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Warrant officers
- Thread starter Tom
- Start date
Tom said:
We turn to google for the technical answer: http://www.history.navy.mil/trivia/triv4-5n.htm
Now, the first tour JO answer. The warrant is commissioned. He's one of you...but he's been one of them. The warrant will let you fall on your face once or twice and then buy you a beer. Having a warrant in the wardroom assures the CO/XO has an idea of what's going on at the deckplates level. He can be one of your best assets when you become a Division officer. E-7s and up (very different than E-6 and below) can be a little more "creative" getting what they need, and you may or may not know what's going on in your division. The warrant is more likely to keep you in the loop and direct you in a manner appropriate to being a commissioned officer.
Vague enough answer?
My dad was a CWO4 and theyre considered "specialty officers" in their respective rate. I always considered them as super-chiefs but with a commission. Theyre very well respected within their command. Odds are youll run into a WO whos been in almost as long as you've been alive (considering your a young newly commissioned officer 
)
)They basically bridge the gap between the regular officers and the enlisted force.
What they have is the technical experience that an enlisted member might have in his or her rate. They bring that to the table. This is true in about every rate. The only exception I know of is Army Aviation since you can become a Warrnat Officer aviator wothout being prior enlisted.
The question one might pose o the Navy and Marines is why have both CWO's and LDO's? Maybe someone out there in the know could elaborate on why they have both. In the Army there is no such thing as an LDO so we have a fairly large Warrant Corp. I think it is around 13000 with about half being rated aviators.
What they have is the technical experience that an enlisted member might have in his or her rate. They bring that to the table. This is true in about every rate. The only exception I know of is Army Aviation since you can become a Warrnat Officer aviator wothout being prior enlisted.
The question one might pose o the Navy and Marines is why have both CWO's and LDO's? Maybe someone out there in the know could elaborate on why they have both. In the Army there is no such thing as an LDO so we have a fairly large Warrant Corp. I think it is around 13000 with about half being rated aviators.
CWO- Technical Specialist
LDO- Technical Manager
At least that's what they told us in OCS....
LDO- Technical Manager
At least that's what they told us in OCS....
Thisguy
Pain-in-the-dick
To elaborate on the technical specialist thing:
In aviation, the CWO is going to be confined to the maintenance department. That's what he did as an enlisted man, and that's what he knows best. More often than not, the CWO is going to be the MMCO (Maintenance Material Control Officer). He's the guy who works in Maintenance Control with the MMCPO and other chiefs to make sure enough birds are up, when inspections are due, etc. His concern is the production of the squadron. (He'll usually be looking at the dry erase board that has the up and down arrows for the aircraft status with a pissed off look on his face.)
How does this relate to you? As an unrestriced line Pilot/NFO, you can hold any job in any department (Saftey, admin, OPS, maintenance), and it's in the best interest in your career development to cycle through all these positions. The CWO doesn't have that concern...he's all maintenance, all the time.
As for why we have both LDOs and Warrants, the answer again lies in the specialist vs. manager concept. The CWO is basically going to hold billets not higher than the squadron or AIMD (Div O) level. We had a CWO3 who was doing his second sea tour as the MMCO, a job he had done as a CWO2. You probably won't see an LDO do that, and if he did, he'd be holding a job he didn't have a chance to do in his previous squadron tour. If an LDO decides to repeat and do say, a 2nd MMCO tour, he won't be competitive for promotion. An LDO is also confined to the maintenance department, but has the mobility to be the CAGMO or AIMD MMCO/AMO. All 3 are O-4 billets that can be held by an LDO or a 1520 (AMDO).
*Disclaimer: This is how warrants play into aviation. I have no idea how they come into play in other communities, and I left out the squadron Gunner, who can be an LDO or Warrant. Good day.
In aviation, the CWO is going to be confined to the maintenance department. That's what he did as an enlisted man, and that's what he knows best. More often than not, the CWO is going to be the MMCO (Maintenance Material Control Officer). He's the guy who works in Maintenance Control with the MMCPO and other chiefs to make sure enough birds are up, when inspections are due, etc. His concern is the production of the squadron. (He'll usually be looking at the dry erase board that has the up and down arrows for the aircraft status with a pissed off look on his face.)
How does this relate to you? As an unrestriced line Pilot/NFO, you can hold any job in any department (Saftey, admin, OPS, maintenance), and it's in the best interest in your career development to cycle through all these positions. The CWO doesn't have that concern...he's all maintenance, all the time.
As for why we have both LDOs and Warrants, the answer again lies in the specialist vs. manager concept. The CWO is basically going to hold billets not higher than the squadron or AIMD (Div O) level. We had a CWO3 who was doing his second sea tour as the MMCO, a job he had done as a CWO2. You probably won't see an LDO do that, and if he did, he'd be holding a job he didn't have a chance to do in his previous squadron tour. If an LDO decides to repeat and do say, a 2nd MMCO tour, he won't be competitive for promotion. An LDO is also confined to the maintenance department, but has the mobility to be the CAGMO or AIMD MMCO/AMO. All 3 are O-4 billets that can be held by an LDO or a 1520 (AMDO).
*Disclaimer: This is how warrants play into aviation. I have no idea how they come into play in other communities, and I left out the squadron Gunner, who can be an LDO or Warrant. Good day.
I believe warrant officers have warrants, not commissions -- a technical detail. Commissioned officers are technically Officers of the United States. CWOs hold a "warrant," a left-over from the 17th and 18th centuries when the Royal Navy issued warrants to sailors that specified their soecidic technical jobs aboard a specific ship, as opposed to commissioned officers, who, as 4th, 3rd, 2nd, or 1st lieutenants aboard ship, could be assigned any billet, up to commanding officer. The next higher rank after First LT was CDR. Thus, the ship's 1st LT was equivalent to today's LCDR, with the 4th LT equaling ENS/MDSM.
How are Warrant Officers adddressed in conversation? (I've never met one on summer cruise... and we don't see a lot of Navy in central PA)
IE If I see a CPO I use "Chief"... if I see an O-4 its "Commander"... if I see a CWO is it "Warrant"?
IE If I see a CPO I use "Chief"... if I see an O-4 its "Commander"... if I see a CWO is it "Warrant"?
ip568 said:
I believe the law was changed in the 80's so that WO-1 to CWO-X are now commissioned. The term "warrant" still applies.
The key is that warrant officer strength did NOT require senate approval - where as commissioned strength does.
And Warrant Officers are addressed as "Mister"
The Marines casually refer to CWOs as "gunner" which is not technically correct (a gunner is specifically a CWO5 in the infantry who is a weapons specialist and wears a bursting bomb on one side of his collar instead of his bars) but still accepted. I guess it just sounds cool.
CWOs and LDOs in the Corps have more technical experience like someone wrote above, and they also take on billets that most regular commissioned and unrestricted officers are excluded from and vice versa. Just thought I would throw that out there.
CWOs and LDOs in the Corps have more technical experience like someone wrote above, and they also take on billets that most regular commissioned and unrestricted officers are excluded from and vice versa. Just thought I would throw that out there.
I think the whole Warrant thing does go back to the days of the British Navy.
The guys ho actually ran the ship where up there in the social hierarchy. They were the Officers. They did not have the technical know how to sail the ship. This became the job of the Warrants. This is pretty much what I've read about the history of the warrant.
Something that O find odd is the lack of continuity in the services. I think the Navy and Marines have a pretty good system. Isn't it odd that the Air force has no LDO's or Warrants and the Army has Warrants only.
So if LDO's are managers will the Navy also adopt a LDO aviator since it is adopting Aviator Warrants?
The guys ho actually ran the ship where up there in the social hierarchy. They were the Officers. They did not have the technical know how to sail the ship. This became the job of the Warrants. This is pretty much what I've read about the history of the warrant.
Something that O find odd is the lack of continuity in the services. I think the Navy and Marines have a pretty good system. Isn't it odd that the Air force has no LDO's or Warrants and the Army has Warrants only.
So if LDO's are managers will the Navy also adopt a LDO aviator since it is adopting Aviator Warrants?