Hi Eddy, I was in this situation a few years back. I had just started in Flt Ops with a company which had Loadmasters on it's aircraft and I decided that was the job for me.
I looked into joining the RAF as Airman/Aircrew (now Crewman) and specialising as an Air Loadmaster which required signing up for 12 years service. I had 2 interviews in London and 1 at Cranwell with some aptitude tests and was offered a place. My company then offered to train me as a Loadmaster so I took the civilian option as I guessed I'd end up in the same position, looking for a civilian job, in 12 years after the RAF.
I went Flt Ops - Loadplanning - Air Loadmaster in about 2 years, by being persistant and putting in lots of time and effort. Obviously I was in an ideal place, a company with Loadmasters, but the flying jobs I had after that were down to "right place, right time" and a lot of putting myself out there and getting to know people.
Most Loadmasters come from either a ramp background or dispatch background. This is because as a Loadmaster on a turnaround you need to know the jobs of 5 or 6 people on the ground such as load planning, weight and balance, loading, DGR, radioactives, fuelling etc. And when it all goes to rat sh1t, and the handling agent gives up, you are the on they look to to get it sorted.
Yes, I've been on the aircraft for days on end and not seen a hotel, have slept on a jumpseat as deadhead crew have nicked the bunks, flown on the jumpseat for 12 hours, loaded infinate amounts of stinking fish and spent 9 hours standing in Rhino cr@p, but I've still love it.