Free Sample
The Complete Guide to Becoming A First-Line Supervisor of Weapons Specialists/Crew Member
What you'll really do, what you'll really earn, and how to know if this high-stakes leadership role is the right fit for you
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: What Does a First-Line Supervisor of Weapons Specialists/Crew Member Actually Do?
Let's start by clearing away the image you probably have in your head. You're thinking of a scene from a movie: an officer on a flight deck, wind whipping, shouting commands over the roar of jet engines while a crew scrambles to load missiles onto an aircraft. Or maybe you're picturing a gunnery sergeant on a range, barking orders at a line of Marines. There are moments like that in this job. But they are not the whole job. In fact, they're maybe twenty percent of it.
The other eighty percent is what you need to understand before you decide if this is the career for you. A first-line supervisor of weapons specialists and crew members is, at its core, a middle-management position with a very dangerous twist. You are the person who makes sure that a team of highly trained technicians—people who handle explosives, operate complex weapon systems, and maintain gun mounts, missile launchers, torpedoes, or ammunition handling equipment—does their job safely, correctly, and on time. You are not the person who does the technical work yourself anymore. That's the first thing you need to accept.
Your job is to lead the people who do the work. And that means you live in a world of checklists, safety briefs, schedules, and personnel problems. You are the first person your crew comes to when something breaks, when someone messes up, when there's a disagreement, or when a