In-Betweeners: Origin of the Warrant Officer (US)

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[CaeruleusWolf]

The first rule of being a Warrant is to keep an extra patrol cap on your desk so people think you're still in the building.

[CryptoX-krwu]

Warrant Officer is the best kept secret in the US military. NCOs don’t have the rank to mess with you. Officers don’t have the knowledgebase to dispute what you say. You are the "warranted" subject matter expert in your MOS. You occupy your own invisible space in the chain-of-command and no one really understands your role, but they don't have the expertise to question it. So you manage your own time, and are mostly left alone to go about your day and do whatever you want to do.

[gregorall]

The best thing I enjoyed about being a WO was hearing 04's and 05's saying " leave him alone, we don't know what he does"

[jpA]

I was once told by an air force veteran that the reason the AF got rid of its warrants is they didn't like having a group of individuals permitted to go to both the officer's lounge and the enlistedmen's lounge.

[rhinocus]

When I served as a Warrant Officer, Flying Attack AH-1s and AH-64s, the best explanation we had for differentiating between Warrants and Commissioned Officers was, A Commissioned Officer is a mile wide and an inch deep, whereas a Warrant is an inch wide and a mile deep. Meaning a Warrant is a Specialist in their field and a regular officer can be placed in any unit and expected to run it.

[Mandelbrotmat]

somebody in charge once said "Fuck it. Let's give an enlisted guy 90 percent of the power that an officer has, with 10 percent of the responsibilities."

[nunyabusiness]

You know you’re about to see some awesome shit when a Warrant Officer says “watch this”!

[ulrichvonlichtenstein]

Warrant officers are magical creatures. A CW5 is a creature of mythical fame and the legend is if you ever managed to capture one, you'll make CSM and General in no time.

[DragonPilot]

I became an Army WO helicopter pilot in the Vietnam era under the Warrant Officer Candidate program. We were E-5s for pay purposes and received our warrants upon graduation from the program. Aviation warrant officers are the backbone of US Army Aviation serving as line pilots, instructors, aviation maintenance officers, safety officers.

[rkf]

I was in the Marine Corps, 1969-1973. Most of the WO's I was ever around were mustanger's. Once saw a butter-bar Lt try to dress-down an old WO. It didn't end well for the butter-bar.

[importantname]

Not of the royal blood line, but good enough to lead other peasants.

[josephryan]

There were several noteable things to me when I transitioned from an E-6 to a WO-1 in the Army National Guard.

When I was first appointed, I remember passing a group of soldiers on break in an outside courtyard, with their hats off. I passed this E-8, who never would have given me the time of day as an E-6, and he gave me this slight nod of the head in respect.

Second, I couldn't disappear into the mass of enlisted soldiers like I could as an E-6. I was one of the few warrant officers in my unit, so everyone knew who I was.

Third, there are only so many warrant officer positions in a given state. As an enlisted soldier, I could move around to a variety of units. Once I became a warrant officer, there was only one unit in each of the two states I lived in that had a slot for my MOS (career specialty). No one ever tells you that in advance.

In spite of that, it was a very good career move and I'm very happy to have done it. This was something I had wanted for a while and it was very fulfilling to have finally made it. Commissioned officers will listen to a warrant officer in a way they would never listen to an enlisted soldier, and that's important after you've had a number of years in service.

[alexandermiller]

I saw a CW5 once. He yelled at me because my soldier (I was an E5) was refueling a gun truck at the fuel point while the engine was running. I explained to him that due to a maintenance deficiency, the truck would die if I shut it down, and it was an emergency and didn't have time to jump it again. He didn't care. But by the time he was done yelling at me, the truck was already refueled though. So I left. Nothing happened afterwards.

[robsteingruber]

I spent almost 31 years in service. The last 16 as a Warrant. I was proud to say I was a Working Warrant. Best job I ever had. The only regret was not going Warrant sooner. Very good lesson in the history. Good job.👍

[macdelttorres]

I learned so much from CW3 Thomas…. I messed up a lot but he always had a good lesson to teach; one of the few warrants to take time and explain things….. I will always remember the time a CSM came in to the office and and wanted me to call at ease(with my back to the door)…. Chief calmly told him that nobody was to call at ease or salute inside the office; CSM started to scream and chief calmly told him to take it up with brigade…..

[burtvincent]

I have a friend who flew helicopter gunships in Viet Nam. He decided to give up on this military career for the sake of his family and left as a Major. He missed flying and joined a National Guard helicopter unit in the only flying slot available as a WO2. He raised some captains eyebrows during a class A uniform inspection when he stood at attention wearing the only cover he had which bore scrambled eggs on the bill. It became obvious he was the only one in this troop who knew what the Hell he was doing and he ended up with his majors commission reenstated and put in command of the unit. He retired a full Colonel. What a colorful character.

[timlevis]

I was in the Marines in the 1980's. We had a Warrant Officer Cobra pilot. At that time it was an oddity. He was quite respected amongst the enlisted.

[KlaustheViking]

W-O’s in my reserve unit are amongst the most knowledgeable people I’ve came across in my Army career. They’re basically tradesmen of the Army.

[twocubez]

Great video as always. I went to ask our section’s warrant officer if this was all true. I didn’t see him in his office, but his PC was still on his desk. Chief has to be around here somewhere...

[jtrlatinist]

When I served in the army as an infantryman warrant officers were a mystery to me. To me they just seemed like a special rank for pilots.