Having been an Aviation Ordnanceman, and having worked with Ordnance for my career I know that this stuff is
very unforgiving of any complacency or neglect during handling. The USS FORRESTAL, the USS ORISKANY, and the USS ENTERPRISE were lessons learned the hard way. Every safety regulation in the Navy's Ordnance Handling manual is written in blood. Someone had to die to get the message across. So for all of those who think ammo handling is a no brainer - THINK AGAIN!
The two types of ordnance I hated handling the most was Willie Pete (white phosphorus) and Thermite. I really wasn't fond of handling rockets either. Give me the good old GP bombs anyday.
We used to have a saying, "If you screw up during the handling or loading of ordnance, you get to become a pink mist!