5953 vs 6214
Air Traffic Control Radar Technician (USMC) vs Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Mechanic (USMC)
Same Eagle, Globe, and Anchor — completely different daily realities hiding behind "every Marine is a rifleman."
If a 5953 could go back to MEPS, they'd want to know: the civilian path is one of the best in the electronics field — the FAA pays radar technicians very well ($80-120K+), and they specifically recruit from the military pipeline. If a 6214 had the same time machine: when it breaks downrange, you fix it downrange — in the dirt, in the heat, with what's in your kit. Neither was briefed on any of this. Both would've appreciated the heads-up. Somewhere in the Pentagon, someone considers both of these "manpower." Manpower has thoughts about that.
After the Uniform
The part the recruiter skips: what each job actually translates to once you're a civilian — and what it pays.
Salary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program. A guide, not a guarantee.
Recruiter vs. Reality
The pitch versus what people who actually did the job report back.
“You'll maintain the radar systems that air traffic controllers use to see every aircraft in the sky around a Marine air station. Surveillance radar, approach radar, and the displays that controllers watch — all of it runs because of you. The skills transfer directly to the FAA and defense contractors.”
You maintain the ground radar that lets air traffic controllers see aircraft — the surveillance radar that shows traffic in the pattern and the precision approach radar that guides aircraft down final approach. When the radar goes down, ATC goes from radar control to procedural control, which means fewer aircraft, wider spacing, and degraded operations. Your job is to keep that from happening. The training covers radar theory, transmitter maintenance, signal processing, and antenna systems. In the fleet, you are at a Marine air station maintaining the radar site — a mix of indoor transmitter work and outdoor antenna and waveguide maintenance. The civilian path is one of the best in the electronics field — the FAA pays radar technicians very well ($80-120K+), and they specifically recruit from the military pipeline. The FAA hiring process is slow but the destination is worth it. Start the application process a year before you EAS.
“You'll be the ground crew keeping Marine eyes in the sky — literally. As a UAV Mechanic, you maintain and repair Marine Corps unmanned aerial systems, currently centered on the RQ-7B Shadow and emerging platforms. Your job covers every system that makes a drone flyable: airframe inspection and structural repair, propulsion and engine maintenance, avionics interface boxes, ground control station equipment, and the launcher and recovery systems that get the aircraft in the air and back on the ground. No runways needed — you work with catapult launchers, pneumatic systems, and arrested-recovery setups the Marine Corps hauls into the field. The Marine UAS community is growing fast. ISR capability depends entirely on maintainers who can turn aircraft around in austere environments with minimal support. You won't be glamorous, but you'll be essential — and the MOS is evolving in real time.”
The RQ-7B is not a Predator. It's a 375-pound reconnaissance drone with a Wankel rotary engine, a pneumatic launcher, and a net recovery system. When it breaks downrange, you fix it downrange — in the dirt, in the heat, with what's in your kit. Depot support is not next door. The UAS community is also caught in a transition period: the Shadow is being evaluated for replacement, doctrine is shifting, and training pipelines are still catching up to the operational demand. Expect your MOS to evolve faster than your technical manuals. You will work in joint environments alongside Army UAS units, which creates real interoperability friction. And because the community is small, every deployment feels personal — if your birds aren't flying, the entire unit loses ISR. No pressure.
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