Install, maintain, and repair electrical equipment and machinery-control systems at shore units and aboard cutters.
ASVAB AR+MK+EI+GS: 210
Catalog listing, not a contract offer. Confirm with a recruiter.
Electrician's Mates own the electrical power on a cutter or at a shore unit, from generators and switchboards to motors, lighting, and control circuits. Routine days are preventive maintenance, insulation testing, troubleshooting a dead circuit, repairing motors and controllers, and keeping the electrical logs current. At sea a power casualty affects propulsion, navigation, and the galley all at once, so the rating carries weight far beyond its size. Cutters run law enforcement patrols, search and rescue, buoy tending, and icebreaking largely in US waters for the Department of Homeland Security, which means long stretches with no shipyard nearby. You fix what you have with what is already aboard.
You learn electrical theory, power distribution, motor controllers, transformers, and the isolation and tagout procedures that keep people alive around energized gear. Diagnostic work with meters, insulation testers, and schematics becomes routine, and so does reading a one line diagram at a glance. The rating covers generator operation and paralleling, battery systems, shipboard lighting, and the interior communications equipment tied to them. You pick up electronics fundamentals and control circuit logic that carry over directly into industrial automation work. Marine electrical practice here aligns well with the ABYC standards used across the recreational and commercial boat industry.
Respect for electricity produces a careful, procedural mind that refuses to improvise around safety rules even when the schedule is tight. You develop the confidence to solve problems alone at two in the morning, because nobody else aboard is going to do it. The rating builds patience to trace a fault methodically instead of swapping parts and hoping. You learn to document work honestly so the next person to open that panel is not left guessing. Being the one people call when the lights go out creates a quiet authority that has nothing to do with rank.
Licensed electrical work is a well paid trade with persistent demand, and military hours frequently count toward apprenticeship requirements in union programs. Marine electrical work in boatyards, shipyards, and yacht service is a direct fit, and ABYC certification is the industry credential worth chasing. Industrial maintenance, building systems, utilities, and shipboard engineering departments all hire from this background regularly. Some veterans pursue state journeyman and master electrician licenses and eventually open their own contracting business. Others move into power generation plants or data center facilities work, where proven reliability under pressure is the selling point.
Your morning takes you into the ship's electrical spaces to check the switchboards, test the generators, and read the night's power logs. Throughout the day you troubleshoot lighting circuits, repair motors, and service the batteries and generators that keep an aid-to-navigation lit at sea. You wrap up by tagging out gear for maintenance, updating the electrical schematics, and standing your engineering watch.
No suitable exact-MOS or related career-field video has been verified for this page yet. No unrelated video or search-results page is substituted.
$43,902–$74,948
2026 basic pay only; the same grade and service time pay the same across jobs. Promotions are assumed, not promised. Excludes allowances, bonuses and special pays.
For Coast Guard EM Electrician's Mate, official service-wide guidance and any exact feeder-list matches are distinguished below from unverified specialty-specific requirements. Ranks are not separate jobs, and these possibilities are not guaranteed promotions or available contracts.
Examples of higher service ranks
These are service-wide rank names, not a verified promotion ladder for this specialty. Examples are not exhaustive; appointments sharing a pay grade are not additional promotion steps.
Official military rank referenceThe October 2026 Reserve Servicewide Examination announcement makes advancement conditional on rating/pay-grade qualifications and command recommendation, with rating-specific examination exceptions. Its scope is Reserve E-5 through E-7, not every grade or active-duty cycle. It does not establish a promotion ceiling for this listing.
Coast Guard October 2026 Reserve advancement examinationService-level application reference—not a verified next step for this listing
Officer Candidate School is a separate competitive commissioning pathway open to Coast Guard enlisted members. This general program does not establish individual eligibility or a transfer to any particular officer specialty. Warrant appointments have separate requirements; no rating-to-warrant feeder match is asserted here.
Coast Guard Officer Candidate SchoolSpecialty-specific advancement, senior assignments, and eligibility for a different personnel category have not been verified for this listing. No feeder eligibility or automatic transition to another specialty is implied.
Advancement depends on current service rules, performance, required education, qualifications, selection, and authorized positions—not simply years served. Confirm current requirements with an official recruiter or career counselor.
Related military jobs below are for exploration, not promised progression or confirmed transfer paths.
Sources reviewed 2026-10-03. This is a partial evidence review, not verification of every advancement route for this specialty. Source retrieval dates do not replace policy effective dates.
Career-field mappings, not automatic qualifications. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2024 national medians). O*NET links explain each occupation; military experience does not guarantee a job or salary.
Install, maintain, and repair electrical equipment and machinery-control systems at shore units and aboard cutters.
Electrician's Mates own the electrical power on a cutter or at a shore unit, from generators and switchboards to motors, lighting, and control circuits. Routine days are preventive maintenance, insulation testing, troubleshooting a dead circuit, repairing motors and controllers, and keeping the electrical logs current. At sea a power casualty affects propulsion, navigation, and the galley all at once, so the rating carries weight far beyond its size. Cutters run law enforcement patrols, search and rescue, buoy tending, and icebreaking largely in US waters for the Department of Homeland Security, which means long stretches with no shipyard nearby. You fix what you have with what is already aboard.
You learn electrical theory, power distribution, motor controllers, transformers, and the isolation and tagout procedures that keep people alive around energized gear. Diagnostic work with meters, insulation testers, and schematics becomes routine, and so does reading a one line diagram at a glance. The rating covers generator operation and paralleling, battery systems, shipboard lighting, and the interior communications equipment tied to them. You pick up electronics fundamentals and control circuit logic that carry over directly into industrial automation work. Marine electrical practice here aligns well with the ABYC standards used across the recreational and commercial boat industry.
Licensed electrical work is a well paid trade with persistent demand, and military hours frequently count toward apprenticeship requirements in union programs. Marine electrical work in boatyards, shipyards, and yacht service is a direct fit, and ABYC certification is the industry credential worth chasing. Industrial maintenance, building systems, utilities, and shipboard engineering departments all hire from this background regularly. Some veterans pursue state journeyman and master electrician licenses and eventually open their own contracting business. Others move into power generation plants or data center facilities work, where proven reliability under pressure is the selling point.
ASVAB AR+MK+EI+GS: 210. This is the catalog's listed requirement, not an individual eligibility decision. Confirm the current standard and any exceptions with the service.
This specialty can be pursued through an initial enlistment, subject to eligibility and available contracts. Confirm the current status of this specific classification with an official recruiter.
Catalog sources consulted: 2026-09-26. This is not an entry-by-entry verification date. No record-specific verification date is recorded. Occupation audit evidence reviewed: 2026-09-26; this does not re-verify every requirement.
Official branch occupation evidence
Occupation identified. This occupation was identified in the cited source. This does not verify requirements, benefits, or a current opening.
Official occupation evidence · reviewed 2026-09-26
Confirmed. Catalog evidence is not an inventory of open contracts.
No dated public inventory confirmed a currently open recruiting contract for this role. This does not mean there are no openings. Confirm current eligibility and offers with an official recruiter.
Bonus-listed — Coast Guard, as of 2026-09-27. Max bonus $75,000Max bonus $75,000 is a display ceiling, including unconfirmed figures and illustrative estimates, not a confirmed offer. Separate programs are not added together. Where no individual amount is listed, the displayed ceiling uses: Unverified search-result ceiling; older critical-rating evidence lists $60,000. No individual rating rate confirmed. Ceiling source
Latest source review — 2026-10-25
The hiring-incentives page was successfully retrieved: critical-rating affiliation up to $60,000; higher-education credits $15,000; expedited shipping $10,000; Reserve assignments $15,000. Current eligible ratings, dates, vacancies and stacking rules are not specified. The retained $75,000 advertising/search lead is not a verified individual-rating amount. Do not sum these programs or assume every Coast Guard career qualifies.
Historical amounts are retained. A displayed maximum is not a guaranteed payment. Confirm current written contract terms.
Bonus range review — 2026-10-10
No defensible numeric range established for this entry. An unpublished amount is not a $0 offer; ask for the current written contract. Existing source dates and eligibility conditions remain controlling. Additional program amounts, when available, are explained in their own comments.
Published enlistment program.
A listed program does not guarantee a bonus, job assignment or an available slot. Confirm your exact contract, component, ship date and eligibility with a recruiter.
ALCOAST 386/25 (16 Sep 2025)Deployment likelihood: Moderate*
* Estimated. Rank progression and specialty-pay eligibility are illustrative assumptions. Deployment likelihood, when shown, is inferred from similar specialties in the branch and career field, not a published specialty deployment rate.
Descriptions may change. No military role is free from risk of injury or death, including non-combat work. Catalog review dates do not establish current openings or re-verification of every requirement.
Recruiting signals reflect what each branch published on the dates shown. They are not offers, and they do not mean a contract is open for you. Eligibility depends on your ASVAB scores, medical qualification, security clearance eligibility, and ship date. Confirm everything with an official recruiter. See our Disclaimer and Terms.