Marine Corps 1341 Engineer Equipment Mechanic MOS Patch

A Marine becomes a 1341 at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where the Marine Corps Detachment at the Army Engineer School teaches diesel engines, hydraulics, power trains and brakes. The Engineer Equipment Mechanic maintains and repairs the gasoline and diesel construction equipment Marine engineers depend on. That covers earth movers, material handling equipment and the other engine-driven or towed machines in an engineer support unit. The 13 in the number places the MOS in Occupational Field 13, engineer, construction, facilities and equipment. When a dozer quits or a forklift loses hydraulic pressure, the 1341 is the Marine who brings it back.

Engineer Equipment Instruction Company runs the entry-level Engineer Equipment Repair 1341 course in six phases. Phase 1 covers shop safety, equipment characteristics and capabilities, and the phases after it move through electrical systems, diesel engines, hydraulics, power trains and brake systems. Students disassemble, reassemble and troubleshoot diesel engines before they report to the fleet. The advanced 1341 course brings mechanics back to work on bulldozers, graders, excavators, loaders and cranes. The same schoolhouse trains the 1345 Engineer Equipment Operator on machines like the 624KR TRAM forklift and the 120M motorized road grader, along with the 1349 Engineer Equipment Chief.

The patch uses the familiar rating-patch outline, a red field framed in a red border with black bands across the top and bottom. MARINE CORPS rides the top band in white block letters. The numbers 13 and 41 stand on either side of the eagle, globe and anchor, stitched in gold and silver, with SEMPER FIDELIS set beneath it. ENGINEER EQUIPMENT MECHANIC runs along the bottom band, so the MOS reads by number and by name. Scarlet, black and gold keep it in Marine colors from edge to edge.

It measures 4.5 inches wide by 3.25 inches tall, a size that sits well on a jacket sleeve, a vest or a sea bag. The merrowed edge is a raised, rolled border stitched around the outline that keeps the edges from fraying. An iron-on backing lets it go on at home with an iron and a pressing cloth. For a jacket that sees regular wear or washing, a few stitches around the border will hold it for good. The numerals and lettering are full embroidery, so they read clearly at arm's length.

Every road, berm and expeditionary airfield Marine engineers build depends on machines a 1341 kept running. Put this patch in a shadow box with a Marine's ribbons and a photo from the motor pool, or on the vest he wears to a reunion. It also makes a gift for a young Marine headed to Fort Leonard Wood, or for the mechanic who taught a kid how to turn a wrench. Semper Fidelis is stitched right on it, and that says the rest.