Which has the most rewarding opportunity, Warrant Officer or Commissioned Officer?

2020-06-26T21:21:43-04:00

I'm graduating college this year, and I want to join the military, and possibly make a career out of it.

While I know that being a Commissioned Officer offers much more pay, I'm more interested in being a technical or hands-on type of person, and I want to stick to one career or MOS, is becoming a Warrant Officer more suitable for me?

What's the quality and flow of life differences between a Warrant and a Commissioned Officer?

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 26 at 2020 9:27 PM

2020-06-26T21:27:06-04:00

You can’t just come in as a warrant officer unless applying for aviation, there are steps to becoming a warrant officer

Response by CPT Catherine R. made Jun 26 at 2020 9:49 PM

2020-06-26T21:49:07-04:00

Really depends what you want to do. Do you want to Command Soldiers and be the ultimate one in charge? Or do you want to be the technical expert? Or do you want to be the hands on person who is the glue?

The quality of life isn't going to be much different since pay is good for both. Commissioned officers probably get looked at with more scrutiny than warrants and are the ones who will take the fall if things go wrong. Warrants need to be the technical experts - they should know more than their enlisted Soldiers and could still, in rare circumstances, be in command.

I, obviously, went Commissioned after some enlisted time - in retrospect I would have been better suited as a warrant since it's more in line with what I enjoyed.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 26 at 2020 11:08 PM

2020-06-26T23:08:48-04:00

"I'm more interested in being a technical or hands-on type of person, and I want to stick to one career or MOS" sounds like the definition of a warrant officer to me. Just know that you will need to spend time as an enlisted for a few years first. Most "Walking Warrant" MOS's require some amount of verified leadership time within the qualifying MOS. So have that as a goal when you decide.

Response by CSM Darieus ZaGara made Jun 27 at 2020 6:34 AM

2020-06-27T06:34:07-04:00

Quality of life is the same for all Soldiers, your comments lend to warrant and start as enlisted. Either way you will have staff roles, but overall you will be much more hands on as a Warrant.

Response by WO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 27 at 2020 10:08 AM

2020-06-27T10:08:19-04:00

I recommend coming in as an officer. Warrant is available as an officer also if that’s what you want later down the road. If you have a degree, don’t mind being a leader, and want to make more money then why not?

Response by CW2 Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 27 at 2020 11:19 AM

2020-06-27T11:19:08-04:00

I would never want to be anything other than a Warrant Officer. But as mentioned it depends on your goals and aspirations as a leader. Warrant Officer is not a guarantee, only the best in each field are selected to attend WOCS. Also, unless you are applying for Aviation most other jobs require you to be at-least an E5(P) before you can even put in an application which would be a minimum of 4ish years.

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Jun 27 at 2020 11:22 AM

2020-06-27T11:22:36-04:00

Don't dismiss the officer route too casually. There are many specialty and staff designations which are hands on pretty much all the time. As you promote, you help bring others along. I graduated with an engineering degree and voila, I wound up designing and building things down in Antarctica. Prior to the second deployment, I had to learn how to blow things up. As I promoted, there's a gradual reduction of "hands on" such that by O-4, I was leading and providing the required professional engineer supervision so others could qualify for their license. O-5 became all about my people making the mission happen and O-6 became added not letting the Flags harm my people.

Response by CW4 Thomas Shefflette made Jun 27 at 2020 3:13 PM

2020-06-27T15:13:46-04:00

The army is the branch that uses the most warrant officers. As some have already said, the only way to enter a a warrant officer is through aviation. All other warrants in the army, you must be an E6 to apply and meet all other requirements and the navy you must be an E6 eligible for E7 prior to applying. You must also decide what you want to do, whether you want to be a commander and lead troops, be a technical expert and be the advisor to both the command and workers or do you want to fly. Just some thoughts as I went from enlisted to commissioned then finished my career as a warrant achieving CW4 prior to retirement.

Response by Capt Gregory Prickett made Jun 27 at 2020 5:56 PM

2020-06-27T17:56:54-04:00

Unless you are going in to be an Army pilot, go commissioned. And the reasoning for that is that warrants actually get a lot more flight time, commissioned officers have to deal with the other management stuff.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Jun 28 at 2020 6:35 PM

2020-06-28T18:35:33-04:00

If you don't want to be a leader than don't go Commissioned. That is all I am going to say.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 28 at 2020 7:41 PM

2020-06-28T19:41:58-04:00

That would depend on your definition of "REWARD".

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Dec 4 at 2022 10:50 PM

2022-12-04T22:50:11-05:00

Flow of life? Perhaps I should ask you, what do have to offer the military? Warrants are not completely free of leadership roles. You better have the attitude that if you become a warrant that you will be the best leader you can be. The military needs this.