01 / Occupational profile
Your 6591 occupational profile
Flight-line oversight and prior flight-line service
Common occupational factor
6591s periodically oversee flight-line loading and arming operations and typically served years in hands-on ordnance roles (6531/6541) before promotion, both involving flight-line engine noise.
Explosive-handler oversight and prior hands-on handling
Assignment-dependent
6591s remain subject to explosive-handler medical and certification requirements and oversee munitions operations, following years of direct ordnance handling earlier in their careers.
Supervisory responsibility for explosive-safety outcomes
Assignment-dependent
Senior ordnance Marines carry responsibility for the safety of personnel handling live munitions under their supervision.
02 / Your service
What did you actually do?
Your MOS is the starting point. Your actual assignment, era, equipment, location, and duties determine which parts of the occupational history are relevant. Use the Evidence Builder below to select your actual duties and see records that may corroborate them.
As senior enlisted Marines, 6591s assist the aviation ordnance officer in managing the ordnance section's daily planning, conduct, and execution, provide leadership, training, and mentorship in aviation ordnance matters, prepare orders, instructions, and safety precautions, and serve as staff action officers at MARFOR, MEF, Wing, or HQMC levels on aviation ordnance logistics and acquisition matters. While the billet is supervisory, Marines holding 6591 typically came up through flight-line ordnance loading and maintenance duties (6531/6541) over a career, and the earlier hands-on years often carry the heavier physical and noise exposure documented for this occupational field. Later-career 6591 duty may still include periodic flight-line oversight, safety inspections, and explosive-handler certification requirements.
6591 is a senior enlisted (GySgt–MGySgt) designator assigned upon promotion to Marines with an aviation ordnance background, typically following service as an Aircraft Ordnance Technician (6531/6541).
Duties that may vary by assignment
- Supervising ordnance section/division planning, conduct, and execution
- Leadership, training, and mentorship in aviation ordnance matters
- Preparing orders, instructions, and safety precautions for ordnance operations
- Serving as staff action officer on aviation ordnance logistics/acquisition matters
- Conducting or overseeing explosive-safety and quality-assurance inspections
- Periodic flight-line oversight of loading and arming operations
Private, on this page only
Military Occupational Evidence Builder
Based on what you actually did in the military, what records might document it? Select only what applied to you. No name, file number, contact details, free text, or upload. Nothing is saved or sent.
Military service
Marine Corps · 6591 Aviation Ordnance Chief
For another specialty, open its guide from the MOS library. A job code alone does not establish individual duties or exposure.
Era(s) of service
Deployments
Already have a VA decision?
Your Evidence Builder identifies records that may document your service history. If VA has already decided your claim, the next question is different: what did VA accept, what did VA reject, and why?
Request a free decision review03 / Corroboration
Building your occupational history
Records matter because they can connect a job title to an individual's actual work and circumstances.
Flight-line oversight and prior flight-line service
Records that may corroborate it
- · Hearing-conservation audiograms (DD 2215/2216) and DOEHRS-HC records across the full career
- · Prior assignment records as an Aircraft Ordnance Technician
- · Evaluations describing flight-line oversight duties as 6591
Limit: Career-long aviation ordnance service does not by itself establish a current hearing-loss or tinnitus diagnosis; audiometric evidence and a medical opinion are still required.
Explosive-handler oversight and prior hands-on handling
Records that may corroborate it
- · Explosive-handler certification records across the career
- · Mishap, incident, or safety investigation reports, if any occurred
- · Prior ordnance division assignment records
Limit: Routine oversight or prior handling does not by itself establish a specific blast-related injury; an in-service event and a current diagnosis are still required.
Supervisory responsibility for explosive-safety outcomes
Records that may corroborate it
- · Evaluations and performance records describing supervisory responsibilities
- · Mental health or sick call entries from the relevant period
Limit: Supervisory responsibility alone does not establish a mental-health diagnosis; a current diagnosis and a medical opinion are required.
04 / Evidence standard
What your MOS can — and cannot — establish
May help document
Work performed, circumstances of service, consistency of an alleged exposure, and the nature or duration of duties where supported by individual records.
Does not automatically establish
A diagnosis, medical causation, severity, percentage, presumption, or entitlement to service connection.
05 / Medical evidence
Conditions that may be relevant to the occupational history
This is not a list of conditions to claim. A veteran's actual diagnosis and individual service record determine relevance; occupational evidence is not medical causation.
Auditory +
Hearing loss and tinnitus
Why the occupation may matter: A career in aviation ordnance, including prior hands-on flight-line duty, routinely involves exposure to aircraft engine noise.
Records and clinical evidence: Audiometric records across your full career, a current diagnosis, and evidence tying the exposure to specific assignments.
Occupational history alone does not establish this diagnosis or its medical relationship to service.
Musculoskeletal +
Back and shoulder conditions
Why the occupation may matter: Many 6591s accumulated years of heavy ordnance-loading duty earlier in their careers before promotion to a supervisory role.
Records and clinical evidence: Sick call or physical therapy entries from earlier assignments, imaging, and a current orthopedic diagnosis.
Occupational history alone does not establish this diagnosis or its medical relationship to service.
06 / Exposure record
ILER and toxic exposure
For applicable exposure-related claims, VA may review the Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record (ILER) and a toxic exposure risk activity (TERA) memorandum along with deployment and occupational records. An ILER entry does not automatically establish exposure or service connection.
07 / After a decision
Why a 6591 claim may still be denied
An exposure finding is not the same as a grant. These are examples from the researched guide, not predictions about a particular case.
VA may accept
A duty or event consistent with the service record
But may deny
A diagnosis, medical relationship, or rating element
Record to examine
Decision findings, service and private treatment records, examination rationale, and medical opinions.
Senior title read as purely administrative
A denial may undercount physical and noise exposure if reviewers only look at the 6591 billet and not the Marine's earlier years as an Aircraft Ordnance Technician.
Exposure history fragmented across prior MOS codes
Because 6591 Marines typically held 6531/6541 earlier, claims benefit from pulling the full assignment history rather than only the final MOS.
Oakridge Claims / Appeals Focused
Already have a VA decision?
The important question is what VA accepted, what it rejected, and why. A decision review considers the decision, examinations, and the complete record — including private and VA records that may need development. Oakridge is appeals-focused — core work is post-decision, but initial and new claims are accepted on a case-by-case basis (no fee for pre-decision work).
Fees for eligible post-decision representation are governed by a written agreement. See fee details. No outcome is guaranteed.
6591 questions
Should I only document my time as a 6591, or my earlier ordnance assignments too?
Both. Most of the physical and noise exposure documented for aviation ordnance careers accrues during earlier hands-on loading and maintenance duty; your full OMPF assignment history is the more complete record.
Does the 6591 MOS by itself establish a nexus for a hearing or back condition?
No. The occupation describes typical duties and demands across a career; a current diagnosis and a medical opinion connecting it to service are still required.
Sources and legal references
General education only; not legal or medical advice. Oakridge Claims is a private business, not affiliated with or endorsed by VA. Nothing here establishes a representative-client relationship or guarantees a result. Free accredited VSO help is available.