93D Career Guide
93D: Air Traffic Control Equipment Repairer
Career transition guide for Army Air Traffic Control Equipment Repairer (93D)
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Real industry tech roles your 93D background maps to — picked from BLS-anchored occupations using your training, cognitive skills, and systems experience.
Network Engineer
Infrastructure
Your experience maintaining ATC communication systems and NAVAIDS directly translates to network engineering. The AN/TRC-170 parallels microwave backhaul communication systems. You have hands-on experience with the physical and logical layers of networks, including troubleshooting, installation, and maintenance.
Typical stack:
Systems Administrator
Infrastructure
As an Air Traffic Control Equipment Repairer, you maintained and supervised the maintenance of critical systems. This involved hardware and software troubleshooting, system installation, and ensuring operational readiness, aligning well with the responsibilities of a Systems Administrator managing server infrastructure, operating systems, and associated services.
Typical stack:
Security Engineer
Security
Your work with COMSEC equipment (KY-58, KG-84), which are analogous to Data Encryption Standard (DES) / Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption devices, provides a foundation in security principles. Your procedural compliance and system modeling skills are beneficial for understanding security protocols and incident response.
Typical stack:
IT Support Specialist (Help Desk)
Infrastructure
Your training in basic electronics and troubleshooting, combined with your experience performing checks and adjustments on avionics equipment, provides a strong base for providing technical support to end-users. Your experience in maintenance and installation activities helps in diagnosing and resolving technical issues.
Typical stack:
Skills You Already Have
Concrete bridges from 93D experience to tech-industry practice.
- ATC Communications/NAVAID Maintenance→ Network Troubleshooting and Maintenance
- COMSEC Equipment Maintenance→ Understanding of Encryption Principles
- System Modeling→ Infrastructure Design
- Procedural Compliance→ Adherence to Security Protocols
- Troubleshooting Avionics Equipment→ Hardware Diagnostics
Skills to Learn
The concrete gap to bridge — specific to the roles above, not generic.
How VWC fits
Vets Who Code accelerates the parts we teach — software engineering fundamentals, web development, AI tooling. For everything else above, the path is doable independently with the resources we link to.
See VWC ProgramsCivilian Career Pathways
Top civilian roles for 93D veterans, with average salary and market demand data.
Avionics Technician
Skills to develop:
Electronics Technician
Skills to develop:
Telecommunications Equipment Installer and Repairer
Skills to develop:
Wind Turbine Technician
Skills to develop:
Industrial Maintenance Mechanic
Skills to develop:
Salary estimates from VWC career data
Hidden Strengths
Cognitive skills your 93D training built — and where they transfer.
System Modeling
Troubleshooting complex ATC systems requires building mental models of how various components interact, predicting failure points, and understanding signal flow.
The ability to visualize and understand complex systems translates directly to designing and optimizing processes in various industries.
Procedural Compliance
Strict adherence to maintenance manuals, safety protocols, and regulatory guidelines is paramount in ATC maintenance to ensure system reliability and safety.
Your commitment to following established procedures makes you highly valuable in regulated industries where accuracy and consistency are crucial.
Degraded-Mode Operations
You're adept at diagnosing and repairing ATC systems under pressure, often with limited resources or incomplete information, to restore functionality quickly.
The experience of maintaining critical systems in less-than-ideal circumstances means you excel at problem-solving and maintaining operations during unexpected disruptions.
Situational Awareness
Maintaining ATC systems requires constant monitoring of system performance, environmental factors, and potential threats to ensure uninterrupted operation.
Your proven ability to maintain situational awareness is valuable for assessing risk and making critical decisions in fast-paced environments.
Non-Obvious Career Matches
Industrial Control Systems Technician
SOC 49-2099.01You've been maintaining complex electronic systems, so the transition to maintaining and troubleshooting industrial control systems in manufacturing or energy sectors is a natural fit. Your expertise in system modeling and degraded-mode operations will be invaluable.
Building Automation Systems Engineer
SOC 17-2199.00You've honed your system modeling skills working on ATC infrastructure. Now, picture using those skills to design and maintain building automation systems. Your expertise in integrating diverse systems and ensuring their reliable operation will be crucial for optimizing energy efficiency and building performance.
Robotics Technician
SOC 49-9069.00With your strong foundation in electronics and system maintenance, you already have a head start in robotics. Your understanding of system modeling, troubleshooting, and procedural compliance is directly applicable to maintaining and repairing complex robotic systems.
Training & Education Equivalencies
Air Traffic Control Equipment Repairer Course, Fort Eisenhower, GA
Topics Covered
- •Basic electronics and troubleshooting
- •Air Traffic Control (ATC) communication systems maintenance
- •Navigation Aids (NAVAID) maintenance
- •Landing systems maintenance and repair
- •COMSEC equipment maintenance
- •Avionics equipment checks and adjustments
- •ATC system installation and maintenance supervision
- •Maintenance certification program management
Certification Pathways
Partial Coverage
Requires study of general electronics theory, troubleshooting techniques, and specific industry standards not covered in military training.
Requires studying FCC rules and regulations related to radio communications, as well as more in-depth knowledge of radio theory.
Recommended Next Certifications
Technical Systems Translation
Military systems you've used and their civilian equivalents for your resume.
| Military System | Civilian Equivalent |
|---|---|
| AN/TPN-19 Landing Control Central | Commercial Airport Primary Surveillance Radar (PSR) |
| AN/GPN-27 Airport Surveillance Radar | Air Traffic Control Radar Systems |
| AN/TRN-48 Tactical Air Navigation System (TACAN) | VOR/DME (VHF Omnidirectional Range/Distance Measuring Equipment) |
| AN/TRC-170 Tropospheric Scatter Microwave Radio Terminal | Microwave Backhaul Communication Systems |
| COMSEC Equipment (KY-58, KG-84) | Data Encryption Standard (DES) / Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption devices |
| IFF/SIF Interrogator Systems | Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) |
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