Electronic-Optronic Technician ( EO Tech )

[brandon_sage92]

Thanks for the quick response guys I really appreciate it!

Alright for more questions what does EM CTSM stand for/mean? I'm not to familiar with army acronyms.

Secondly, what's life in the field for deployments and excerise like in terms of watches ( not too sure if it's called that in the army as well?). Is one regularly running ops with armoured, arty and infantry to help with kit or is that predominantly done in the FOBs.

Does one ever specialize in a particular piece of kit; i.e. Howitzer, LAV etc? I'm basing my understanding of the trade with what I've seen with the Navy's WEng Techs where juniors get introduced to all weapons systems first, then find or get assigned their specialized, let's call it, 'weapons department' of choice as journeymen.

Finally (for now lol) is what are the biggest pros and cons of the trade based on your experiences of the trade first off, and secondly how it is in comparison to the rest of the army (if there's one thing my military career this far has taught me, it's that all jobs aren't created evenly... Unless one is Airforce allegedly).

Thanks for all the support, as well as quick and detailed responses so far sidemount and Jon, it's much appreciated. Getting proper insight to life in the army is hard enough in the Navy, nevermind this trade seeing as it did want seem like a very large one at that.

Cheers!

Brandon

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[sidemount]

ETSM is Equipment Technical Sergeant Major...ie the senior tech on base, usually a CWO (although I think that may be changing to an MWO?)
CM is the career manager.

Life in the field for EO is really busy for the first few days/last few days as we set up and tear down the electrical system that powers the camp (we always have ac power which is a nice perk in the field). Other than that you spend your time in the field fixing broken kit as it comes to you. You will generally deploy first line as an EO Tech/Weapons tech mobile repair team along with a mechanic mobile repair team. My experience has been that I have been integrated into the deployed Company or Battery (Infantry and Arty have been where I spent the majority of my time as a tech). You will likely pull a few sentry shifts but most of your time is spent doing repairs.
In Afghanistan I went on mounted patrols with the Infantry Coy's HQ element for emergency repairs but the majority of repairs were completed at FOBs. I can't speak to how they are working things overseas right now as I have been away from the trade for 4 years going to university.

You will be trained to repair all of the kit that falls under the EO Techs (except for tanks, that is a specialty course). After that, you really only become specialized because the unit you are posted to has that piece of kit. For instance, I was very specialized in LAV as I was posted to 1 RCR. After that I became really specialized in M777 because I was posted to 2 RCHA. Long story short, you don't get a choice to become specialized on one particular thing. You are expected to be a SME on just about everything.

One of the things I liked most of the trade are the daily challenges of repairing the kit. Almost every day there was something new. Operators are famous for finding new and outrageous ways to break things. Plus the new(ish) technology that keeps coming online keeps you on your toes to keep the skills up.
The biggest con (and I'll take some grief for this haha) is that the RCEME corps sometimes thinks it has something to prove to the Army. I don't know why by they are always trying to prove that they are harder than Christmas candy...and that game can get old quick. However, I've had some awesome experiences and have been all over Canada, the USA, and a few overseas places doing the job. The tech work is good.

Keep the questions coming!  ;D