Posted on Oct 27, 2013
Should the Air Force bring back Warrant Officers?
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First some background, the U.S. Air Force stopped producing Warrant Officers approximately four decades ago; in light of upcoming force structure changes, do you think that it is realistic to them back? If so, what are some of the associated pros and cons to consider? Has the Air Force suffered, is it better off... or does it even matter? The idea here is to begin an inter-service discussion on the merits of Warrant Officers in the AF, and in light of reducing budgets and change throughout the ranks, do we need to consider bringing them back? There's no right or wrong answers here, just an informed discussion on possibilities and precedents. I look forward to hearing your thoughts, so pull up a keyboard and let's get this thing started, thanks for all that you do, and... see you all in the discussion threads!
Air Force
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Army
Warrant Officers
Edited 7 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 113
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Bring them back! Experienced NCOs with exceptional drive, competence and leadership abilities would improve efficiency and give qualified enlisted folks another opportunity to excel and further help the Air Force accomplish it's mission.
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I would have loved to see a warrant track. There is a silent retention crisis pending for the 1N3 community because very well trained and experienced NCOs are being lured out to private sector jobs which pay more and still end up being paid by the DOD and the Air Force. Jet jocks (another field that is seeing a retention crisis but is 4x as large of a force) afraid of loosing stick time has killed this before.
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Not for me to argue, being a Marine, but if they did bring back WO and allow them to be fixed-wing pilots, I'd volunteer in a heartbeat. Already looking at going Army after embassy duty for that very reason (except to be a rotary pilot, of course).
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It makes sense to have Warrants in all branches simply because they tend to be the technical and tactical experts in their chosen career. They fill a void between the enlisted and officer ranks . Army officers might be in a tank 01 - 02 and then finance 03 on up (I actually know someone who took this route) & not everyone wants that. In some cases, Warrants are also in leadership roles in charge of critical/specialized equipment and personnel - both in and out of uniform. Some of them also have civilian acquired skills (CAS), such as medicine. Army Warrant recruiting is very active: http://www.usarec.army.mil/hq/warrant/WOgeninfo_enlmos_af.shtml. Since I served USAR for 20 years (1 year active) and I've been out for about 10, I'm surprised that USAF stopped producing Warrants.
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I'm sure they would end up being treated like modern-day army warrants: underflown, underpaid, looked down upon behind closed doors, and with all of the additional duties facing current Air Force RLOs sans command. I applied for Air Force flight school to rid myself of some of the above issues, but I'm aware that only patches of grass are greener. Worth it.
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I believe that the air force should definitely bring back warrant officers.
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