About This Career

Ordnance specialists are responsible for the safety, security, and accountability of the Military’s weapons and ammunition. They perform a wide variety of duties, including the safe receipt, storage, and transport of ordnance. Some of these specialists deal solely with the destruction and demilitarization of explosive items, while some deal solely with maintenance and repair.

This career is part of the Government and Public Administration cluster National Security pathway.

A person in this career:

• Identifies munitions and equipment requirements; operates and maintains automated data processing equipment (ADPE) to perform inspection, testing, and stockpile management activities
• Stores, maintains, tests, assembles, issues, and delivers assembled munitions; prepares munitions for loading; checks safety and arm mechanisms
• Installs warheads, guidance units, fuses, arming wires, squibs, strakes, wings, fins, control surfaces, and tracking flares
• Analyzes stockpile requirements to determine type and quantity of munitions facilities needed to safely store, inspect, maintain, and secure munitions assets
• Supervises the maintenance, repair, and inspection of all small arms weapons and towed artillery howitzers and directs the activities of assigned enlisted personnel in a small arms or towed artillery repair shop or facility
• Operates and performs operator maintenance on armament weapons support equipment and aircraft armament equipment
• Inspects ammunition, components, and containers for defects; prepares documentation indicating identification and quantity of assets
• Conducts functional tests of racks, launchers, adapters and electrical components, and aircraft armament circuits
• Locates, identifies, renders safe, and disposes of foreign and domestic conventional, chemical, or nuclear ordnance and improvised explosive devices (IED)
• Utilizes and maintains advanced equipment, such as, robotics, x-ray, landmine, and chemical, biological, radiation, and nuclear detection equipment

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

• You would often handle loads up to 20 lbs., sometimes up to 50 lbs. You might do a lot of lifting, carrying, pushing or pulling.
• Exposed to hazardous equipment such as saws, machinery, or vehicular traffic more than once a month
• Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
• Work in this occupation requires being outside most of the time

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

• Identifying color and seeing differences in color, including shades and brightness
• Moving the arms, legs and torso together when the whole body is in motion
• Seeing clearly up close
• Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
• Identifying and understanding the speech of another person

Work Hours and Travel

• Irregular hours