Builders, mechanics, divers, bomb techs, and engineers who construct bases, fix machines, and keep power and communications running.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Army Engineer Officer: Leads engineer units that build bridges, clear minefields, and construct bases. Typical pay $122k.
Navy Civil Engineer Corps Officer: Navy engineer officer who manages construction and facilities projects worldwide and leads Seabee battalions. Typical pay $122k.
Air Force Developmental Engineer: Engineer officer who designs, tests, and buys new aircraft, weapons, and satellites. Typical pay $122k.
Chemical (CBRN) Officer: Leads units that defend against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats. Typical pay $122k.
Signal Officer: Leads units that build and run military communications networks, from radios to satellite links. Typical pay $122k.
Air Force Civil Engineer Officer: Engineer officer who builds and maintains Air Force bases, runways, and utilities, and repairs bombed airfields. Typical pay $122k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician: Bomb technician who disarms explosives, unexploded bombs, and IEDs, and protects VIPs from threats. Typical pay $70k.
Army Engineer Diver: Underwater construction and salvage diver who inspects bridges, clears harbors, and recovers objects. Typical pay $70k.
Prime Power Production Specialist: Runs and repairs power plants and high-voltage grids that keep military bases and disaster zones running. Typical pay $70k.
Army Corps of Engineers Civil Engineer: Civilian engineer who designs and manages dams, locks, levees, and military construction for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Typical pay $100k.
Combat Engineer: Clears obstacles and minefields, builds fighting positions, and blows things up to help troops move. Typical pay $62k.
Seabee Builder: Navy construction worker who builds everything from wooden structures to concrete buildings. Typical pay $62k.
Seabee Construction Electrician: Installs and maintains power lines, wiring, and generators for Navy construction projects. Typical pay $62k.
Heavy Equipment Operator: Operates bulldozers, graders, excavators, and cranes to build roads, airfields, and bases. Typical pay $62k.
Seabee Steelworker: Welds, cuts, and assembles steel structures like towers, bridges, and buildings. Typical pay $62k.
Utilitiesman: Installs and maintains plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and water purification systems. Typical pay $62k.
Military Firefighter: Fights structural and aircraft fires and provides rescue and emergency medical response on bases. Typical pay $62k.
Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic: Maintains and repairs trucks, Humvees, and other military vehicles. Typical pay $62k.
Geospatial Engineer: Makes maps and terrain analyses using GIS software, GPS surveys, and satellite data. Typical pay $62k.
Maintenance Warrant Officer: Technical expert who runs maintenance programs for a unit's vehicles, weapons, electronics, or machine shops. Typical pay $105k.
Engineer Technician (Warrant Officer): Warrant officer who designs construction projects or manages geospatial mapping for engineer units. Typical pay $105k.
CBRN Specialist: Detects and decontaminates chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear hazards, and trains units to survive them. Typical pay $62k.
Technical Engineer (Surveyor): Surveys land, drafts plans, and tests soil and concrete for military construction projects. Typical pay $62k.
Bridge Crewmember: Builds floating and fixed military bridges so tanks and trucks can cross rivers. Typical pay $62k.
Radar Repairer: Maintains and repairs radar systems that track aircraft, artillery, and weather. Typical pay $62k.
HVAC/R Technician (Military): Installs and repairs heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration on bases and in field equipment. Typical pay $62k.
PMEL Technician: Calibrates and repairs the precise test equipment that every Air Force mechanic uses, from torque wrenches to radar testers. Typical pay $62k.
Pest Management Specialist (Air Force): Keeps Air Force bases free of disease-carrying mosquitoes, rodents, termites, and birds that can wreck jet engines. Typical pay $62k.
Seabee Underwater Construction Diver: Seabee builders and electricians who dive to build and repair piers, pipelines, and underwater cables at naval bases around the world. Typical pay $70k.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.