Motor Transport Questions!

[Patricknj]

Can anyone explain a day in the life in Motor Transport. Is it better to be a mechanic or operator?

How long are the average workdays?

Does Motor T deploy often?

Would you have chosen Motor T, knowing what you know now?

Please Answer. Thank you.

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[crazymjb]

I wasn't motor T, but my wife was (operator). Some of her friends are lifers, others are not. In my experience, I wouldn't have wanted to do it. As far as the daily life, it all depends where you are and what you do. For example, at one point she was the only one in her company with a bus license. She got to get up an hour and a half earlier than everyone else to drive them places, then trained with them, then had to turn the bus back in at the end of the day for another hour and a half. On the plus side, as a reservist her unit offered almost annual deployments for those who wanted to go, and then they got to drive all over Afghanistan and frequently took contact.

If driving trucks interests you, go for it I guess. When you aren't deployed, you will likely be delivering water, ammo, food, and other supplies to different parts of a base.

Mike

[Tennessee Top]

I wasn't Motor T either. Obviously, mechanics maintain and repair the engines/vehicles. Depending on which motor pool you're assigned to, you could spend your day changing tires and motor oil and washing vehicles (specially as a junior Marine). This would be a good MOS if you think you may want to be an auto mechanic after you get out. I'm pretty sure mechanics have an apprenticeship program that would be attractive to a civilian employer (save them the money of getting an apprentice certificate for you as you would already have one).

Driver is self-explanatory. You could be the personal driver for a General, drive a bus like crazymjb said, drive a cattlecar, a 4 ton, a HUMMER, etc. You're basically assigned to the motor pool and then dispatched out by the dispatcher. Some drivers work shift work after normal hours and on weekends/holidays. When I was going through embassy duty school, USMC buses took us to the State Department in Washington DC after business hours so we could search the building for unsecured classified documents (and we found some). By the time we bussed back to Quantico, it was late at night. Buses also took us to the mall after hours to shop for business attire (paid for by the State Department). Those Marine bus drivers were shift workers.

I can tell you, there is a critical shortage in Motor T presently. There is a shortage of instructors at Motor T school, and they're having a hard time filling classes with students. If you want to get into Motor T, now is the perfect time to do it because they need bodies. They may even be offering an enlistment bonus to sign a Motor T contract (would mean money in your pocket). Go sit down with a recruiter and see - they will know.

Good luck.