Patrick Cousineau

I work day-to-day onboard a Canadian Warship, where my job is two-fold. The first half is to lead the many skilled technicians of the Combat Systems Engineering department. The second is to be the “subject matter expert” for all combat systems employed on the ship.

The equipment I’m responsible for is state-of-the-art. Naval Combat Systems Engineering Officers have a high level of technical background knowledge in all systems we work with. This includes the naval guns, missiles, torpedoes, electronic warfare systems, radar, sonar, command & control systems, and communications equipment. We receive in-depth training in how these systems work. This included at the theoretical level (e.g., the math and physics behind how radar works, computer programming, circuit design), all the way up to the functional level using engineering drawings and technical documentation. A background in STEM is extremely important for us in order to work with the many diverse systems.

When we are in home port, I plan and oversee maintenance and make sure that all work stays on schedule. At sea, I make sure that the ship’s combat systems are operational at all times in order to support the current mission. This could be anything from search and rescue, sovereignty patrols, to naval warfare. In order to keep the ship operational, I need to make split-second decisions on how to best diagnose, repair, and employ the many combat systems used by the ship.

What this all boils down to is leadership, decision-making, and problem solving with the end goal of ensuring that the ship is mission capable.