89 Ammunition

MOS 89 refers to the Ammunition career field in the United States Army. This field is crucial to the unity of effort in most operational areas. It is comprised of three military occupational specialties—89A, 89B, and 89D.

• 89A, Stock Control and Accounting Specialist: Operates the Standard Army Ammunition System (SAAS) computer hardware and software and/or utilities manual records to perform stock control and accounting procedures.
• 89B, Ammunition Specialists: Used in ammunition support functions in units Army-wide. Soldiers provide the required type and quantity of ammunition to the combat user at the time and location it is needed. Duties involve providing logistical support in the brigade support battalion and ammunition supply point (ASP).
• 89D, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Soldiers: Locate, identify, render safe, and dispose of foreign and domestic conventional, biological, chemical, nuclear ordnance, improvised explosive devices (IED); weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and large vehicle borne improvised explosive devices (LVBIED); conduct intelligence gathering operations of first seen foreign ordnance; support VIP missions for the U.S. Secret Service, State Department and other Federal agencies.

These soldiers handle, store, and dispose of ammunition and weapons which are classified as “ordnance.” Munitions operations are a function of the Ordnance Corps, executed under the logistics element of the sustainment warfighting function. Soldiers logistics planning, requirements determination, retrograde, transportation, storage, inspecting explosives safety, segregate, handling HAZMAT for ammunition. They also perform maintenance modifications, destruction and demilitarization on ammunition and explosive components.

Non-commissioned officers (NCOs) in this field are required to lead Soldiers and give proper training to enhance their knowledge of ammunition and EOD operations. NCOs must be tactically and technically proficient in combat operations at all levels.