AMMO (U.S. Air Force)
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- Ammo is also a commonly used abbreviation for ammunition.
The Munitions Systems Specialist career field(AFSC 2W0X1, previously 461X0), commonly referred to as AMMO, is the weapons and explosives branch of the U.S. Air Force.
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[edit] Career field description
AMMO is responsible for maintaining the Air Force's entire munitions stockpile. Various duties include shipping and receiving, building, testing, operating, protecting, inspecting, storing and performing maintenance on all types of munition systems, both conventional and nuclear. AMMO personnel also operate and maintain a wide variety of equipment and electronic gear, from 40 foot tractor-trailer combination vehicles and all terrain 10,000 pound forklifts, to small arms weapons, to AGM-65 guidance testing units and computer databases. AMMO troops often work daily with many versions of F-4, F-15, F-16, F-22, F-117, B-1, B-2, B-52, A-10, and AC-130 aircraft, along with rarer opportunities to support aircraft from sister services, such as the A-6, F-14, F-18 and AV-8, as well as aircraft from foreign services.
Upon graduation from Air Force Basic Military Training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, Airmen assigned to the field attend a 8 week tech school at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. Upon graduation from tech school, the new AMMO apprentice is sent to their assigned duty station. Airmen assigned overseas may take a two week leave prior to departure.
[edit] Isolation
Due to security and obvious safety concerns with the possibility of millions of pounds of explosives accidentally cooking off and damaging a large portion of a base's facilities, the Munitions Storage Area, or bomb dump, as it is lovingly called by those who work there; is usually well isolated or barricaded off from the rest of base. At some bases, such as RAF Welford in United Kingdom, the ride to work can take as long as fifty minutes, compared to a 4 or 5 minute commute for people in most other career fields.
[edit] Specific jobs
AMMO has nine separate and distinct working areas within the career field.
These are:
Equipment Maintenance - "Trailer Maintenance or TM" - the hub of all maintenance on the job-specific trailer equipment that is unique to AMMO, such as the MHU-141 and the MHU-110 and the newer MHU-226.
PGM - Precision Guided Munitions, or "Missile Shop" - maintenance of missiles and guided bomb packages.
Flightline Delivery - "Line-D" - Line delivery drivers are dispatched by Munitions Control and are responsible for the safe and expedient handling and delivery of munitions to aircraft. Drivers are also held responsible for the accounting of their movements and their transactions via radio and paper logs.
Conventional Maintenance - This office is responsible for unguided munitions, dealing with everything that their base's aircraft can carry, from chaff and flares to cannon ammunition and regular unguided "dumb bombs".
Munitions Control - The nerve center. Nothing happens without the controllers knowing since they are the office that dispatches workorders to all other areas. Supervision relies heavily on good controllers to give them quick, efficient reports of what's happening.
Storage and Handling - Works closely with Inspection and Conventional to deliver large quantities of raw materials for both inspections and bomb build exercises. Storage troops will often be found driving 18-wheel tractor trailers and forklifts, ranging in capacity from 2 to 25 tons, transporting various munitions items for the respective clientele.
Inspection - All munitions items at various times need to be inspected for safety and compliance with technical instructions. Specialized NCOs and Airmen called Munitions Inspectors accomplish this. Inspectors attend an Inspector school, which lasts approximately 3 weeks and most times is conducted at the AMMO Schoolhouse, located at Sheppard AFB, Texas.
Munitions Operations - "AFK" - Is the accountants for the whole munitions stockpile, whether it is item used inside (missiles, bombs etc....), or items that are considered for use outside the fence, such as small arms for various base agencies.
Notes: AMMO troops are not limited to working in one shop their entire career. They move from shop to shop. In some cases a troop works all nine areas in a career, and sometimes may work only one or two. Sometimes these areas may be merged together in accordance with the mission of that base. Flightline delivery and Equipment Maintenance are sometimes one shop; and Conventional Maintenance and PGM are sometimes merged into one shop. Sometimes larger Munitions Flights have specialized shops like Plans and Programs and Training/Mobility.
Some larger bases have transitioned to the new "C2" concept combining Muns Control and AFK into one shop.
[edit] Duty stations
AMMO personnel can be assigned any of a large number of military bases. Duty stations include, but are not limited to:
[edit] United States
- Andersen AFB, Guam;
- Barksdale AFB, Louisiana;
- Beale AFB, California;
- Bolling AFB, Washington, DC;
- Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona;
- Dyess AFB, Texas;
- Edwards AFB, California;
- Eglin AFB, Florida;
- Elmendorf AFB, Alaska;
- Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota;
- Eielson AFB, Alaska;
- Fairchild AFB, Washington;
- F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming;
- Hickam AFB, Hawaii;
- Hill AFB, Utah;
- Holloman AFB, New Mexico;
- Keesler AFB, Mississippi;
- Lackland AFB, Texas;
- Luke AFB, Arizona;
- Little Rock AFB, Arkansas;
- Malmstrom AFB, Montana;
- McChord AFB, Washington;
- Mountain Home AFB, Idaho;
- Minot AFB, North Dakota;
- Moody AFB, Georgia;
- Nellis AFB, Nevada;
- Offutt AFB, Nebraska;
- Pope AFB, North Carolina;
- Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina;
- Shaw AFB, South Carolina;
- Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas;
- Travis AFB, California;
- Tyndall AFB, Florida;
- Whiteman AFB, Missouri;
- Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio;
[edit] Asia
- Kunsan AB, South Korea
- Kadena AB, Okinawa, Japan
- Misawa AB, Japan
- Osan AB, South Korea
- Yokota AB, Japan
[edit] Middle east
- Al Karj, Saudi Arabia;
- Al Udeid, Qatar
[edit] Europe
- Araxos, Greece;
- Aviano AB, Italy;
- Incirlik, Turkey;
- Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland;
- Ramstein AB, Germany;
- RAF Welford, England;
- RAF Lakenheath, England;
- RAF Mildenhall, England;
- Rhein-Main AB, Germany;
- Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany;
