Other services still have Warrant Officers.
They are usually in command of technical groups.
Some are even Helicopter pilots...................
I believe this doesn’t address the root failure of being anti white.
I’m a USAF veteran. The current USAF, and military in general, is a f’ing clown show. White men can’t be replaced.
https://www.palladiummag.com/2023/06/01/complex-systems-wont-survive-the-competence-crisis/
I worked with one WO in the AF weather service. But I don’t remember in 1962 what his background was before becoming a forecaster. NCO forecasters trained me after my university courses.
Larry
I remember as an NCO in 69, I was offered a chance to be an Army WO. Almost jumped on it until I figured out what they were gonna be used for.
Good move. They were good for the Army, as I remember.
Good move. They were good for the Army, as I remember.
I served with a couple of the remaining CWO’s while in the USAF. We called them “unicorns”.
To retain technical know-how and leadership capabilities, the services created the E8 and E9 ranks. The real problem is that law says an officer must have a college degree. Perhaps that should simply be removed as a barrier for qualified leaders and technical members.
Navy has both Warrants and LDOs (Limited Duty Officers)...I never really saw the need for both as they often seemed to overlap in their activities....at least my experience.
The people v. their masters.
On active duty I was in a critical AFSC and they wouldn't give me an OTS start date. In the reserves, I walked right into one in the first 30 days. IMO that pathway could have been a WO position.
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.
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?
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”.
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)
This might be a good career option for my 18 y/o grandson. He wants to elist in the AF, but is more interested in a technical path.
The military took a look at the millennials and gen z and said no freakin’ way.