I made a thread in the Wannabe section but I was informed that this might be the best area to look/ask. That said, I got word on my MOS so it will either be AO or Rescue. I'm leaning towards AO and was curious as to if any of you can shed some light on a typical day for you guys/gals. I keep finding small bits of information on sites such as ordnance.org, and iyaoyas.com, but nothing that is conclusive and satisfactory to what I'm searching for. So if any of you could give me details on what you do during the day, what your weekly schedule is like, etc...it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

-Joseph

Joseph,

Your day to day job function varies greatly depending on where you end up. If you end up in a F/18 unit- your job is a helluva lot different than if you get a job in a Ch-46 unit. Too huge of a difference in fact, to go into any great detail about it.

Pete

To comment a little about the Crash/Fire/Rescue job you mentioned; I can't speak intelligently about most of what that job entails, but I can say for certain:

I've witnessed people in that job in many locations, usually serving as crash watch on the runway, or their navy counterparts aboard ship. ive thought to myself countless times "im glad i didnt end up with that boring a$$ job".

quote:

Originally posted by RedRT:
Joseph,

Your day to day job function varies greatly depending on where you end up. If you end up in a F/18 unit- your job is a helluva lot different than if you get a job in a Ch-46 unit. Too huge of a difference in fact, to go into any great detail about it.

Pete

Probably. =\ But still, even if I could simply track down some basic information between the two I can get a better idea of what it would be like. You guys are just so secretive it seems.

I was with a Harrier Squadron, Although I was a flightline Mech, I worked with the Ordinance bubbas. Seemed all they did was load smurf bombs and replace cads all day. Every once in awhile they would use live 500 lbs bombs, snake eyes, or fire bombs(new name for napalm). And ask any airframer about installing the air driven 22MM gunpods. They will give an earfull about why don't Ordinance put them on! ( pain in the rear).

Would you consider this link as a good source of information?

http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/navyjobs/bla0.htm

Granted it's for the Navy, but it's the closest I have found so far in terms of job duties.

Well, while I wasn't AO, a real close friend of mine is. Your daily life depends on what exactly you do. There's different strands in school, I and O, one does more of the handling of ordinance, moving it around, mounting it, etc. The other does more of the internal work on the ordinance itself. As for more than that, I can't offer.

Well, like Ramkatral said, it really depends on which "side of the house" you get. If you are "I" level, you will be working on bomb racks, guns, and responsible for issuing ordnance to the squadrons. If you are "O" level, you will be maintaining the weapon systems on the aircraft as well as loading the munitions. It goes into a lot more detail than that, but I don't feel like typing that much.

I was an Ordnanceman and have work in both fixed wing and helo squadrons. You "want" to be placed in a fixed wing or attack helo unit because that's where ordnancemen make their mark. You can still be a good AO in a transport helo unit and have a nice career, but be prepared to have extra duties placed on you as higher ups in those units generally do not care nor care to know anything about what you do or what your job entails. That's not to say that they are bad Marines, it's just that most of the older ones are set in their ways and no matter how many times you try to explain what you do to them, it usually falls on deaf ears.
But, if you do happen to get placed in a CH-46 or CH-53 unit, you can get permission to become an Aerial Observer/Gunner which is great.

Operations at your home base and unit will usually consist of loading practice(smurf) bombs and tedious stuff like that. It's when you deploy to Yuma, CAX, or any number of small dets to obscure places when you'll get to make your money loading and training with the real thing, and that usually happens numerous time during the year, unless you are in a training unit.

Hope all goes well with your decision and if I were you, I'd pick Ordnance because there's no way in hell I would sit in a fire rescue truck next to the runway for hours on end. Go do some real work!

quote:

Originally posted by VRG:
I'd pick Ordnance because there's no way in hell I would sit in a fire rescue truck next to the runway for hours on end.

Oh gosh,,, me too.

I've even asked a few of them,,, "What do you guys do, besides sit out there on the end of the runway all day in that big a$$ed truck, and smoke dope"?

Believe it or not,,,
I never got a straight answer to that question.


Don't laugh--------
You know how we sort of made fun about some of the Grunts being a bit:
Cro-Magnun, or Neanderthalus in thier looks and mannerisms?

Well,,
I think some of the Crash Crew folks were so far down the evolutionary chain,
they could peel bananas with thier feet.


Hey,
Do you young guys still call that one heavy helo outfit, 'Four Sixty Screw'?

They were just down the 'street' from us when I was on Okinawa in '46s back in '76-77.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: WingerEd,

Yep. HMH-462 Screw Crew. I was there at MCAS Tustin from 1993 to the end of 1996. I loved that place.

LOL about peeling bananas with their feet!

quote:

Originally posted by VRG:
I was an Ordnanceman and have work in both fixed wing and helo squadrons.

That reminds me of something that happened at MARTD - NAS Dallas when I was there
in '74-75. We'd have a weekly all hands formation/inspection every Thursday out in front of the Hanger.

One Thursday, we were about 98% all formed up a few feet from the door, where a pair of about 500 pound practice bombs were sitting. I thought they were practice bombs since they were all dinged and scratched up--- I figured that they'd been dropped and recovered several times.

Anyway, they both had a black nose cap protecting the fuse hole in the front end of them.
One Marine came walking up, looked at them, and kicked the black nose cap on the end of one of these big a$$ed aerial bombs.......

The entire unit was a few feet away when he said, "Hmmmm,,,, must be a dud". Then he got in line with everyone else.

I know a unfused bomb isn't really very dangerous to be around unless you drop it on your toe, but gosh that was a stupid thing to do. I wonder if that rascal wasn't on the Crash Crew?

.

Now adays, the Blue bombs are practice bombs, the Green ones are real. The green 500 LBS are ugly and have very rough surfaces, they look all dinged up but sure as **** they are real. When we had live **** we towed the planes down to the loading ramp about 1/2 mile away for loading, tells you something.

quote:

Originally posted by 2173965:
we towed the planes down to the loading ramp about 1/2 mile away for loading, tells you something.

If you also had the live fuses to go with them-- a half mile is too close for my comfort level.

The worst accident with Ordanance that I saw in the short time I was in jets was with a 'Zuni' rocket.

They'd load them, and with the wires unplugged, do a stray voltage check before they plugged them in. This time: the guys did their checks, and whoever was in the cockpit had the switches set to 'fire' when the rocket was plugged in.

And yep,,, it took off. It didn't explode, but when the fins popped out, one of them darn near cut a guy's head off as it flew by.
.

quote:

Originally posted by 2173965:
Now adays, the Blue bombs are practice bombs, the Green ones are real. The green 500 LBS are ugly and have very rough surfaces, they look all dinged up but sure as **** they are real. When we had live **** we towed the planes down to the loading ramp about 1/2 mile away for loading, tells you something.

isn't the rough coating a 'fire insulation' to delay a cookoff in the event of a fire???

GUYS, as an AO you can have more fun than any-one and at the same time work the hardest of "ALL SECTIONS"IN A SQUADRAN!!! But do not be like me and enjoy it, cause one day you will p---off a Col. and find yourself in MEDICAL-RETIREMENT because you run better than him, & refuse to "QUIT"!!! BEEN THERE--DONE THAT, AND NOW AM THAT! But still a US Marine & AO!

welcome to 2008, lol

quote:

Originally posted by Cerberus2k7:
I made a thread in the Wannabe section but I was informed that this might be the best area to look/ask. That said, I got word on my MOS so it will either be AO or Rescue. I'm leaning towards AO and was curious as to if any of you can shed some light on a typical day for you guys/gals. I keep finding small bits of information on sites such as ordnance.org, and iyaoyas.com, but nothing that is conclusive and satisfactory to what I'm searching for. So if any of you could give me details on what you do during the day, what your weekly schedule is like, etc...it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

-Joseph

SUGGESTION...GO TO AAO WEBSITE, AND SEE WHAT WE DO...

you do know that you're responding to a conversation and posts that have been dead for 7 or 8 months, right?
pete

Hmmm,Pete,
Is is really dead?
Or, do ya think it might only be on 'Light Duty',
and have a real bad limp?

gang, go to the web site aao to find more.
http://www.AAO.net
think I got it right?