Posted on 02/08/2024 6:55:11 AM PST by Loud Mime
Air Force officials are considering bringing back warrant officers and may start creating a training program this year, reversing a decision from 65 years ago when the service ended that grade, according to a planning document obtained by Military.com.
The three-page planning order says that "great power competition" -- Defense Department lingo for escalating defense spending and resources against adversaries such as China -- is underscoring the need to resurrect warrant officers, the corps of highly technical service members who are above the enlisted ranks but below the commissioned officer ranks.
(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...
I always saw the Army Warrant officers as being like a big apartment complex maintenance man.
No one is sure of what exactly they do all day but as long as things run smooth they are left alone and are a little outside of the system.
They’ll turn them into Soviet-Style Political Officers.
“Other services still have Warrant Officers.
They are usually in command of technical groups.”
Army recruiter in 1968 offered me a Warrant Officer program. All I had to do was pilot helicopters.
My response: Like the ones on the 6 O’clock news?
Recruiter: Yes
Me: Which way to the Navy recruiter!
“Other services still have Warrant Officers.
They are usually in command of technical groups.”
Army recruiter in 1968 offered me a Warrant Officer program. All I had to do was pilot helicopters.
My response: Like the ones on the 6 O’clock news?
Recruiter: Yes
Me: Which way to the Navy recruiter!
I’m a soon to be retired Army Aviator and Chief Warrant Officer Four. Every 5-10 years, the Air Force brings this up, then decides against it.
The problem lies in the pay difference between O grades and Warrants. The Army can offer Warrant Officer appointments to well-qualified technical expert NCOs, and it works. The Army also allows you to go straight from High School to basic to Warrant Officer Flight Training as a Warrant Officer. No other branch has the “high school to flight school” or “street to seat” option for Aviation. That’s where Warrant Officers come in.
The Navy did a limited trial run of Warrant Officers for rotary wing Aviators, but it was cancelled after only a year or so. This was back in 2007ish.
Time will tell if the Air Force will actually go through with it this time.
If the future of the AF is going to include lots of drones, wouldn’t WOs be handy for a lot of the work?
I thought they were more experts in technical and specialties.
My dad enlisted in the Army after Pearl Harbor. He filled administrative slots until he moved into the Judge Advocate Corp. He rose quickly to a Tech Sgt, much like our higher Specialist ranks today. He did so well in Europe he was the senior NCO and was awarded a Bronze Star and made Master Sargent. At the end of the war they told him that the Army would send him to Law School on their dime and when he graduated he could skip OTS and be made a Second Lt. While in school he would be a Warrant Officer.
He was engaged to my mom and wanted to return home as he was an only child to his folks. He turned it down but mentioned it a time or two as I worked with him and he wanted me to always be on the lookout for opportunity.
Outside of cost, reopening the rank is not a real improvement. According to military.com:
“It does not appear, per the document, that the new warrant officer program would be producing pilots.”
If that’s the case, then flooding the UMD’s with those ranks will be a problem for continuity as the warrant will not be able to fall back into the specialty program not related to the NCO force. And how many will be used for administration slots that could be filled by captain down and in some master up may be an overuse of the rank. If they have space, use the rank structure and promote to fill the slots rather than put it on hold by filling it with overqualified warrants from the outside. This would also assist retention losses with a chance at promotion, more bases selections, and more use of extended in place leadership troops adding experience to the mix.
wy69
The Air Force, in my opinion, being NOW under the control and manipulation of marxist anti-patriots, is doing nothing more than steering pay raises to so called “people of color”.
See my #24!
Army warrants are the backbone of helicopter operations. They are best at keeping junior officer pilots alive! At least thats the way it used to be,
I saw one of the last two in 1976 in the Comm Group building at McClellan AFB. I couldn't even process what I was seeing and didn't salute.
We were at Griffiss AFB when they did away with warrant officers. My dad, an O-4 fighter pilot at the time, said it was a mistake. I think he was right - the Army’s chopper pilots are WOs, and I think pilots in the AF should have the opportunity to stay in the cockpit if they don’t want to be on the command track. The only way to do that fairly is to make them WOs.
Colonel, USAF JAGC (Ret)
Don't freak-out about that, because Lajes Field was Portuguese Air Base #4 and USAF personnel maintained the base but had no aircraft assigned and the Navy had no watercraft but their co-located NAF had the only aircraft assigned, P3 Orions.
Also the Base Commander was a our USAF Brigadier General.
When I was in Air Force in the 60’s, I had a colleague warrant officer who was WW2 vet. He was a flight officer then but due to peculiar rules at the time as between regular and reserve officers. After the war, in order to stay on active duty he had to revert to WO rank while retaining reserve commission. Was able to retire as a Lt Col. Lots of situations like that for WW2 guys.
What law says an officer must have a degree? The Navy has non-degree officers.
Shoot, in the USAF, you probably won’t make E-9 without one. That’s an Air Force issues.
The USAF requires that you join the college degree cult. Since IQ generally goes down in college it explains a lot about the officer corps.
When I was in service, all of the USAF E8 and E9 ranks that were promoted had college degrees, often from the remote colleges that had a presence on base.
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