SEABEEs receiving orders to a shore or overseas shore activity other than a SEABEE staff or school command are normally assigned to the public works department (PWD) of the activity. EAs assigned to PWDs may fill several different types of billets, depending on the organization of the department and the capabilities of the EAs assigned. Although most PWD jobs are filled by civilians, military billets do exist to implement rotation of Occupational Field 13 personnel from sea to shore duty. Most of the EA public works billets are in the engineering division, where the EA works hand in hand with civil service personnel in performing drafting and/or surveying tasks. Senior EAs with planning and estimating or inspecting experience may be assigned to the facilities management engineering division to work as planners and estimators or maintenance inspectors. Sometimes when there is a shortage of senior military personnel in the facilities management engineering division, EAs and other Occupational Field 13 petty officers are trained for planning and estimating or maintenance inspecting.

A unique situation exists at most public works departments. Your military duties and responsibilities will fall under military supervision, whereas your professional work will be directly supervised by a civilian engineer. Adjusting to this situation may be difficult at first, but as an alert EA, you will benefit from the vast experience of the professional civilian engineer. A good working relationship between you and your civilian co-worker is of the utmost importance. Once this relationship is established, duty at a public works department becomes interesting and rewarding. The basic organization for a public works department is shown in figure 16-2.

ENGINEERING DIVISION. The public works engineering division (fig. 16-2) is responsible for all matters pertaining to engineering studies and reports, including preliminary designs and estimates for special repair and improvement projects; for engineering design, including development of plans and specifications; and for the maintenance of technical plan files and records. This division is responsible for preparation of shore facilities development reports and for the submission of basic data required by the NAVFAC engineering field division director for preliminary engineering studies.

Figure 16-2.-Standard organization for a public works department.

Whenever the work load justifies or requires such action, the engineering division may be subdivided into the following branches:

In some PW departments, it will be desirable to combine the mechanical and electrical branches or to merge the civil branch into the architectural and structural branch. In all cases, surveying work is performed as part of the civil component.

The PW officer establishes an engineering division to handle only routine work. He relies upon the engineering field division of NAVFAC for the design of major public works and public utilities, for the preparation of specifications in connection with them, and for the engineering investigations in specialized fields. PW departments with limited work load and staffing may combine the engineering and maintenance control components into a single engineering division.

As mentioned previously, the majority of the EAs assigned to public works activities will work in the engineering division. With the exception of supervision, your tasks, such as design, reproduction, surveying, and so forth, will be similar to those performed in the engineering division of the NMCB. Often you will be the only EA assigned to a particular public works activity; therefore, your supervisory duties, if any, will be limited.