn't enough to entice me to stay, but I did see the class roster was all 12b (which to me makes sense) and 11b(makes less sense but I can see it if the infantry unit doesn't have engineer attachements). Not one other MOS listed.

[@user-um1si4hz8e]

engineers do a lot of tasks that the infantry can not focus on because they need to stay ready for fights. Distracting enemy forces, search operations, construction of defenses and other tasks are done by combat engineers not shown in the video. EOD is a expensive resource and so combat engineers triage and do blow in places if EOD is not required. Combat engineer is like a nurse, EOD a doctor.

[@Jeremy-ul3it]

Just a bunch of wanna be grunts Follow Me🖤

[@MechanicalAddict]

HA! Grunts always love it when the engineers come around we always make life a bit easier for em

[@sethheaddress2651]

Shut it boot

[@Jeremy-ul3it]

@@sethheaddress2651 The truth hurts POG🤣

[@Jeremy-ul3it]

@@MechanicalAddict Yes so we have somebody to make fun of

[@MechanicalAddict]

@@Jeremy-ul3it 🤣Sure pal. I can tell a shitbag of a troop when I come across one and you're definitely in that category