Air Force Warrant Officers?

O

OldAFRet

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Woke up way too early and stumbled across an interesting read on Air Force and Warrant Officers.

CW04 James Long was the answer to one of those Air Force knowledge questions we had to be able to answer in boot camp years ago. But why was he the last USAF Warrant Officer on active duty at the time?

Today's AF claims a shortage of pilots and some other officer specialties. I guess 10 years is a bit much to ask in return for getting trained to fly fighters.

In the enlisted ranks, IT people are in short demand. "SrA Brown, you should really reenlist instead of getting out and quadrupling your pay as an Cyber Security person".

From what I can gather, the USAF, to this day, is authorized to use Warrant Officers, but simply chooses to not do so.

Would it help to bring the program back? Warrant Officers and Limited Duty Officers seem to work out really well for the Marine Corps.
 
Excellent well thought out article IMO. In my MOS I always had either a WO or LDO as our OIC the entire time I was in. I think the program is excellent. It fills a void and provides a service that is not the norm but can be filled by high achievers In the fleet. It also provides opportunities that would not otherwise exist. Those of us that came from very little and did not have the opportunity or support to go college, this provides a route to advance once you are on solid ground. I think the AF would benefit if they had a WO / LDO program. I know everything is on the internet now but back when I went in I had no idea anyone who was serving went to college. Huge eye opener that really served as motivation for me to better myself and pursue a good career. College or the academies is not for everyone. We have a mission to accomplish and there is a lot of ways to accomplish it. Improvise, adapt and overcome.
 
The article presents an interesting concept. To work, it would require several major changes--new aircraft, new training, and new organization. That is a big ask of a large bureaucracy.

It also doesn't address why the AF went away from Warrants to begin with--authority/expertise in leadership (AAF leaders were sick and tired of trying to fight an air war while being led by people who still thought like horse cavalry officers) and that the number of Warrant Officers impacts how many Commissioned Officer positions the service can have.

Also, the larger part of the pilot shortage is in experienced pilots--which flooding the service with young co-pilots who are likely to leave in 5yrs really doesn't help.
 
OldAFRet said:
Today's AF claims a shortage of pilots and some other officer specialties. I guess 10 years is a bit much to ask in return for getting trained to fly fighters.
Click to expand...
They are currently training to capacity and have been for some time. Pilot RETENTION is a huge issue. The faucet filling the bathtub continues to be on full blast, maybe they need to fix the plus so that the water level can rise a bit.
 
OldRetSWO said:
They are currently training to capacity and have been for some time. Pilot RETENTION is a huge issue. The faucet filling the bathtub continues to be on full blast, maybe they need to fix the plus so that the water level can rise a bit.
Click to expand...
I think a significant part of the retention problems the military has are related to the need to promote one to his or her highest level of incompetence.

I met plenty of senior NCOs who were undoubtedly the finest technicians, mechanics, corpsmen, etc. who were pitiful as leaders. And I knew plenty of pilots who wanted to fly, rather than command a comm group. Same thing with engineers - my last OIC was an Academy grad, a brilliant software engineer, who got out when his commitment was up because he didn't want to be (what he called) an administrator.

I did a little flying here and there to pick up packages once upon a time. One of my pilots was a LTC on his last mission before retirement. Said he turned down COL because it would have taken him out of the cockpit. Nothing wrong with being 43 and drawing half of LTC (or even MAJ) pay for life.

Warrant Officers and LDOs don't put up with those hassles and can have career advancement doing what they do best.

I think I found the plug!
 
I can likely get in trouble with The Corps for saying this but the Army got the Warrant officer Pilot thing right IMO. Wish the Marines did it that way but they too phased out pilot WO and enlisted. I still think there is the need for commissioned pilots but the WO billet fills a void.
 
Hogs, Phrogs and Snakes!
🚁
Sorry, failed to look at forum and thread title, found the closest rabbit hole and dived in, thread trailing behind me in the wake.
 
I remembered this from when I was a kid. My father had one of the last AF WO's work for him in the hospital at RAF Lakenheath in the 1960's. I remember attending his retirement party.

This is what was written, some time ago, about the reason the WO's went away in the AF. It's what I was taught at The Zoo.

The In-Betweeners | Air & Space Forces Magazine

Warrant officers rated a salute, were called "Mister," and were difficult to categorize.
www.airforcemag.com www.airforcemag.com
 
flieger83 said:
I remembered this from when I was a kid. My father had one of the last AF WO's work for him in the hospital at RAF Lakenheath in the 1960's. I remember attending his retirement party.

This is what was written, some time ago, about the reason the WO's went away in the AF. It's what I was taught at The Zoo.

The In-Betweeners | Air & Space Forces Magazine

Warrant officers rated a salute, were called "Mister," and were difficult to categorize.
www.airforcemag.com www.airforcemag.com
Click to expand...
Good article, but I don't know that the first paragraph is correct. A fellow TSgt went from computer programmer to PA school around 91-92, and came out a 2LT.

Anyway, it is a good bit of historical perspective, and proof a government organization can gum anything up. I don't care for how the author, IMHO, marginalizes Warrant Officers. We've got plenty of them in my little corner of the USMC and they are the finest. Yes, all former NCOs who would probably have gotten out (and doubled their salaries) were it not for this path to continued advancement.
 
I'm loving this thread it's like an online WO history course. I have to admit I have always been very interested in warrant officers as they seem to be this mythical creature. Not a lot of people get to see them or interact with them. But when you find that small area they work in there is usually more than one floating around. I am a big supporter of the program. If you really want to go down a rabbit hole look up USMC Warrant officer Gunner. Small Arms specialist in The Corps, I saw only one the entire time I was in.
 
I attribute the strong foundational training I received at my first Navy duty station to my two fellow Division Officers, the CWO4 former Bosun who was the Harbormaster and the CWO4 former Hull Tech who was the Repair Officer at Port Services, NAVSTA Rota. They were both technical wizards and superb leaders, running a busy home port and keeping a mini-fleet of tugboats, LCMs, the other small boats, the yard crane, the pierside rolling gear, up and running. They taught me how to look after my people, set standards, be consistent and make tough decisions when required. I often mentioned them throughout my career as the two greatest influences in my first tour, learning how to be a division officer - all the stuff that’s not in books. They were intelligent, gifted leaders and respected technical experts who each excelled in their particular lane. They didn’t give a flying patootie where they stood in the wardroom hierarchy. I also had a Limited Duty Officer (LDO) former Bosun as my department head, and 4 Master Chief Unlimited Tonnage Harbor Pilots in the adjacent office, plus the 4 Chief/Senior Chief Tugmasters who worked for me - I was literally surrounded by the best team of ensign-trainers you could imagine. Later on in my career, I had several CWOs and LDOs work for me as dept heads and div o’s at a large SIMA (intermediate ship repair and maintenance activity) - again the leadership and technical expertise. I can’t imagine the Navy without them.

Of course, this is anecdotal, but I am always happy to recall the “upbringing” I had as an ensign. Those two CWO4s taught me how to respect and appreciate my enlisted people, and how to build a two-way bridge that allowed officers and enlisted to work together as a team, each with their role.
 
Old Enlisted Marine said:
I'm loving this thread it's like an online WO history course. I have to admit I have always been very interested in warrant officers as they seem to be this mythical creature. Not a lot of people get to see them or interact with them. But when you find that small area they work in there is usually more than one floating around. I am a big supporter of the program. If you really want to go down a rabbit hole look up USMC Warrant officer Gunner. Small Arms specialist in The Corps, I saw only one the entire time I was in.
Click to expand...
I guess I've been lucky? 9 years in NATO, 4 years in NORAD, and now as an honorary Marine (worked for the Corps as long as I was in the USAF), I've seen no shortage of WOs. Not just flight officers, but in cyber security too. Think about it - I just started a former SSgt with a TS and a CISSP at $92K. Had he been eligible for WO school, he'd have remained on AD (maybe).
 
I'll be the first to say I'd never seen any other WO's other than Army until I went off to Desert Shield.

Then one day, we had a mass (think 12 O'Clock high) mission briefing; we were going to practice what we'd do if we went over the border.

In my briefing, the main topic was the Iraqi IAD's (integrated air defenses). They were pretty ugly. They brought in an EXPERT on AAA, SAMs, radar systems, and how they were integrated into a lethal killing zone. The briefer was a CWO5 from Army Air Defense Artillery. In 10 seconds he had several hundred pilots riveted to his presentation.

After that, I was able to work with many CWO's on joint things. Each was an absolute expert in their field. And then I began to ask "why don't we have experts like this?" Well, we did/do but they're all commissioned officers. And as they become more senior, they leave the field to get that Pentagon Cookie, or go to advanced PME, etc... And then I pictured a large briefing of 25-35 year old cocky, "ain't nobody better than us/me", AF fighter pilots being told "your combat intel briefer for this mission is a true expert in their field...let me introduce master sergeant XXX" and the reaction would be, sadly, "huh, some sergeant knows more than I do about this? Really? Huh..." and they'd probably not listen as they should. Biased? Prejudiced? Yes, but mostly just ignorant.

But bring in a CWO, male or female doesn't matter, and explain "CWO YYY has over XX years of expertise in this weapon system, writes training programs, trains hundreds of aviators each year, has developed, etc...etc..." and they'll be just like I was: riveted.

Maybe someday the USAF will figure it out. Of course, I also think maybe someday they'll be like the AF reserve with pilots and let them stay in the cockpit their entire career and still make O-5, keeping that expertise where we need it most. We have an O-5 A-10 AFRC pilot that just went over 7,000 hours in the aircraft! He's in his 34th year of service. He's forgotten more about flying the A-10 in combat than most pilots have learned. Maybe the USAF will figure it out and have a culture shift?

Of course, I still believe in the tooth fairy.
 
That’s it exactly - that deep and broad knowledge of one particular area rooted in hands-on experience and linked with advanced leadership skills, and the years to back it up. Unique.

I forgot to mention those two CWO4s in Rota, when the port wasn’t busy with ships coming in/out of the Med, taught me to drive everything: tugboats, mike boats, forklifts, the big stake trucks, even operate the Yard crane when the boss was up at main base and go up the pilot’s ladder to a ship outside the harbor, as well as crawl around engine rooms and listen to my people tell me what was going on. This quiet tutelage went a long way toward getting me accepted as one of the first female officers in non-traditional roles as a step toward women going to sea/operational/combatant roles in the coming years, as well as helping me understand what the first female boatswain’s mates, quartermasters, etc., were learning. The funniest thing was getting me trained up to come up as “Rota Control” on the radio as ships came in, to set up the meet-up with the Harbor Pilot. There would be dead silence as the ship digested the fact they had just heard a woman’s voice. Even funnier when I occasionally took the helm of the boat delivering the harbor pilot and scooching it carefully up alongside - never fear, I always had a BM1 (E-6 Boatswain’s Mate and small boat expert) right there with me. Ahh. The joys of being an ensign. Those two CWO4s - best ever.
 
Capt MJ said:
Of course, this is anecdotal, but I am always happy to recall the “upbringing” I had as an ensign. Those two CWO4s taught me how to respect and appreciate my enlisted people, and how to build a two-way bridge that allowed officers and enlisted to work together as a team, each with their role.
Click to expand...
I had the same luck when two CWO4s saw something in me and took me under their wing as a ship’s company aviator nugget. They were technically and mechanically brilliant. They were characters to boot. I crawled through all the spaces stem to stern with the CWO4 Fire Marshall. It made me a better 1 Hotel (hangar deck) repair party leader. The CWO4 Fuels Bosun educated me on the human nature of sailors and the contractors that would come aboard selling various cleansers and paint. He really cared about the Navy not getting ripped off. I also remember him running the PRT (it had just been implemented around that time frame) on the flight deck smoking a cigar...
 
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