Maintain and repair fixed-wing aircraft including fighters, transports, and attack aircraft. Perform scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.
ASVAB MM: 105
Catalog listing, not a contract offer. Confirm with a recruiter.
AV-8 mechanics maintain the Marine Corps' vertical and short takeoff jet, an aircraft with systems no other airframe has. Flight line work means launch and recovery, inspections, hydraulic and flight control maintenance, structural repair, and correcting whatever the pilot wrote up after landing. The lift system, with its rotating nozzles and reaction control valves, demands careful handling and produces heat and exhaust conditions that shape how the aircraft is serviced. Squadrons operate from amphibious ships and from austere expeditionary sites, so you learn to launch jets from short decks and rough strips with a small maintenance crew. The community is winding down as the Marine Corps transitions to newer aircraft, and experienced maintainers commonly move to other airframes.
You learn jet aircraft systems, including hydraulics, flight controls, fuel, environmental, and the particular engineering that makes vertical landing possible. Fixed wing flight line procedures differ from helicopter work, covering catapult free short deck launches, arresting gear, and high energy engine operations. Structural repair, corrosion control, and publication driven inspection standards are constant parts of the trade. You develop discipline around foreign object damage and tool control, because a dropped washer is a real danger on a jet. Documented aviation maintenance time counts toward eligibility for the FAA airframe and powerplant certificate.
Working on an unforgiving aircraft builds a hard edged attention to detail that stays with you. You learn to keep focus in an environment of noise, heat, and hazard where complacency is genuinely dangerous. Shipboard deployments develop the ability to live and work in tight quarters with the same people for months. The job teaches you to report your own errors immediately, because concealment in aviation ends badly. You also gain the steadiness of someone who has been responsible for a machine that costs more than most buildings.
Jet experience is a strong starting point in civilian aviation maintenance. With the FAA airframe and powerplant certificate, airline, regional carrier, and business jet maintenance operations are the most direct destinations. Defense contractors and manufacturers hire former fast jet maintainers for field service, depot, and technical training roles, including on aircraft you never touched. The systems knowledge also transfers to industrial hydraulics, turbine service, and power generation maintenance. Veterans who like the aviation world often move into quality assurance, maintenance control, or an aviation management degree funded by the GI Bill.
You begin on the flight line pulling maintenance forms and inspecting the fixed-wing aircraft due for work. Your day is spent performing scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, replacing components, and troubleshooting faults on fighters, transports, or attack aircraft. The job keeps you at the aircraft and in the hangar, working the discrepancies until the jet is mission-capable.
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 6212 Fixed-Wing Aircraft Mechanic, AV-8/TAV-8, 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 fixed-wing aircraft including fighters, transports, and attack aircraft. Perform scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.
AV-8 mechanics maintain the Marine Corps' vertical and short takeoff jet, an aircraft with systems no other airframe has. Flight line work means launch and recovery, inspections, hydraulic and flight control maintenance, structural repair, and correcting whatever the pilot wrote up after landing. The lift system, with its rotating nozzles and reaction control valves, demands careful handling and produces heat and exhaust conditions that shape how the aircraft is serviced. Squadrons operate from amphibious ships and from austere expeditionary sites, so you learn to launch jets from short decks and rough strips with a small maintenance crew. The community is winding down as the Marine Corps transitions to newer aircraft, and experienced maintainers commonly move to other airframes.
You learn jet aircraft systems, including hydraulics, flight controls, fuel, environmental, and the particular engineering that makes vertical landing possible. Fixed wing flight line procedures differ from helicopter work, covering catapult free short deck launches, arresting gear, and high energy engine operations. Structural repair, corrosion control, and publication driven inspection standards are constant parts of the trade. You develop discipline around foreign object damage and tool control, because a dropped washer is a real danger on a jet. Documented aviation maintenance time counts toward eligibility for the FAA airframe and powerplant certificate.
Jet experience is a strong starting point in civilian aviation maintenance. With the FAA airframe and powerplant certificate, airline, regional carrier, and business jet maintenance operations are the most direct destinations. Defense contractors and manufacturers hire former fast jet maintainers for field service, depot, and technical training roles, including on aircraft you never touched. The systems knowledge also transfers to industrial hydraulics, turbine service, and power generation maintenance. Veterans who like the aviation world often move into quality assurance, maintenance control, or an aviation management degree funded by the GI Bill.
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.