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Roles in the Corps: Aviation Ordnance

Galvez: My name is Jorge Galvez. I'm a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps. I'm a 6531 Aviation Ordnance Technician. I work on the AV-8B Harrier. The Harrier is what's called a jump jet. It can go from perfect flight to a 90-degree hover within a few seconds. Our unit fits into the bigger picture of Marine Corps' mission by being able to move expeditiously and support Marines on the ground. A day in the life of an ordnanceman would be whatever the flight schedule entails. It can be loading 500- to 1000-pound bombs so the pilot can go fly. An ordnance Marine, not only do we work with the weapons systems, but we do some maintenance on the aircraft. My job when I first started out, I was a team member. My job was pretty much to learn as much as I could as fast as I could to get to the position I am now. It is a pretty technical job. When you first check in, you are learning every day. You're reading all our publications, making sure you know what every weapon system is. A typical first assignment, it would depend on what kind of squadron you go to. If you go to a deployable squadron like I am, we would go on deployments, our pilots would get trained and we would get trained on using all different kinds of ordnance. As Marines, we are always training for combat. We are ready to go at a moment's notice to anywhere in the world. My most fulfilling accomplishment in the Marine Corps would be going out to Iraq. While I was in Iraq, I served as security for one of the bases there and kept the Marines on the base safe. I do get a great sense of pride from being a Marine and just being an ordnanceman, being able to know that I'm helping out other Marines throughout the world.