“When I signed up, I wanted to be a welder.”
Fabricate, repair, and maintain metal structures and equipment. Perform welding, machining, and metalworking operations.
ASVAB GT: 95
Catalog listing, not a contract offer. Confirm with a recruiter.
Metal Workers are the welders and fabricators who repair and build the metal parts a Marine unit cannot order fast enough. Your day happens in a shop with welding machines, cutting torches, shears, brakes, and grinders, or in a field shop under a tarp. Jobs arrive as broken vehicle components, cracked frames, damaged brackets, and requests to fabricate something the supply system does not stock. You read drawings, lay out material, cut, weld, finish, and inspect your own work before it goes back into service. The shop is hot, loud, and physically demanding, and you will see what you made bolted onto something that same afternoon.
You learn the major welding processes on steel and aluminum, plus cutting, brazing, sheet metal layout, and structural repair technique. Blueprint reading, measurement, and fit up are taught alongside the torch work, because a good weld on a bad layout is still scrap. Machine shop basics, corrosion control, and inspection standards for structural repairs round out the training. You also learn to work out how a failed part should be rebuilt when no drawing exists, which is genuine engineering judgment. Welding certification testing and trade apprenticeship programs credit documented experience like this, so track your hours carefully while you serve.
The trade builds patience and a steady hand, since a rushed weld announces itself immediately to anyone who looks. You develop pride in workmanship that is visible and testable, which changes how you approach any task afterward. Working with heat, fumes, and pressure makes you disciplined about safety and about looking after the person next to you. Fabricating something from a rough idea grows spatial thinking and the kind of practical creativity classrooms rarely teach. You also become the Marine others bring impossible requests to, which builds a quiet and durable confidence.
This is one of the cleanest trade translations in the Marine Corps, because welders are in demand nearly everywhere. Structural, pipe, and fabrication welding jobs exist in construction, shipbuilding, manufacturing, pipelines, and heavy repair, and many union apprenticeships credit military time toward hours. Certification testing is the gate in the civilian world, and your military experience prepares you to pass rather than start from scratch. Welding inspection, quality control, and shop supervision are natural progressions with good pay and less physical wear. Some veterans open their own fabrication shops, where the military habit of finishing a job carries real weight.
Published personal accounts with source links. Each describes an individual experience, not a typical assignment or a guarantee of your own experience.
“When I signed up, I wanted to be a welder.”
Quotes are from U.S. government public-domain news stories (DVIDS, army.mil and other official sources). Individuals and units are named as reported at time of publication.
Your morning starts in the metal shop reviewing fabrication jobs and setting up the welder or lathe. You spend the day welding, cutting, and machining metal parts to repair equipment and build structures. Much of the work is at the bench and welding booth, turning raw stock into the brackets, panels, and repairs the unit needs.
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.
Possibilities for serving Marines, including those in support roles—not guaranteed admission or awards. Individual eligibility, assignment, selection, available training or competition places and successful qualification apply.
Earned skill levels: tan, gray, green, brown and black belt. Applies across combat and support specialties.
Belts require documented training, sustainment and performance testing under authorized instructors. Higher belts have additional prerequisites, including applicable grade and professional-education requirements; neither promotion nor elapsed service awards a belt. Confirm the current requirements for the next belt with your instructor.
Sources reviewed . Confirm current course and badge requirements with official school guidance and your unit.
For Marines 1316 Metal Worker, 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 referenceMarine NCO grades are E-4 and E-5; staff NCO grades are E-6 through E-9. At E-8 and E-9, first sergeant/sergeant major and master sergeant/master gunnery sergeant have distinct leadership roles. Warrant and commissioned officers are separate career tracks. This service-wide structure is not a verified promotion ceiling for this MOS.
Marine Corps ranks and career-track distinctionsService-level application reference—not a verified next step for this listing
The FY27 regular warrant program requires technical and professional qualifications for the requested warrant MOS and selection. A listed warrant destination does not establish an enlisted feeder match. The February 2026 deadline has passed; this announcement documents a selection route, not a currently open opportunity.
Marine FY27 regular warrant selection announcementSpecialty-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.
Fabricate, repair, and maintain metal structures and equipment. Perform welding, machining, and metalworking operations.
Metal Workers are the welders and fabricators who repair and build the metal parts a Marine unit cannot order fast enough. Your day happens in a shop with welding machines, cutting torches, shears, brakes, and grinders, or in a field shop under a tarp. Jobs arrive as broken vehicle components, cracked frames, damaged brackets, and requests to fabricate something the supply system does not stock. You read drawings, lay out material, cut, weld, finish, and inspect your own work before it goes back into service. The shop is hot, loud, and physically demanding, and you will see what you made bolted onto something that same afternoon.
You learn the major welding processes on steel and aluminum, plus cutting, brazing, sheet metal layout, and structural repair technique. Blueprint reading, measurement, and fit up are taught alongside the torch work, because a good weld on a bad layout is still scrap. Machine shop basics, corrosion control, and inspection standards for structural repairs round out the training. You also learn to work out how a failed part should be rebuilt when no drawing exists, which is genuine engineering judgment. Welding certification testing and trade apprenticeship programs credit documented experience like this, so track your hours carefully while you serve.
This is one of the cleanest trade translations in the Marine Corps, because welders are in demand nearly everywhere. Structural, pipe, and fabrication welding jobs exist in construction, shipbuilding, manufacturing, pipelines, and heavy repair, and many union apprenticeships credit military time toward hours. Certification testing is the gate in the civilian world, and your military experience prepares you to pass rather than start from scratch. Welding inspection, quality control, and shop supervision are natural progressions with good pay and less physical wear. Some veterans open their own fabrication shops, where the military habit of finishing a job carries real weight.
ASVAB GT: 95. 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.
NAVMC 1200.1L, FY26 Military Occupational Specialties Manual (effective October 1, 2025), chapter 1 · 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.
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.