This chapter is provided to help you prepare for the "job ahead" and to acquaint you with your duties and responsibilities as an EA3 in a typical SEABEE billet. This chapter also discusses the training requirements and methods of pre-paring for in-rate advancement and discusses your role, in general, in the overall organization of the Naval Construction Force (NCF).

The Engineering Aid rating is a general rating, as are all others in the Occupational Field 13 ratings. The scope of duties and responsibilities follows.

Engineering Aids plan, supervise, and perform tasks required in construction surveying, construction drafting, planning and estimating, and quality control; prepare progress reports, time records, construction schedules, and material and labor estimates; establish and operate a basic quality control system for testing soils, concrete, and other construction materials; prepare, edit, and reproduce construction drawings; and make and control surveys, performing such tasks as running and closing traverses, running level circuits, staking out construction projects, and obtaining other field data necessary for engineering studies or for actual construction of any type of structure that may come under the cognizance of the NCF.

The necessity for naval construction need not be emphasized, and each of the Occupational Field 13 ratings performs a vital and indispensable function in naval construction. In one sense, however, the function of the EA is of special significance. By merely studying the scope of the EAs duties and responsibilities, one can deduce that the EAs functions relate to the WHOLE construction project, rather than to one particular phase of it. From the projects conception until its final completion report, the EA contributes directly or indirectly towards its completion. Some of your efforts might not be measurable in terms of work-in-place; however, they may be the deciding factor as to the accuracy and quality of the finished project. Your alertness in com-piling man-hour expenditures and progress reports may have alerted the operations officer to see lagging work schedules. This enables the operations officer to readjust timetables and priorities to meet standing completion requirements. The foregoing are just a few examples of your support to the mission of the NCF. You will encounter and learn a majority of your tasks through on-the-job training (or informal schools). The specific tasks you perform will depend upon your particular duty assignments and the prevailing contingencyoperational, logistical, or both. Some of the various support assignments that you, as an EA, might encounter are discussed in later sections.

Generally, most of the billets for an EA3 on sea duty are in the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion, commonly called the "green machine. " This is where most of your skills as an EA will be put to use, honed, and tested. The experience you will gather from this type of duty is vast, provided you take on the challenges of your rate. For shore duty, assignment to public works activities is common to an EA3. However, other types of independent sea, shore, or oversea billets are available to you. Ask your leading petty officer (LPO) or your unit career counselor for additional information.