I was a 2311 both in the marine Corp and then the Army. In the Marine Corp we would supervise loading the Ammo aboard ship for the floating Battalions. Every 6 months the Marine combat units would rotate and we would Supervise loading the ship with Ammo. I was a L/Cpl. .We wore Armbands that said Ammo Tech. and we were responsible to the ships Captain to see that the Ammo was stored correctly The Units provided the working party to load the Ammo. Rank didn't mean anything then. Even if the working party had a2nd. Lt. in charge he did what we told them on how to load the ammo. Safely. In the Army in Vietnam the infantry loved the 2311,s because they came to us to load up on ammo and sometimes it was an emergency. The Ammo dump was like a Magnet to the VC. They liked to blow them up or sneak around at night to see if they find the weak points .We had our ammo Dump blown up at Quihnon. and more than once at night tracer were flying overhead and flares were lighting the sky. I always thought Ammo. Techs were appreciated. You can always fight without food or water but you must have Ammo.

When i was in, I felt appreciated as the go-to guy for ammo in the using unit. The trainers were always happy to see me pull up with the truck full of 5.56 and 7.62, but i was definitely annoyed by the civilian-run ASP, although I understood why they had their rules.