Should the Air Force bring back the "Buck Sergeant" and/or CWO?

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 19:52:20 -0500

With the draw-down creeping ever so closely now, leadership will start to retire and will have a limited leadership for the junior enlisted.  Unless there will be some kind of way to balance the chain-of -command, would a buck sergeant be a way out of this issue and/or a Chief Warrent Officer?

Response by SGT Thomas Sullivan made Nov 19 at 2013 3:29 PM

SGT Thomas Sullivan — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 15:29:55 -0500

Warrants are absolutely necessary in the Air Force in my opinion. They should never have got rid of them in the first place.

Response by SGT Thomas Sullivan made Nov 20 at 2013 1:18 AM

SGT Thomas Sullivan — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 01:18:48 -0500

Warrant officers are supposed to be subject matter experts, NCO's traditionally should be leading airman in their tasks and drills and basic understanding of their jobs. ie, look at the warrants in every other field, and youll understand what im talking about. This also give NCOs in the air force a chance to do what they love without having to pray for e7-9 (pray hard my little airman pray hard) or go warrant and rock the socks off your specialty, meanwhile, leaving the Commissioned officers to sign the paperwork.

Response by CW2 David Theriault made Nov 20 at 2013 6:13 PM

CW2 David Theriault — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 18:13:04 -0500

2 cents... from a Green and Blue perspective... US Army retired Chief Warrant Officer (Signal) Prior Service Air Force TSgt and SrA BTZ...  1. Buck Sergeant - Air Force version of the Corporal. NCO authority - SrA = a Specialist (all work - no leadership role) - Bring it back ...  When I made Buck Sergeant I was recognized by Superiors/everyone as a leader. 2. Warrant Officer - not a day in 8 years did I ever wish I was an NCO again. -
My daily concern was that my Commander was covered all the
Signal/Communications/COMSEC functions of my Ranger Battalion. He never
worried and I didn't let him. I was the Chief Technology Officer of the
unit. I made sure the technical /technologies ran, I worked with Vendor
Management, Contracting and served as the focal point for all technical
discussions with the Base (Post) Communications. - Air Force
made a big mistake taking away the set of individuals who daily were
neck deep in the technical aspects the job. The Air Force in the 60's
thought that by creating E8 amd E9 (SMSgt and CMSgt) that they would be
the technical experts on a daily basis. In my interactions in two wars
...  in both Army and Joint environments, I was more involved
technically than any Senior NCO of any branch. - Commander's came
to me BEFORE any Senior NCO and I was called to see the Task Force
Commander and BN Commander's. Very seldom did they go brief the "Boss"! Background:
The Air Force a little discussed population of long term SSgt and
TSgt"s. They do not wish to be managers or leaders. Just technies,
fixing planes, radios, fighting fires and solving crime. The Air Force
carries them to 20 and they punch out. They would be a good it to be
Warrant Officers. They can be techy all day long and not worry about
being promoted to MSgt and ending up as the Mobility NCO, Health and
Welfare NCO or some other lame position that really is a dead-end. I liked being in the Air Force... I LOVED being a Warrant Officer. Good topic... bring them both back. DT Chief Warrant Officer (Retired).. former Air Force Guy!

Response by CW2 David Theriault made Nov 20 at 2013 6:23 PM

CW2 David Theriault — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 18:23:30 -0500

Pressure?
- Define pressure?
- Making sure the Enlisted or NCO knows their job?
- Calling them out if they are full of crap.
- Stopping a smoking session that is getting out of hand.

NCO's are the SME:
- How many enlisted read the user manuals, warranty information, who reads the tech manuals, the Pubs etc? Who knows more than 15% of a systems functionality?
I did.. I "nerded" out at work when I was an Airman Basic, A1C and SrA...
When everyone was on "smoke break" I was working with maintenance guys or reading the manuals..

it sure paid off!

Swim Lane...
I stayed in my "Warrant" Lane 99% of the time. What NCO's tended to forget was that I was one of them... I had been there.. scrapping wax off a floor, taking out the trash.. pulling KP, guard duty, driving the van....

Response by Maj Walter Kilar made Nov 30 at 2013 10:00 AM

Maj Walter Kilar — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 10:00:29 -0500

I am afraid that if the Air Force brought back the Sergeant and Warrant Officer, that they would screw it up. The Air Force that I enlisted in nearly 20 years ago could have used both, but not in every career field. Career fields/ mission areas that have many enlisted and few civil servants could use Sergeants as a means to identify young leaders without bogging them down with additional duties, as we do with our up-and-coming Staff Sergeants and Technical Sergeants. Speaking of additional duties, in technical career fields it makes sense to have Warrant Officers, so that we do not penalize 15-year Staff Sergeants that want to focus more on technical depth and less on managerial tasks (aka additional duties). In the Air Force, our techies are not the 15-year E-5s and E-6s. Our techies are the civil servants that retired at 20 and are doing the same job they had as military. Perhaps if the Air Force were less dependent upon civil servants and were more dependent upon their home-grown NCOs, they could use Sergeants and Warrant Officers.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 11 at 2014 11:58 AM

MSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 11:58:36 -0400

No need for Buck Sgts and Warrants have very specific roles. I wouldnt mind seeing a Warrant, but if Im not mistaken the role of a Warrant is mission focused not leadership focused.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Mar 11 at 2014 12:38 PM

SFC Michael Hasbun — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 12:38:09 -0400

There's no need. NCO's are already supposed to be the Subject Matter Expert. Instead of creating new ranks, just use the ones you have, give them whatever advanced training you would have given the Warrant, and hold them accountable...

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 11 at 2014 12:45 PM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 12:45:16 -0400

I served as both as both E-4s and I still feel that the promotion to SGT was my favorite grade.

Response by MSgt Jason McClish made Apr 25 at 2016 8:25 PM

MSgt Jason McClish — Mon, 25 Apr 2016 20:25:37 -0400

In my opinion SrA Letteer, the latter makes the most sense. Warrants are your unit's technical experts and master trainers, among many other things. The intent was the top 2 enlisted pay grades were created nearly for this specific function. However, SMSgts and CMSgts aren't technical experts or trainers. They are mainly operational and strategic level managers from the squadron level up to HAF. Having a corps of CWOs, especially in technical AFSCs would ease a major burden on the JNCO corps which is already more overworked/over-stressed than we've ever been, especially in the high OPSTEMPO were are currently under and with current manpower levels.

Response by SGT Jerrold Pesz made Apr 25 at 2016 8:49 PM

SGT Jerrold Pesz — Mon, 25 Apr 2016 20:49:33 -0400

Yes.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 20 at 2018 1:18 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 13:18:50 -0500

I never understood why the Air Force which may have the most technical fields does not have CWO's

Response by SrA John Monette made Nov 20 at 2018 2:58 PM

SrA John Monette — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 14:58:43 -0500

why was buck done away with? it pissed me off because I was all set to put it on when they did away with a month or so before.

Response by SMSgt Lawrence McCarter made Nov 21 at 2018 1:38 AM

SMSgt Lawrence McCarter — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 01:38:31 -0500

I had been a buck Sergeant at one point but then promotion opportunities were pretty poor in the USAF but then it seems We ended up with an overage of NCOs and it was felt a cutback not of E4's but title change back to an Airman. Usually an E4 did have sufficient experience they could be counted on to perform almost any task. My first Base our unit did have a USAF Chief Warrant Officer, (W4) which represented a very individual to as then the Warrant Officers were all prior enlisted. The Air Force is the only service without Warrant Officers I wouldn't advocate a whole lot of them but it could be a way to advance some outstanding NCOs to Officer duty slots as a WO or CWO instead of a 2Lt esp if per chance they didn't have a Bachelors degree.

Response by CH (CPT) Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 18 at 2019 10:37 AM

CH (CPT) Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 10:37:12 -0500

Yes.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 28 at 2019 11:24 AM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 11:24:28 -0500

Only if they give a slight increase in pay. For the increase in responsibility that comes with the monicre.

Response by MSgt James Slawson made Oct 14 at 2020 12:23 AM

MSgt James Slawson — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 00:23:55 -0400

I would definitely say bring back Buck Sergeant as it was a great transition period for supervision purposes. Their are no pay differences between a SrA or a Buck Sergeant. The only reason the Air Force got rid of buck sergeant was to save money on the stripes being made.