Hey everyone, its been a bit since I've logged on here and that's due to work, but today I realized that i never really explained what it is I do, and why I love what I do (and so does any pilot that enjoys something other than grass strips)
As a few of you know, and most can guess from my avatar, I am a United States Marine, that in itself is pretty cool, but each Marine is given another job, called their MOS (military occupational specialty) some are infantry, some are motor-t, very few people have heard of my job, let alone in the Marine Corps.
I am an Engineer Specialist, more commonly refered to as a Draftsman/Surveyor, what that means is that I design the construction projects that the Marine Corps takes on. Since I am in a MWSS (Marine Wing Support Squadron) I mainly deal with flightlines.
So the surveying comes first, the higher ups want a HLZ in a certain area, so i go out and i survey the land, usually with trimble gps equipment, i find every detail about the area that i can and i map it with coordinates, elevation, etc. then i come back to my shop, and open up auto cad and start drawing, a lot of things come into play, including surrounding terrain, location, soil type/density etc. but i make it work. Once that is done and the Officers like my presentation, myself and a team of Heavy equipment operators begin our work, with my equipment, i tell them where to move dirt, how much and where to put it. this puts me in a big leadership role, as i have to delegate other Marines, most of which outrank me, and tell them what to do, and how to do it.
once a flight-line is built, it has to be re certified every year, this usually involves tearing up the surface (aluminum matting), and redoing the earthwork underneath, usually to combat erosion/ compaction.
now as a pilot/flight enthusiast I hope i shed a little bit of light as to what goes into building an airport/ flight-line. if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask, and trust me this stuff is frustrating, i just got off a job-site here on pendleton, so this is kind of a rant/vent for me :mixedsmi:
As a few of you know, and most can guess from my avatar, I am a United States Marine, that in itself is pretty cool, but each Marine is given another job, called their MOS (military occupational specialty) some are infantry, some are motor-t, very few people have heard of my job, let alone in the Marine Corps.
I am an Engineer Specialist, more commonly refered to as a Draftsman/Surveyor, what that means is that I design the construction projects that the Marine Corps takes on. Since I am in a MWSS (Marine Wing Support Squadron) I mainly deal with flightlines.
So the surveying comes first, the higher ups want a HLZ in a certain area, so i go out and i survey the land, usually with trimble gps equipment, i find every detail about the area that i can and i map it with coordinates, elevation, etc. then i come back to my shop, and open up auto cad and start drawing, a lot of things come into play, including surrounding terrain, location, soil type/density etc. but i make it work. Once that is done and the Officers like my presentation, myself and a team of Heavy equipment operators begin our work, with my equipment, i tell them where to move dirt, how much and where to put it. this puts me in a big leadership role, as i have to delegate other Marines, most of which outrank me, and tell them what to do, and how to do it.
once a flight-line is built, it has to be re certified every year, this usually involves tearing up the surface (aluminum matting), and redoing the earthwork underneath, usually to combat erosion/ compaction.
now as a pilot/flight enthusiast I hope i shed a little bit of light as to what goes into building an airport/ flight-line. if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask, and trust me this stuff is frustrating, i just got off a job-site here on pendleton, so this is kind of a rant/vent for me :mixedsmi:
