Test, maintain, and assemble underwater mines and mine countermeasures equipment. Operate aboard mine countermeasure ships and as part of expeditionary mine warfare units.
AR+MK+EI+GS: 210
Catalog listing, not a contract offer. Confirm with a recruiter.
Minemen work with naval mines and mine countermeasures, meaning underwater sensors, sonar, remotely operated vehicles and the handling of heavy ordnance. Duty might be aboard a mine countermeasures ship, with an expeditionary unit, or at a shore facility maintaining, testing and assembling equipment. Days include maintenance, electronic and mechanical troubleshooting, crane and rigging evolutions and long hours of careful, methodical inventory work. At sea the mission is searching and classifying objects on the sea floor, which is patient sonar work followed by identification using unmanned systems or divers. Deployments to overseas theaters happen regularly, and the community is small enough that you know most of the people working in it.
You learn underwater acoustics and sonar interpretation, which is a genuinely specialized analytical skill built up from many hours of practice. Unmanned underwater vehicle operation teaches mission planning, navigation, data recovery and the upkeep of complicated robotic systems. Ordnance work builds mechanical assembly, electrical testing, explosive safety procedure and exacting accountability for every single component. You also develop rigging, crane signaling and heavy load handling, since this equipment is lifted into and out of the water constantly. Testing and troubleshooting electronics and hydraulics down to the component level rounds out a rating that is both mechanical and electronic.
Mine warfare rewards patience above nearly everything, because searching the sea floor is slow and the payoff comes only from thoroughness. You develop meticulous habits, since ordnance work offers no acceptable margin for a step that somebody decided to skip. The job grows a comfort with ambiguity, as sonar returns rarely announce what they are and your judgment has to fill that gap. Working in a small community teaches accountability, because everyone knows whose maintenance signature is on which piece of equipment. Minemen tend to be methodical, quietly confident people who would far rather be right than be fast.
Underwater systems work is a real civilian field, and survey companies, oceanographic institutions and offshore operators hire people who can run subsea vehicles. Robotics and unmanned systems technicians are in growing demand across the marine, energy and infrastructure inspection industries. Marine and hydrographic survey firms value sonar experience and the ability to interpret what a confusing set of returns actually shows. Defense contractors building mine countermeasures and undersea systems recruit former minemen as test, integration and field technicians. Explosive safety, ordnance handling and industrial hydraulics knowledge also transfer into manufacturing, port operations and range support work.
Your morning opens in the mine shop assembling and testing underwater mines and mine countermeasures equipment. You maintain, program, and deploy naval mines aboard mine countermeasure ships and with expeditionary mine warfare units. Handling detonators under strict safety controls and supporting mine-hunting operations fill your workday.
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 Sailors, including those in support roles—not guaranteed admission or awards. Individual eligibility, assignment, selection, available training or competition places and successful qualification apply.
Assignment-dependent qualification and insignia earned aboard a qualifying surface ship or afloat staff—not automatically awarded for this rating.
For enlisted Sailors in an eligible surface assignment, including support ratings. Complete the command's current qualification standards, assessments and approval process. A shore or submarine assignment alone does not establish eligibility; confirm current enrollment rules with the command.
Assignment-dependent aviation qualification and insignia; support Sailors may qualify at authorized aviation commands.
Requires a qualifying aviation assignment or an authorized support-command arrangement, required in-rating technical qualifications and command approval. Current enrollment and pay-grade prerequisites must be checked; this is not a promotion or a badge awarded just for holding this rating.
Restricted to qualifying expeditionary assignments; recognizes tested field and unit-specific proficiency, including support duties.
Requires assignment to a command authorized to administer EXW and completion of its general and unit-specific personnel qualification standards and approval process. Published NSW program evidence establishes this route, not that every Navy unit offers it. Confirm current command authorization and prerequisites.
Sources reviewed . Confirm current course and badge requirements with official school guidance and your unit.
For Navy MN Mineman, 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 Navy directs enlisted Sailors to rating-specific Learning and Development Roadmaps (LaDRs), and officers to their community managers and officer career-progression guidance. Rating conversion and commissioning are separate application paths, not automatic promotions.
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Limited Duty Officer (LDO) and Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) appointments require separate applications and program-specific qualifications. The reviewed active-duty page contains FY28 cycle requirements, not Reserve eligibility. Its 1 October 2026 application deadline has passed; this is not an open application offer or a verified designator match for this listing.
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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.
Test, maintain, and assemble underwater mines and mine countermeasures equipment. Operate aboard mine countermeasure ships and as part of expeditionary mine warfare units.
Minemen work with naval mines and mine countermeasures, meaning underwater sensors, sonar, remotely operated vehicles and the handling of heavy ordnance. Duty might be aboard a mine countermeasures ship, with an expeditionary unit, or at a shore facility maintaining, testing and assembling equipment. Days include maintenance, electronic and mechanical troubleshooting, crane and rigging evolutions and long hours of careful, methodical inventory work. At sea the mission is searching and classifying objects on the sea floor, which is patient sonar work followed by identification using unmanned systems or divers. Deployments to overseas theaters happen regularly, and the community is small enough that you know most of the people working in it.
You learn underwater acoustics and sonar interpretation, which is a genuinely specialized analytical skill built up from many hours of practice. Unmanned underwater vehicle operation teaches mission planning, navigation, data recovery and the upkeep of complicated robotic systems. Ordnance work builds mechanical assembly, electrical testing, explosive safety procedure and exacting accountability for every single component. You also develop rigging, crane signaling and heavy load handling, since this equipment is lifted into and out of the water constantly. Testing and troubleshooting electronics and hydraulics down to the component level rounds out a rating that is both mechanical and electronic.
Underwater systems work is a real civilian field, and survey companies, oceanographic institutions and offshore operators hire people who can run subsea vehicles. Robotics and unmanned systems technicians are in growing demand across the marine, energy and infrastructure inspection industries. Marine and hydrographic survey firms value sonar experience and the ability to interpret what a confusing set of returns actually shows. Defense contractors building mine countermeasures and undersea systems recruit former minemen as test, integration and field technicians. Explosive safety, ordnance handling and industrial hydraulics knowledge also transfer into manufacturing, port operations and range support work.
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.
Navy enlisted occupational standards, NAVPERS 18068F, July 2026, Appendix B (rating enumeration) · 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 — Navy, as of 2026-09-27. Max bonus $10,000Published amount: $10,000Max bonus $10,000 is a display ceiling, including unconfirmed figures and illustrative estimates, not a confirmed offer. Separate programs are not added together.
Latest source review — 2026-10-25
The October 2 CNRC message, effective for initial classification/reclassification after October 3, supersedes the August message and confirms the Navy.com source rates. Funding is stated through December 11, 2026; individual contracts remain unverified. Most source rates cover October–December FY27, while named special-operations and nuclear programs cover October–September FY27. Its shipping table lists MU $10,000 and Nuclear Field $20,000, differing from the website's older up-to-$25,000 shipping headline. The table's FY27 window is October 1, 2026–September 30, 2027; the surrounding prose has inconsistent year wording. Elevated-PST bonus remains $20,000. The $140,000 headline includes loan repayment, not cash signing bonus alone. AECF/AV-to-rating mapping conflicts remain unresolved.
Historical amounts are retained. A displayed maximum is not a guaranteed payment. Confirm current written contract terms.
Bonus range review — 2026-10-10
Conditional planning range: $0–$10,000. $0 means no eligible or available bonus; the upper endpoint is from the listed program amount, not a likely payout or guaranteed offer. Historical/expired amounts do not verify a current offer. Do not add separate programs without written stacking authorization. Existing source dates and eligibility conditions remain controlling. Additional program amounts, when available, are explained in their own comments.
Published enlistment program: $10,000.
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Navy.com enlistment bonus listDeployment 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.
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