Do you feel lucky? I do! I get to wear a red shirt, build, strap and pack ordnance onto the most sophisticated weapons delivery vehicles in the United States military. I got trained in Pensacola, Florida and for nine weeks among the cool tropical breezes and palm trees, joined a brotherhood called IYAOYAS, hung out with Aviation Boatswain’s Mates (aka Deck Apes) and got to play with high explosives. We Deliver Warheads On Foreheads and that means using sophisticated weapons to deliver explosive payloads right onto a terrorist or enemy. Talk about fun and whats even better I get to call it my rate and job in the United States Navy! Wow!
No I am Not An Oiler
Yeah the hull classification for a United States oiler is AO and yes the NFL once had a Houston Oilers team none of which has anything to do with the present state of affairs in the US Navy. An AO is simply put an Aviation Ordnanceman or AO and I am proud to call myself one.
You know all those cool videos on YouTube where you see some missile with a nosecam lining up to take out a tank, armored assault vehicle or streaming across the sky on its way to take out an enemy aircraft? Well I’m the red shirt that placed that hurling fireball under the wing of that aircraft that detonated within feet of that unlucky son of a bitch that flew against my naval aviator.
I get to work with what? On the wings of a bird!
Bombs. Big small, fast and slower. Smart and dumb. They are all my tools and they are mine. I get to build them and then I set them free on some unsuspecting enemy by way of my aircraft’s aviator. Aerial mines, rockets, torpedoes are the tools of my trade while I get to service bomb, missile, and rocket releasing and launching devices, and service aircraft guns. Fun for the entire family. Gunner’s Mates make movies, Ordies make history!
IYAOYAS
We all know from having served that the US Military loves its acronyms and it certainly can and does make life easier when there is so much jaw boning about the same shit all the time. So we made it easier to say the same stuff but use less talking to get there. SOL, FOB, OPSEC, ATFU, CONUS and even FPO make the list of stars we use almost daily. But, we get a special one for just us AO types and that is IYAOYAS.
IYAOYAS means a lot of things. It means that above all, the person beside you is a friend and brother. Stemming from its roots in the United States NAVY Aviation Ordnance community, this alliance was founded by 3809940TAA of Energomash, a once and former ordnanceman.
Warheads On Foreheads
Not the megadeth version but the US Navy and US military version. Yeah being part of a thrash metal band sounds like fun as hell but working with the best in the US Navy and building weapons is just my cup of explosive tea.
So after listening to our thousands of United States Navy active duty personnel, the US Navy Veterans that patrol our Vision Strike Coins Facebook page we listened to them. The AO’s wanted challenge coin designs that had the same kick ass attitude that these men and women in red also displayed. We heard them and we designed for them and for you and the following designs were built with you in mind.
On April 25th we honored the birthday of AO’s with their IYAOYAS Aviation Ordnancemen challenge coins.
