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7316E8-E9
Small Unmanned Aircraft System (SUAS) Operator
E-8 to E-9 (Senior NCO) · Marines
HEADS UP
At Master Gunnery Sergeant or Sergeant Major, you are the MOS. Your decisions on doctrine, training standards, and capability requirements will outlast your uniform by a decade. That is not a metaphor — it is what happens when senior NCOs at this level do the job right.
The Honest MOS Read
The senior enlisted tier in a small technical MOS like 7316 is a position of unusual institutional leverage. There are very few Master Gunnery Sergeants or Sergeant Majors who have direct, deep expertise in SUAS employment — which means when you speak to a general officer about UAS capability, you carry the weight of a community that cannot easily replace you. That is both a professional privilege and a significant responsibility.
The UAS landscape at the E8-E9 tier is fundamentally different from the one you entered as a junior operator. Group 1/2 systems are now operating in contested electromagnetic environments that were theoretical when Raven was first fielded. Counter-UAS is a doctrinal priority across every service. Autonomous and AI-assisted UAS systems are in development and some are already fielded. Your role at this tier is to ensure the Marine Corps's SUAS capability keeps pace with that evolution — in doctrine, in training standards, in requirements, and in the quality of the NCOs who will carry the capability forward.
The personal career calculus at E8-E9 is dominated by the retirement decision. Every year beyond 20 adds to the retirement multiplier and to the TSP balance. The typical analysis favors staying to 26-28 years if the assignments are good — but in a small MOS, the senior billet pool is genuinely limited, and assignment quality matters enormously. A senior NCO in a meaningless billet is a worse investment than a senior NCO who separates and builds a second career with the government civilian or contractor market.
The post-military options at MGySgt/SgtMaj tier are excellent. GS-13/14 positions in DoD acquisition, program management, and training development are accessible. Senior contractor roles at SUAS-related defense contractors (AeroVironment, Textron, Shield AI, and similar) exist and pay well. Industry consulting and instructional roles in the commercial UAS space are available for senior operators with proven track records. The question is not whether options exist — it is which ones fit your life plan.
Career Arc
MGySgt: MOS technical authority at the institutional level; input to Marine Corps UAS doctrine, training standards, and capability requirements SgtMaj: senior enlisted advisor to a commanding general or equivalent on all matters including SUAS capability integration Assignment to HQMC, MARCORSYSCOM, or TECOM in a UAS capabilities and requirements role Service as the MOS monitor or occupational field sponsor for 7316 — shaping the community at the career management level Transition preparation: begin federal hiring process at year 18-19; GS-13/14 positions in DoD acquisition and training development are the primary targets Board preparation for retention/continuation: at this tier, the board is evaluating institutional contribution as much as operational record
Common Screwups
Failing to translate tactical expertise into operational and strategic language — a MGySgt who can only talk about flying loses relevance to the general officers and SES civilians who make capability decisions Allowing the MOS's small size to create insularity — the senior NCOs who do not stay current on joint UAS developments, commercial technology, and near-peer threat evolution will give commanders advice that is a generation behind Transition planning that starts too late — at E8-E9, the assumption that '20 years is enough' for the federal hiring process is consistently wrong; the best positions take 12-18 months from application to offer
A Day in the Life
0530: PT; personal fitness is a visible commitment to the standards the community is held to 0800: Command element meetings, staff synchronization, or working group participation — the day is structured by the command's planning cycle, not the section's maintenance schedule 1000: Institutional work: requirements writing, doctrine review, training standard development, MOS pipeline coordination 1130: Noon chow 1300: Advisory meetings: one-on-ones with commanding officers, joint working groups, MARCORSYSCOM coordination 1500: Community stewardship: counseling senior NCOs, engaging with the MOS monitor, tracking accession and retention data 1700: Evening coordination; personal professional development on post-military planning
Weekly Cadence
The senior NCO week at this level is dominated by meetings, advisory functions, and institutional work that does not produce visible products on a daily timeline. The rhythm is slower than the operational NCO tier and the products are longer-horizon — doctrine that will be published in 6 months, training standards that will be implemented at the next schoolhouse curriculum review, requirements that will influence a system that fields in 5 years. This work requires patience and a tolerance for institutional process that many operators find frustrating. The MGySgts who are effective here are the ones who understand that this is where the biggest leverage lives, even when it doesn't feel like it.
What Good Looks Like at This Rank
The best MGySgts and SgtMajs in this MOS leave behind institutions. Written doctrine with their fingerprints. Training programs that produce better operators than the previous curriculum. Junior NCOs who run sections with a level of tactical and technical sophistication that would not exist without the mentorship they received. Requirements documents that eventually become fielded systems.
They have also taken care of themselves. They have a second career lined up — not as an afterthought but as a deliberate plan built over the last six years. They know their federal hiring register status, their TSP balance, their retirement date, and what they want to do with the next twenty years. They arrive at their terminal leave date with the same deliberateness they brought to every operational planning cycle, because they understand that the mission does not end at retirement — it just changes operational environments.
Preview — The Next Rank
There is no next rank in uniform. The next level is the transition itself — and the MGySgts and SgtMajs who treat that transition as the next mission, planned with the same rigor they brought to every deployment, are the ones who land well. The ones who wing it arrive at their terminal leave date surprised by how slow the federal hiring process is and how quickly their institutional network becomes irrelevant without deliberate maintenance. Plan the transition like an OPORD: objective, timeline, resources, contingencies. Execute it like a Marine.
FAQ
7316 E8-E9 — Frequently Asked Questions
Q01What does a E8-E9 7316 (Small Unmanned Aircraft System (SUAS) Operator) actually do?
Serve as the senior SUAS enlisted advisor at the Marine Forces, TECOM, or HQMC level.
Q02What's the most important thing to know as a E8-E9 7316?
At Master Gunnery Sergeant or Sergeant Major, you are the MOS.
Q03What mistakes get E8-E9 7316 soldiers fired or relieved?
Failing to translate tactical expertise into operational and strategic language — a MGySgt who can only talk about flying loses relevance to the general officers and SES civilians who make capability decisions Allowing the MOS's small size to create insularity — the senior NCOs who do not stay current on joint UAS developments, commercial technology, and near-peer threat evolution will give commanders advice that is a generation behind Transition planning that starts too late — at E8-E9,…
Q04What's next after E8-E9 for a 7316 (Small Unmanned Aircraft System (SUAS) Operator) in the Marines?
There is no next rank in uniform.
Q05What manuals and regulations does a E8-E9 7316 need to know cold?
Marine Corps SUAS modernization roadmap, joint UAS doctrine and DOTMLPF documentation, counter-UAS doctrine, HQMC aviation and ISR policy
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Published by the Honest MOS Editorial DeskVerified against DoD/.gov sourcesUpdated May 2026Editorial standards