IYAOYAS stands for “If You Ain’t Ordnance, You Ain’t Shit.” It’s the long-standing, unofficial motto of the U.S. Navy Aviation Ordnanceman (AO) rating, worn with pride on squadron gear throughout the aviation ordnance community.
What Does IYAOYAS Stand For?
You’ll see the motto “If You Ain’t Ordnance, You Ain’t Shit” written two ways in the fleet: IYAOYAS and IYAAYAS. Both have correct spelling, and the IYAOYAS meaning stays the same either way. They’re just two versions that have stuck through the years.
The IYAOYAS acronym shows up everywhere in the AO community: challenge coins, belt buckles, patches, stickers, and other AO gear. It’s less an official Navy slogan than a badge the community wears for itself, similar to how other ratings have their own informal mottos and inside language.
What Is a Navy Aviation Ordnanceman (AO)?
Aviation Ordnanceman (AO) is a U.S. Navy enlisted rating responsible for handling, assembling, loading, and maintaining aircraft weapons and ammunition. AOs work with everything from small arms and 20mm cannon rounds to bombs, rockets, torpedoes, and guided missiles, servicing the release and launching systems that get those weapons onto aircraft.
The work happens both ashore and at sea. On carrier flight decks, AOs move live ordnance across a pitching, crowded deck while jet engines run, catapults fire, and aircraft land, all at once. It’s widely regarded as one of the more physically demanding and hazardous jobs on the ship.
Flight deck personnel wear color-coded jerseys so their role is identifiable at a glance in a loud, fast-moving environment. AOs wear red, the same color worn by crash and salvage crews and explosive ordnance disposal personnel, marking them as handling ordnance and other high-risk duties.
“Ordie” is the common informal term for an Aviation Ordnanceman used within the rating.
Where Does the IYAOYAS Motto Come From?
The exact origin of the IYAOYAS motto isn’t something we can pin down to a documented date or source. What’s better established is how it’s used today – it’s a living part of AO culture, passed down and worn by squadrons and individual Sailors marking their time in the rating.
Whatever its exact origins, the motto has become a shorthand the AO community uses to express pride in a demanding, high-stakes job, one that outlasts any single Sailor who’s carried it.
Why AOs Put IYAOYAS on Coins and Buckles
Challenge coins and belt buckles are two of the most common ways AOs carry their rating’s identity with them.
A coin fits in a pocket and travels with a Sailor from command to command, part of the same coining tradition as other Navy challenge coins. Squadron cruise coins, shop coins, and retirement pieces are common occasions.
For those who like to make a statement, IYAOYAS belt buckles let AOs wear the motto as part of their everyday gear, in style.
Both formats give the community room to lean into the motto directly, whether that’s spelling it out in full or building a design around imagery associated with ordnance and the rating’s culture.
For AOs, a coin or buckle carrying the motto puts their hard-earned identity into something physical. Beyond the IYAOYAS phrase, AO identity shows up in plenty of custom AO designs challenge coins.
About This IYAOYAS Challenge Coin
This IYAOYAS coin was designed for Chapter 68 of the Aviation Ordnanceman community. The goal was a design that felt unmistakably ordnance: bold, colorful, and instantly recognizable to anyone in the AO world.
The front features a winged skull with flames rising behind it, rendered in red, orange, and yellow enamel with a bare, snarling skull at the center. The chapter number, 68, is worked directly into the skull’s forehead. Metallic wings extend from either side of the skull, framing the design.
The result is a graphic, high-energy coin built specifically around this chapter’s identity, rather than a design built around a fixed set of standard symbols.
Design a Custom IYAOYAS Coin or Buckle
Shops, squadrons, and chapters come to us for a coin or buckle that reflects their AO identity. If you’re looking for a design that’s uniquely yours, we can build it from a sketch, an idea, or reference images.
- Free professional artwork
- Unlimited design revisions
- Free shipping within the continental U.S.
- Veteran-owned and operated
- 50-piece minimum for coins, 25-piece minimum for belt buckles
Tell us about your concept, and request free coin artwork to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does IYAOYAS stand for?
IYAOYAS stands for “If You Ain’t Ordnance, You Ain’t Shit,” the motto of the U.S. Navy Aviation Ordnanceman (AO) rating.
Is it spelled IYAOYAS or IYAAYAS?
Both spellings are used in the fleet. Neither is a misspelling of the other; you’ll see both IYAOYAS and IYAAYAS on gear and in everyday use among AOs.
What does AO mean in the Navy?
AO is the abbreviation for Aviation Ordnanceman, the Navy enlisted rating in charge of weapons and ammunition carried aboard Navy aircraft.
What does a Navy Aviation Ordnanceman do?
Aviation Ordnancemen store, assemble, load, and maintain weapons and ammunition for Navy aircraft, including bombs, missiles, rockets, and guns, both ashore and aboard carriers.
Why do Aviation Ordnancemen wear red on the flight deck?
Red marks ordnance handlers on the flight deck, the same color worn by crash and salvage crews and EOD personnel, so roles are identifiable at a glance in a chaotic environment.
Is IYAOYAS an official Navy motto?
No. IYAOYAS is not an official Navy slogan; it’s an informal motto the Aviation Ordnanceman community has adopted and worn with pride for generations.
What is an “Ordie”?
“Ordie” is a nickname used by and for Aviation Ordnancemen throughout the rating.
What goes on an IYAOYAS challenge coin?
Designs commonly include the IYAOYAS motto itself, AO-related imagery like ordnance or skulls, squadron or chapter identifiers, and other symbols meaningful to the group commissioning it.
Do you make IYAOYAS belt buckles as well as coins?
Yes. We design both custom IYAOYAS challenge coins and custom belt buckles, built around your own concept or reference images.
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