Serve as crew chief on UH-1Y Venom utility helicopters. Maintain aircraft, assist pilot during flight operations, operate door guns, and manage cargo and troop loading.
ASVAB MM: 105
Catalog listing, not a contract offer. Confirm with a recruiter.
UH-1 Crew Chiefs fly in the back of the Marine Corps' utility helicopter and maintain it between flights. Missions are varied, from moving small teams and command elements to casualty evacuation, aerial escort, and reconnaissance support alongside attack aircraft. Airborne, you operate a door gun, watch the rotor arc during confined area landings, manage passengers and cargo in a small cabin, and troubleshoot problems in flight. The utility airframe works low and close to the ground, so what you see out the door often matters to the Marines below. Between flights you are back in coveralls doing inspections and repairs, frequently from a forward site or a ship with a small crew and limited parts.
Aircrew training covers aerial gunnery, crew coordination, emergency procedures, and the cabin management that keeps passengers and cargo safe. You learn the aircraft's systems well enough to diagnose problems while airborne and repair them once on deck. Confined area and low altitude operations teach precise verbal clearance calls, which is a discipline that transfers directly to civilian utility flying. Casualty evacuation work adds basic medical handling and patient movement under difficult conditions. The maintenance record you build counts toward FAA airframe and powerplant eligibility, giving you a credential alongside the flight experience.
Small crews build tight trust, since three or four people are responsible for the aircraft and everyone in it. You learn decisiveness, because a crew chief who hesitates on a clearance call costs the aircraft its margin. The job develops physical toughness and tolerance for heat, noise, vibration, and long days that start before dawn. Being the crew member who talks to the passengers builds calm authority and the ability to reassure people who are frightened. You also develop sharp visual attention, a habit of scanning that never really switches off afterward.
The combination of flight experience and a maintenance credential suits the civilian helicopter world well. Air medical operators value crew members comfortable with patients, hoists, and confined landing zones, and many veterans pair that with paramedic training. Utility, tour, powerline, and firefighting operators hire former military crew chiefs for ground and flight support roles. The airframe and powerplant certificate keeps the broader aviation maintenance market open if flying does not work out. Some veterans go on to civilian flight training, and the time spent around cockpits makes that a realistic ambition.
Your day opens preflighting the UH-1Y Venom and briefing the mission with your pilots. Airborne, you assist the crew, operate the door guns, and manage cargo and troop loading during assault support flights. Between sorties you perform maintenance on the aircraft, owning its readiness as the crew chief.
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 6174 Helicopter Crew Chief, UH-1, 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.
Serve as crew chief on UH-1Y Venom utility helicopters. Maintain aircraft, assist pilot during flight operations, operate door guns, and manage cargo and troop loading.
UH-1 Crew Chiefs fly in the back of the Marine Corps' utility helicopter and maintain it between flights. Missions are varied, from moving small teams and command elements to casualty evacuation, aerial escort, and reconnaissance support alongside attack aircraft. Airborne, you operate a door gun, watch the rotor arc during confined area landings, manage passengers and cargo in a small cabin, and troubleshoot problems in flight. The utility airframe works low and close to the ground, so what you see out the door often matters to the Marines below. Between flights you are back in coveralls doing inspections and repairs, frequently from a forward site or a ship with a small crew and limited parts.
Aircrew training covers aerial gunnery, crew coordination, emergency procedures, and the cabin management that keeps passengers and cargo safe. You learn the aircraft's systems well enough to diagnose problems while airborne and repair them once on deck. Confined area and low altitude operations teach precise verbal clearance calls, which is a discipline that transfers directly to civilian utility flying. Casualty evacuation work adds basic medical handling and patient movement under difficult conditions. The maintenance record you build counts toward FAA airframe and powerplant eligibility, giving you a credential alongside the flight experience.
The combination of flight experience and a maintenance credential suits the civilian helicopter world well. Air medical operators value crew members comfortable with patients, hoists, and confined landing zones, and many veterans pair that with paramedic training. Utility, tour, powerline, and firefighting operators hire former military crew chiefs for ground and flight support roles. The airframe and powerplant certificate keeps the broader aviation maintenance market open if flying does not work out. Some veterans go on to civilian flight training, and the time spent around cockpits makes that a realistic ambition.
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.