There are a number of different mechanical types of billets in the Navy, but one of the most interesting ones is the Aviation Machinist mate billet. It is a job specialty that works to keep all of the submarines, ships, aircraft, weapons and other types of equipment on board ship and on different Navy aircraft in proper running condition.
You may be tasked to help work on a Military Navy F/A ?18 Hornet on one day, and you may work on a Navy shipboard desalination plant on a different day. There are a wide variety of different systems, machines and vehicles that are found on board ship and on shore, and these are all different equipment that may be on the repair menu for a Navy Aviation Machinist Mate. You will attend Basic training, and after 9 weeks of boot camp you will qualify for Class A school advanced training. You will work to keep equipment and different machinery working often under a lot of pressure. As you work to keep equipment in operational readiness you can often be the person that stands in the gap and makes all the difference. Operating and performing maintenance on heavy construction and automotive equipment, performing post flight, pre flight and other aircraft maintenance and repair, troubleshooting of steam generators and hydraulic catapult shipboard equipment, and other types of maintenance on turbo generators and shipboard systems. You will be given training in the classroom and different job training to refine and build your skills. Your training will vary, but you can expect to spend between 17 and 22 weeks learning your craft, studying and being trained on a number of different mechanical systems.
If you have strong mechanical skills and are able to troubleshoot different types of systems, you may be a good candidate for this job specialty. The Navy machinist mate has as their main objective to keep the different equipment of the fleet operating at full capacity. If it is a Navy system or vehicle then it is a good chance that you will be at some point be tasked to work on it.