Posted on Apr 5, 2021
CW2 Information Systems Chief
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Can a Warrant Officer transition between components seamlessly? Is it even a thing? Has anyone here on RallyPoint done it?

Navy -> Army
Army -> Navy
Any -> Marine Corps
Posted in these groups: Warrant officers logo Warrant Officers22px us army wo1.svg WO122px us army cw2.svg CW222px us army cw3.svg CW322px us army cw4.svg CW4
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CSM Darieus ZaGara
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Warrants are not all equal between services.
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CW2 Information Systems Chief
CW2 (Join to see)
>1 y
Your statement is too vague. Not equal how? Skills? Experience? On average? My response is regarding skill level. Be more specific for a more specific response.
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CW2 Information Systems Chief
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>1 y
CSM Darieus ZaGara - I have been in the Navy, Air Force and Army as Enlisted and Warrant Officer. If you never have and would never want to transition between services, how are you qualified to make the statement and what would make you want to join the discussion?
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CSM Darieus ZaGara
CSM Darieus ZaGara
>1 y
my response reflected what I was looking to say. As I am sure yours did for you. CW2 (Join to see)
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CSM Darieus ZaGara
CSM Darieus ZaGara
>1 y
My response was as specific as I saw necessary. I hope you have a nice day. CW2 (Join to see)
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SSG Intelligence Analyst
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No. You will need a conditional release from the respective branch and be accepted into in the same rank/MOS
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CW2 Information Systems Chief
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>1 y
Conditional releases are not usually a big deal.
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SSG Intelligence Analyst
SSG (Join to see)
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They actually are. Branches don’t like to just give up peopleCW2 (Join to see)
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Lt Col Timothy Cassidy-Curtis
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Probably not seamlessly. The question will be "what does the service, into which I want to go, need?" Then the offer will be something like "I am a WO [X], what would you like to do with that?"

One last thing to know: The Air Force (and the Space Force) does Not have any WO's. My career goes back far enough, I had the privilege of meeting one of the last AF WO's (at Edwards AFB).
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CW2 Information Systems Chief
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MAJ Ronnie Reams - Wow! great details!
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Lt Col Timothy Cassidy-Curtis
Lt Col Timothy Cassidy-Curtis
>1 y
From Wikipedia: The United States Air Force no longer uses the warrant officer grade. The USAF inherited warrant officer ranks from the Army at its inception in 1947, but their place in the Air Force structure was never made clear. When Congress authorized the creation of two new senior enlisted ranks in each of the five services in 1958 (implementing them in 1959–1960), Air Force officials privately concluded that these two new "super grades" of senior master sergeant and chief master sergeant (styling the incumbents as "superintendents" vice senior or staff NCOICs as does the USA and USMC) could fill all Air Force needs then performed at the warrant officer level. This was not publicly acknowledged until years later. The Air Force stopped appointing warrant officers in 1959.

~ Entry: Warrant_officer_(United_States) Subentry: Air_Force
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MAJ Ronnie Reams
MAJ Ronnie Reams
>1 y
Lt Col Timothy Cassidy-Curtis - yes, but those that were there were allowed to stay. Only Flight Officers now in USAF are in the CAP, too old to be cadets and too young to be senior members. The new super grades were not pilots AFAIK.
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CW3 Art Farash
CW3 Art Farash
4 y
I last saw an Air Force CWO in Germany on Reforger in 1979 who looked prettty old. Interesting that during my first enlistment which was in the USAF in what they now call Civil Engineering I worked for a CWO the whole time, and there were Warrants in the Building and Utilities and Fire Fighting Sections. My CWO was a local civilian working as a driver in the Transportation Squadron who married Gen Timberlakes daughter and guess what? Got a direct appointment to Warrant.
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Can a Warrant Officer transition between components seamlessly?
CW2 Legal Administrator
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One that i have seen was a marine enlisted who transition to army wo. He said it was a process but its possible.
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SSgt Christophe Murphy
SSgt Christophe Murphy
>1 y
CW2 (Join to see) - Marine Warrant Officers don't fly
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CW2 Information Systems Chief
CW2 (Join to see)
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SSgt Christophe Murphy - You know there are like 38 Warrant Officer MOS in the Army, right? I believe only one (153A) is an aviator.
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SSgt Christophe Murphy
SSgt Christophe Murphy
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CW2 (Join to see) - my Statement was "Marine Warrant Officers don't fly". The question is about transferring from one branch to another as a WO. An Aviation WO from the Army wouldn't be able to transfer to aviation in the Marine Corps unless they went through the traditional aviation pipeline that includes commissioning.
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CW2 Information Systems Chief
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SSgt Christophe Murphy - And the post is about Warrant Officers, not just aviators. We are talking about all the other MOSs.
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PO2 Gunner Cee
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Yes, Mr. Velado it is possible in certain circumstances (Reserve Component or Active Component) I have done it. I had transferred from the Navy Reserve to the ARNG as Enlisted. Picked up Warrant and after 10yrs in the Guard transferred back to the Navy Reserve as a Warrant Officer. Please review the specific services Inter-Service Transfer (IST) policies. Also identify the MOS / Designator manning levels. You can usually get this information from the community manager of the desired MOS / Designator. If you have any other questions I can reached at: [login to see]

R/

CWO4 Coker
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CW2 Information Systems Chief
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Now THAT is a great response! Thank you!
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CW2 UH-60 Pilot
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Edited 4 y ago
Yes... It can be done. I went from USAF enlisted to USA Warrant/Pilot and previously my Father went from USA enlisted to USAF Officer/Pilot! Everyone ... and I mean everyone told us both It'll never happen. They were WRONG!
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CW2 Frank Trinkle
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My roommate in WOC flight school tranferred to the Coast Guard after he was a CW2. Ended up retiring after flying Coast Guard Rescue as an O-5. The one major snag for those wanting to transfer is that there are no flying warrants in the other services and Commissioning requires a Bachelor's Degree, whereas the Army only requires a HS dipoma for Warrants. (Though further education is required for promotions beyond W-2.
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CW3 Kevin Storm
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That would depend on several things: the others services needs, requirements of the career field, service requirements (The Navy WO's start off as W-2's as they can't apply until they are E-7's).
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CW2 Information Systems Chief
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4 y
I think they actually have Cyber WO1s.
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SSgt Christophe Murphy
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The Marine Corps has very specific criteria for Warrant Officers. You wouldn't be able to cross over from another branch and pick up in the Marine Corps as a CWO-3. Marine Warrant Officers operate as subject matter experts with TIS/TIG requirements just to apply. I believe the Navy is similar but somebody from that arena will need to verify to be sure.
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CW2 Information Systems Chief
CW2 (Join to see)
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I think you are applying the enlisted service transfer logic. It is well known that any service to Marine Corps is like swimming up stream, but I don't think this logic 100% applies. A CW3 255N Network Engineer in the Army is the equivalent of their counterpart in the Marine Corps in terms of subject matter expertise. I work with a retired Marine Corps CWO3 who works at Cisco that can attest.
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SSgt Christophe Murphy
SSgt Christophe Murphy
>1 y
feel free to research it but it would be the first time I have heard of it happening. You don't join the Marine Corps as a WO. They are grown from within. I have seen it where a prior enlisted Solider later joined the Marine Corps and became a WO once they met the eligibility criteria. But I have never seen nor heard of where someone joined and entered as a WO.

https://work.chron.com/become-warrant-officer-marine-corps-9592.html
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SSgt Christophe Murphy
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MAJ Ronnie Reams
MAJ Ronnie Reams
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AFAIK, USMC never had WO Naval Aviators, the non-commissioned officer Aviators were Sergeants. The Navy had CPOs.
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CW3 Battalion Maintenance Officer (Bmo)
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It is rare since every component doesn't have warrant officers and the ones that do have their own schools but it can be done.
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CW3 Art Farash
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I knew several who were NCOs from other services before becoming Warrant Officers. At least 2 former Marines.
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