Maintain and repair CH-53E Super Stallion and CH-53K King Stallion heavy-lift helicopters. Perform scheduled inspections, troubleshoot mechanical systems, and ensure aircraft readiness.
ASVAB MM: 105
Catalog listing, not a contract offer. Confirm with a recruiter.
CH-53 mechanics keep the Marine Corps' heavy lift helicopters flyable, which is a big job on a very large aircraft. Organizational maintenance means you own the airframe on the flight line: daily and turnaround inspections, hydraulic and flight control work, structural repairs, and fixing whatever the aircrew wrote up after the last flight. Scheduled inspections pull an aircraft apart on a calendar, and you are elbow deep in panels, actuators, and lines for days at a time. Squadrons deploy afloat, so you will work on a rolling flight deck, in salt air that attacks metal constantly, with whatever parts are in the container. Night shifts are normal, because the aircraft has to be ready when the ground units need lift.
You learn helicopter systems in depth, including hydraulics, flight controls, landing gear, fuel systems, and sheet metal and composite structural repair. Corrosion control becomes a specialty of its own after a few months of shipboard operations. Reading technical publications, wiring diagrams, and inspection cards to the letter is the basic literacy of the trade. You learn flight line safety, tool control, and turning rotors procedures that keep people alive around a running aircraft. Documented time in aviation maintenance counts toward eligibility for the FAA airframe and powerplant certificate, which is the standard civilian ticket.
Signing off work on an aircraft that people fly in builds an uncompromising kind of honesty. You get used to finishing a job properly at three in the morning when nobody would notice if you did not. Working a heavy airframe develops physical durability and comfortable teamwork, since many tasks simply need four hands. Troubleshooting intermittent faults that hide on the ground teaches persistence and systematic thinking. Shipboard deployments also build adaptability, because the fix has to happen with what is aboard.
Aviation maintenance is a durable, portable trade with real demand behind it. With documented experience and the FAA airframe and powerplant certificate, you can move into airline, helicopter operator, or corporate aviation maintenance. Heavy helicopter experience specifically suits offshore energy support, firefighting aviation, utility lift operators, and federal aviation fleets. Defense contractors hire former CH-53 maintainers for field service and depot work on the same platform. Longer term, maintenance supervision, quality assurance, and maintenance control roles are typical steps up for people with this record.
You start on the flight line performing scheduled inspections on the CH-53E and CH-53K heavy-lift helicopters. Your day is spent troubleshooting mechanical systems, replacing components, and signing off maintenance actions to keep the big rotorcraft ready. Much of the work is hands-on in the hangar and on the aircraft alongside your maintenance team.
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 6113 Helicopter Mechanic, CH-53, 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.
Maintain and repair CH-53E Super Stallion and CH-53K King Stallion heavy-lift helicopters. Perform scheduled inspections, troubleshoot mechanical systems, and ensure aircraft readiness.
CH-53 mechanics keep the Marine Corps' heavy lift helicopters flyable, which is a big job on a very large aircraft. Organizational maintenance means you own the airframe on the flight line: daily and turnaround inspections, hydraulic and flight control work, structural repairs, and fixing whatever the aircrew wrote up after the last flight. Scheduled inspections pull an aircraft apart on a calendar, and you are elbow deep in panels, actuators, and lines for days at a time. Squadrons deploy afloat, so you will work on a rolling flight deck, in salt air that attacks metal constantly, with whatever parts are in the container. Night shifts are normal, because the aircraft has to be ready when the ground units need lift.
You learn helicopter systems in depth, including hydraulics, flight controls, landing gear, fuel systems, and sheet metal and composite structural repair. Corrosion control becomes a specialty of its own after a few months of shipboard operations. Reading technical publications, wiring diagrams, and inspection cards to the letter is the basic literacy of the trade. You learn flight line safety, tool control, and turning rotors procedures that keep people alive around a running aircraft. Documented time in aviation maintenance counts toward eligibility for the FAA airframe and powerplant certificate, which is the standard civilian ticket.
Aviation maintenance is a durable, portable trade with real demand behind it. With documented experience and the FAA airframe and powerplant certificate, you can move into airline, helicopter operator, or corporate aviation maintenance. Heavy helicopter experience specifically suits offshore energy support, firefighting aviation, utility lift operators, and federal aviation fleets. Defense contractors hire former CH-53 maintainers for field service and depot work on the same platform. Longer term, maintenance supervision, quality assurance, and maintenance control roles are typical steps up for people with this record.
ASVAB MM: 105. 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.