Construction Technician (merged)

[Magma]

I am seriously thinking of joining up since I noticed you can be a Construction worker or engineer and stuff. I was thinking most likely be a reservist since I want to save up for school and stuff.

Anyways what I want to ask is if you want to be placed in the Construction Technician  feild does that still require going through basic Training then you get placed in the CT area or you can start right in the CT area?

 

[Michael OLeary]

Select "648 Construction Technician" from the Regular or Reserve NCM trade selector here for more info:

http://www.recruiting.forces.gc.ca/engraph/army/jobs_e.aspx

Yes, you will have to do basic training for this trade.

 

[civiltech]

Where does the trade Construction Tech. fall within an engineering unit.   My civilian background is civil engineering & I had hoped to join as a Combat Engineer however my eyesight is V4. I am looking for any additional information on the Const. Tech trade that someone could add.

 

[McG]

They are in the construction troop of a CER, however they can also be found in 1 Engr Sp Unit (1 ESU), in airfield engineer squadrons, and in working for most bases around the country.

 

[big_johnson1]

My old trade, how I miss thee!

Actually it's a pretty good trade, although as a civil engineer you might be slightly overqualified. I was with an Airfield Engineering unit for 7 years but I got attached to 1 CER to go to Kosovo, so it is an interesting mix of the Air Force and the Army.. Plus, if you get on with an AE unit, there are tons of great exchanges with the US Air National Guard, lots of overseas construction projects, some tours, some as little as a month. I had a lot of fun (been to Hawaii, Dallas, Alert (up north), Kosovo, all over Canada).

 

[Sapper24]

Just a few questions, might seem kinda dumb but I'm interested in the Construction tech trade. What exactly do the Construction Techs do? Is there main purpose just to build buildings and such for the forces? and what reg force Combat Engineer Regiments have a Construction Tech detachment?

 

[big_johnson1]

Construction techs are glorified (ok maybe not glorified) carpenters. They are tasked with building structures from the ground up, or surveying land areas, or putting down concrete for rapid runway repair, or renovations, or installing AC units.. Some of the them work on outside projects, such as Habitat for Humanity (good PR for the Forces), or working with Cadets and Scouts and helping keep their facilities up to snuff. As a Construction Tech you might not be posted to an Army unit though, you could also go to an Airfield Engineering Flight. That means you could end up in Alert (Nunavut) for 6 months doing station maintenance (everything from replacing door knobs and building elaborate TV stands to putting windows in buildings and redoing floors). Once you get high enough you'll start being in charge of crews of guys, basically being a contractor supervising sub-trades.

 

[Zombie]

This primary duty of Cbt Eng's has me wondering what the relationship is between them and Construction Techs and how similar the roles are with respect to construction:

Construct and maintain roads, airfields, heliports, bridges, causeways, rafts, permanent and temporary buildings.

Any input is appreciated.

 

[aesop081]

This primary duty of Cbt Eng's has me wondering what the relationship is between them and Construction Techs and how similar the roles are with respect to construction:

Construct and maintain roads, airfields, heliports, bridges, causeways, rafts, permanent and temporary buildings.

Any input is appreciated.

combat engineers tend to build what i would term "field expedient" things.  Assault bridges such as MGB, MR/MFB and EWBB.  Construction tends to be more "rough" ( we were bulding OPs in croatia by using shainsaws vice more precise tools).  043s tend to this in the face of the enemy as oposed to rear areas where more permanent structures are built by the CE types.

 

[HADES 1962]

Construction engineers (myself I am a construction tech) do basically all that construction workers on civvy street does.
Wood frame construction, concrete, roofing,drywall, painting, glazing(Glass work), drafting design, cabinets building, etc .
when deployed we maintain the camps along with other airfield engineerings trades such as plumming and heating, electrical (commercial , industrial, residential), refrigeration, water treatment.
All construction engineering trades are done at CFSME in Gagetown, each QL 3 trade varies from 8 months to 11 months.
It took 8 years to my re-muster to this and have no regrets.
As for having a back ground in civil engineering if there is a degree I would diffidently recommend becoming a Airfield Engineering Officer.

 

[JackD]

Since I'm reading - finally - about Ce tech - how are the barracks in Alert holding up? I worked on the Op Trelar project in 1976.. and would really like to know.... My posting after that was to Egypt -I darn near died from the difference in temperature... You know, that was a great year....

 

[HADES 1962]

JackD,
In response to your question of the barracks in Alert , I have no Idea, but we have a few members returning from there soon, so I shall ask of their conditions.
Yes I would think a drastic temperature change would affect the body in a negative way.

CHIMO

 

[JackD]

Thanks - sure would like to know, as a lot of improvisation was done - much of the subflooring was bashed up by a forklift so it had to be hammered out, the wall panels got wet somehow so the insulation was chunks of ice and had to be pulled out and replaced... and so on - a lot of brute work but fantastic food. If i remember correctly, anything of 90 hours per week paid overtime - unique to the project and if memory serves me correctly, I did 110 hours one week - the midnight sun and being 19... As for Egypt, well tents in the airfield, Atco trailer for ablutions, camp cots, flies, water-buffalo steak...and one tool box.... we used rocks to bang in nails on that job... God it was great!

 

[big_johnson1]

Last time I was in Alert was 2000, and the buildings were fine.. Things are getting a little old, so being a carpenter in Alert does give you some benefits like putting new carpet in your room, new clean ceilling tiles and new paint on the walls.. But otherwise fine. I've also got a friend up there right now and he hasn't complained about anything to me.


Chimo!

 

[JackD]

Great to know! Nice to have done one thing in life that has lasted the decades..... I'm sure the cooking on the station is as good as it was in '76, but the million dollar dump has gone up a few more zeros in value...

 

[plumber]

i was moc613 pgftr alert was my second home . posted cfb trenton 1983 to 1990 that was the main support base for alert as a construction engineer at trenton you spent an average of 20 weeks a year up in alert doing everything related to your tread and helping other trades such as carpenters and elec. never a dull moment

 

[cp]

if there are any construction techs reading this I got a couple of questions for you.  i'm a carpenter civy side, and in an infantry molitia unit, and I've been thinking if I can do both as a reg force construction tech, that might be alright.  Any way my questions
- Is it unrealistic to try to transfer to const. tech, or is it something you have to remuster from the regs into
- Do you guys typically get to do alot of actual carpentry, or is it a base fix it guy kind of thing
- what kind of deployments do you get

Would apprectiate any info, thanks

 

[big_johnson1]

Carpenters in the military can do a lot of carpentry. I don't know much about the ACTs (Army side), but working base side and with AEFs (Air Force side) I got a lot of experience with actual carpentry. Base side you do tend to do more maintenance, but there were lots of interesting projects to work on. You can be in the Regs or in the Reserves as a carpenter (depending on the units near you, I think you would need to talk to a recruiting center about that part). As for deployments, well, as an engineer you can go across Canada on construction projects, down to the US on exchange projects, or overseas to pretty much anywhere the CF goes. If you wanted to go away, the opportunity was always there when I was in. I think it's a great trade, but then again, I'm a little biased. Any other questions feel free ask or PM me.

 

[orange.paint]

My neighbour is a carpenter.After returning from Jamaica on a carpentry exchange(some southern good go country anyway)He dagged for Afghanistan.This has been within the past 4 months!

 

[McG]

...I've been thinking if I can do both as ...

Make sure you know where on this spectrum you want to be.  As a CE guy, you will not be doing any of the infantry stuff.  If this is important to you, you might be happier as a Cbt Engr.

I don't know much about the ACTs ...

I've watched the 1 CER Construction Troop build a house for Habitat for Humanity, Construct the CFB Edm conflict resolution centre, deploy almost as a whole on Op ARCHER R00 to develop the facilities of Camp Nathan Smith, Expand rec facilities in CFB Shilo for the move of 2 PPCLI, deploy to Jamaica to conduct several improvements to the Jamaican staff school . . .   Basicly, life in a CT should involve a lot of projects which achieve needs of the army & maintain/develop the skills of the troop (It happens that we may not always be able to do both at the same time).