Face of Defense: Ammo Tech Earns Inaugural Award

CAMP SCHWAB, Japan — An ammu­ni­tion tech­ni­cian with Ammu­ni­tion Com­pa­ny, 3rd Sup­ply Bat­tal­ion, Com­bat Logis­tics Reg­i­ment 35, 3rd Marine Logis­tics Group, 3rd Marine Expe­di­tionary Force, is the first Marine select­ed to receive the Marine Corps Ammu­ni­tion Tech­ni­cian of the Year Award.

Marine Corps Lance Cor­po­ral Brent A. Smith goes through ammu­ni­tion clips to ensure they all have the same and cor­rect num­ber of rounds, Aug. 9, 2010. Smith is the first Marine to be named Marine Corps Ammu­ni­tion Tech­ni­cian of the Year. U.S. Marine Corps pho­to by Lance Cpl. Ken­tavist P. Brackin Click to enlarge

“I was kind of shocked real­ly when I heard I was receiv­ing this award,” Lance Cpl. Brent A. Smith said. “I kind of felt like I was up there with ‘Chesty’ Puller.” The late Lt. Gen. Lewis Bur­well “Chesty” Puller was a com­bat vet­er­an of World War II and the Kore­an War, and the most-dec­o­rat­ed U.S. Marine in history. 

The Ammu­ni­tion Tech­ni­cian of the Year Award is designed to rec­og­nize Marine Corps ammu­ni­tion tech­ni­cians, pri­vate through sergeant, who have set them­selves apart from the rest of their peers through hard work, ded­i­ca­tion and sound deci­sion mak­ing, offi­cials said. 

“It is a great hon­or to have an ammo tech from 3rd Sup­ply Bat­tal­ion rep­re­sent the com­pa­ny here on Oki­nawa,” said Marine Corps Chief War­rant Offi­cer 2 Christo­pher Deer­ing, offi­cer in charge of Ammu­ni­tion Com­pa­ny, who rec­om­mend­ed Smith for the award.

Smith works with sev­er­al oth­er ammu­ni­tion tech­ni­cian Marines to issue ammo to units across Oki­nawa, giv­ing out any­where from 50,000 to 100,000 rounds of var­i­ous types of ammu­ni­tion in a day. 

“Ammu­ni­tion tech­ni­cians seem to be over­looked some­times,” Smith said. “No one notices when their ammu­ni­tion is deliv­ered on time, but they sure notice when they are on the gun line and there is noth­ing to put down­range. You can go a few days with­out food, maybe a cou­ple of days with­out water, but you would­n’t last a minute with­out ammunition.” 

Deer­ing said the new award is good for the ammu­ni­tion com­mu­ni­ty in the Marine Corps. “I am excit­ed to see how this award will trans­form our com­mu­ni­ty in the future,” he said. “It is a great pro­gram, and I think that through recog­ni­tion, Marines may become more com­pet­i­tive. We all like brag­ging rights.” 

Smith said he’s proud to be the first Marine to receive the award. “I know that I have set the bar for myself and for oth­er Marines who push for this award in the future,” he said. 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs) 

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