  The covariant quantization of QED and QCD requires the introduction of
subsidiary gauge-fixing and ghost fields and it is crucial to understand the
role of these in the energy-momentum tensor, and in the momentum and angular
momentum operators. These issues were studied in \cite{Leader:2011za}, and key
results from this study were utilized in the major review of angular momentum
in \cite{Leader:2013jra}. Damski \cite{Damski:2021feu} has rightly criticized
as incorrect the derivation of certain equations in \cite{Leader:2011za}. We
show, however, that the key results of \cite{Leader:2011za} which are utilized
in \cite{Leader:2013jra} are unaffected by Damski's criticism.
