The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard all train people to inspect parts without damaging them. Whether your service called it nondestructive inspection (NDI), testing (NDT) or evaluation (NDE), you face the same problem on the day you leave: you are no longer certified.
This guide explains why, what the civilian certification systems look like today, and what paperwork to gather before you separate or retire.
Why your certification does not follow you
In NDT, a certification is an employer's written statement that it has checked your training, experience, vision and exam results and is prepared to stand behind your work. While you serve, your service is that employer. When you leave, the statement ends with the job.
That is the rule under both of the documents most civilian employers follow:
- SNT-TC-1A, the American Society for Nondestructive Testing's recommended practice for qualifying and certifying NDT personnel. It is used across general industry: oil and gas, power, manufacturing, pipelines, and many others. The current edition is 2024, with an addendum issued in 2025.
- NAS410, the National Aerospace Standard for NDT personnel, published by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA). It covers aerospace manufacturing, maintenance and overhaul. The current revision is Revision 6, dated December 2025.
Some employers use ANSI/ASNT CP-189 instead, which is a standard rather than a recommended practice. The ideas below apply to it in broad terms, but check its own requirements.
Recommended practice versus standard
The difference matters when you compare job offers.
- SNT-TC-1A is a recommended practice. Each employer writes its own "written practice" based on it and may adjust the details, as long as it records a technical reason. Two SNT-TC-1A companies can therefore ask for different hours.
- NAS410 is a standard. An employer can add to its requirements but cannot go below its minimums. Aerospace customers and regulators expect it to be followed exactly.
Either way, the employer's written practice is the document that decides what you need. Ask to see it (or the relevant pages) when you interview.
Certifications you can hold yourself
Employer-based certification under SNT-TC-1A or NAS410 is not the only model. The international standard ISO 9712 describes central certification: an independent certification body examines you and issues a certificate in your own name, which stays with you when you change jobs. ISO 9712 numbers its levels 1, 2 and 3.
In the United States, ASNT offers this through its ASNT 9712 program, which replaced ASNT's earlier central certification program. According to ASNT, the program is designed to meet ISO 9712:2021 and the US adoption of it (ANSI/ASNT CP-9712), certificates are issued by ASNT's accredited certification body as an independent third party, candidates pass general, specific and practical exams, and certificates are valid for five years before recertification. ASNT currently offers it at Level II and Level III. Eligibility, the methods offered and the exam details change from time to time, so check ASNT's ASNT 9712 program page for the current requirements.
ASNT also offers ASNT NDT Level II, built around SNT-TC-1A and renewed every five years, and the long-established ASNT NDT Level III. See ASNT's certification site.
A central certificate is an alternative route to proving your competence, not a license to work: the employer still certifies you for its own work. But it can shorten that process considerably:
- Under SNT-TC-1A (2024), an employer's Level III may accept a valid ASNT NDT or ASNT 9712 Level II certificate in place of its own general and specific written exams, and an ASNT 9712 certificate in place of the practical exam, once it has decided ASNT's exams meet its written practice.
- Under NAS410 Revision 6, a current ASNT, ISO 9712 or national aerospace NDT board qualification may satisfy the general exam. The specific and practical exams are always the employer's own, because they test that employer's parts and procedures.
Minimum hours: how the two documents compare
Every path starts with qualification: proving you have the formal training hours and the experience hours the document asks for, and passing a vision exam. The tables below show the minimums for the methods most military technicians use. They are summarized from SNT-TC-1A (2024) and NAS410 Revision 6; your employer's written practice may ask for more.
| Method | Level I training | Level I experience | Straight to Level II: training | Straight to Level II: experience |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PT | 4 h | 70 h in method (130 h total NDT) | 12 h | 210 h in method (400 h total NDT) |
| MT | 12 h | 70 h (130 h) | 20 h | 280 h (530 h) |
| ET (eddy current) | 40 h | 210 h (400 h) | 80 h | 840 h (1,600 h) |
| UT | 40 h | 210 h (400 h) | 80 h | 840 h (1,600 h) |
| RT (radiography) | 40 h | 210 h (400 h) | 80 h | 840 h (1,600 h) |
| VT | 8 h | 70 h (130 h) | 24 h | 210 h (400 h) |
"Total NDT" is all NDT experience across methods; the figure in the method must still be met on its own. Digital techniques (CR, DR, CT) carry the same figures as film radiography.
| Method | Level 1 training | Level 1 experience | Straight to Level 2: training | Straight to Level 2: experience |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PT | 16 h | 130 h | 32 h | 400 h |
| MT | 16 h | 130 h | 32 h | 530 h |
| ET | 40 h | 200 h | 80 h | 800 h |
| UT | 40 h | 200 h | 80 h | 800 h |
| RT, film or non-film | 40 h | 200 h | 80 h | 800 h |
| RT, film and non-film | 60 h | 220 h | 120 h | 1,000 h |
NAS410 does not set hours for visual testing; where an aerospace employer certifies VT, its Responsible Level 3 sets the requirements.
Three things people get wrong
- The hours are cumulative. If you certify to Level 1 first, Level 2 needs only the difference. If you go straight to Level 2, you need the whole amount. Taking one long course does not skip the experience.
- Hours count once. Under NAS410, time spent on PT and MT during the same shift is split between them, not claimed twice. SNT-TC-1A lets experience in several methods add up toward the total NDT figure, but each method's own minimum still has to be met.
- Old training may need a refresher. NAS410 requires refresher training if you were not certified within twelve months of your training. Military schooling from years ago still counts, but expect a refresher before the exams.
Level III (SNT-TC-1A) and Level 3 (NAS410)
Both documents link eligibility for the top level to education and time spent working at Level II. As a rough guide, SNT-TC-1A suggests one year beyond Level II with an engineering or science degree, two years with two years of engineering or science study, and four years otherwise. NAS410 uses a similar ladder, requires you to be a certified Level 2 first, now requires a separate "basic" exam, and offers a new credit-based route. NAS410 also lets the Responsible Level 3 judge how military training and experience compare. For the aerospace side, see NAS410: what changed in the current revision.
Start your paperwork before you leave
The hardest part of civilian certification is usually proving what you have already done. Gather these while you still have access to your unit, your supervisors and your records.
- Training records. Course completion certificates showing the course title, dates and hours, plus a syllabus if you can get one. Your Joint Services Transcript (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard) or Community College of the Air Force transcript helps show the hours.
- An experience log. Hours worked in each method, recorded separately. If you did not keep a log, reconstruct one now from maintenance records and work orders, and have it checked while the people who can confirm it are still around.
- A signed experience statement. A short letter or form signed by your supervisor or Level III giving your name, their name, title and contact details, the unit, the date range, each method and technique you performed with the hours for each, the equipment and the technical data you worked to, and the date. Leave out anything classified or sensitive.
- Your military certification records. Copies showing each method, level and date, and your most recent vision exam.
- DD Form 214. If you need a copy later, the National Archives explains how to request one.
- A plain-English resume. List methods, techniques, equipment and hours. Translate military shorthand and bullet style into sentences a civilian hiring manager will follow.
- A driver's license and a current passport. Field work often means driving to site, and some jobs are overseas.
Visual testing is a large civilian market, and some services do not treat it as a separate method. If you used borescopes, magnifiers or other optical aids, get your training on them and the hours you spent documented and signed. It will save time if you want to certify in VT.
Programs worth knowing about
- SkillBridge. The Department of Defense SkillBridge program lets eligible service members spend part of their last months of service training or working with a civilian organization.
- Credentialing Opportunities On-Line (COOL). The COOL sites show which civilian credentials relate to your military job and whether your service may help pay for them.
Where we come in
Midgard Scientific was founded by military NDT veterans. If you are leaving the service and need to refresh your knowledge, add formal training hours, or make sense of your training records, or if you are an employer trying to read a veteran's training history, get in touch.