Rand study: Warrant officer pilots would hurt retention in the Air Force — but a flying-only...

I agree with MSgt Heather D. use warrants for slots like maintenance officer and the like

This really boils down to the "funnel." We have greater exodus than we have influx. We're losing more than we're gaining. On the officer side, we have a "mandatory" pyramid structure. It's Up or Out, which means that you have to get promoted, and as a general statement you are going to get promoted out of a flying billet.

The WO track is an interesting way to address that if only because, from a billet standpoint, "all WOs are created equal" on a TO&E. Sure they're WO1 or CWO5... but that really doesn't matter. Not in the same way that being a 1LT or a COLONEL matters. That's a huge deal at least to the services. That's why it works for the Army.

However, how would this work as we shift into a more "drone" centric force?

I understand why the USAF no longer has WOs. It makes sense based on how they are organized. Just like they no longer have the E4 Sgt (NCO) rank. It makes sense. But in 20 years, when we have less "in cockpit" flyers, I think we likely won't have as much need for "pilots" as we will for "controllers" and this issue may just go away, at least for birds that only carry 1-2 people....

Col Joseph Lenertz I dont think they considered that they would attract a whole different pool of people, like the high school to flight school program did with the Army. Yes, they are correct that the typical four year university graduate would be disincentivized from pursuing a career and flying as a Warrant.

Having flight only (Like Limited Duty Officers) would injure the service in having people pursue leadership. How would that impact the perceived leadership problems observed in recent op-ed pieces? Why would anybody pursue a leadership role if they could just keep flying, no other significant responsibilities and still retire as a Lieutenant Colonel. hell, where do I sign up?