My husband has also kept up with the trade, he can program & run CNC’s as well as the manual mills, lathes, etc... etc... and we’re talking about tolerances less than a tenth of the width of a hair on your head -- by HAND if necessary. These are not jobs the average ‘joe’ off the street can do -- not without YEARS of specialized training and experience, and the ability to not only understand but apply trigonometry, read blueprints, and problem solve when things don't work just right.
And no, it is not ‘all CNC’ nowadays. Plus, no matter how advanced the machine may be there still need to be quality, educated people running them, or the parts turn out like crap.
ALL:
Sorry to be so huffy tonight about this — but I’m very afraid for our COUNTRY as a whole when it comes to this situation -- not just my family's personal financial well-being. If things were as they are now we wouldn’t have had a prayer in WWII.
What happens if (when) we go to war with China for example, and there are no men trained anymore who can go into the factories here in the U.S. (if there are any factories left) and create the machines that make the weapons and tools our troops need, or they can't get the right replacement parts for their jets? As it stands now these jobs are going to those foreign countries (like China & Mexico) — we are handing over our very security to our enemies by not supporting these trades. Manufacturing built and protected this country, and losing manufacturing will kill us...
Those that know what a machinist/tool & die maker actually does will understand everything I’ve said. Those of you who don’t — next time you open a can of soup, or pop the top of your soda can, use the 'EZ-Open pop top' cat food can (which my husband personally helped make a LONG time ago), log on to FR using your computer (whose circuitry is made possible by machinists), or hear of someone's life being saved by a dialysis machine (for which my husband has made pump housings for), or the next time your airbag deploys at just the right time (yes, just another one of the things my husband has made over the years) -- you should thank God for machinists like him.