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Army MOS 12N Horizontal Construction Engineer

The Army is always completing hundreds of construction projects and Heavy Construction Equipment Operators are integral to that process. Airfields, roads, dams and buildings can’t be created without moving tons of earth and building materials or producing concrete and asphalt. Construction equipment operators use bulldozers, cranes, graders and other heavy equipment to complete these kinds of projects.

Construction Equipment Operators are responsible for operating crawler and wheeled tractors with dozer attachments, scoop loader, backhoe loaders, hydraulic excavators, motorized grader and towed or self-propelled scraper. Some of your duties as a Construction Equipment Operator may include:

Interpret information on grade stakes, placing or replacing grade stakes
Drive bulldozers, road graders, and other heavy equipment to cut and level earth for runways and
roadbeds
Clear, grub, strip, excavate, backfill, stockpile and push scraper with tractor crawler
Cut and spread fill material with scraper
Transport heavy construction equipment with tractor-trailer
Assist in performance of combat engineer missions
Lift and move steel and other heavy building materials using winches, cranes, and hoists
Dig holes and trenches using power shovels

Training
Job training for a Construction Equipment Operator requires nine weeks of Basic Training, where you’ll learn basic Soldiering skills, and eight weeks of Advanced Individual Training and on-the-job instruction. Part of this time is spent in the classroom and part in the field. Some of the skills you’ll learn are:

Operation of different types of construction equipment
Operation of specific rough terrain equipment
Maintenance and repair of equipment
Identification of soil types
Identification and placement of grade stakes

Advanced Responsibilities
Advanced level Construction Equipment Operators provides guidance, supervises and trains other Soldiers within the same discipline. As an advanced level Construction Equipment Operator, you may be involved in:

Construct embankments
Excavate hills and slopes with crawler tractor
Finish slopes
Mix soil stabilization materials
Construct embankments
Perform surface and drainage maintenance

Related Civilian Jobs
The skills you learn as a Construction Equipment Operator will help prepare you for a civilian career with building contractors, state highway agencies, rock quarries, well drillers or construction firms. You’ll be able to consider a future as an operating engineer, heavy equipment operator, well driller or rigger.

There are a number of formal 3-year operating engineer apprenticeship programs, which you may qualify for as well. These programs, which are administered by the International Union of Operating Engineers and the Associated General Contractors of America, Inc., consist of at least three years or 6,000 hours of on-the-job training and 144 hours per year of classroom instruction.