Officers wear the same type of rank insignia, will warrant officers ever adopt one style of insignia?

Robert McAfee — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 08:06:40 -0400

Using the Army warrant officer but replacing the black enamel with blue(Navy) or red(MC). One day was working with a Navy W-3, he was wearing MARPAT, and we started talking about how his insignia looked too much like an Army W-1. He commented how he wished the Navy would adopt the Army style.

Response by MAJ Ronnie Reams made Jul 17 at 2020 8:32 AM

MAJ Ronnie Reams — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 08:32:38 -0400

Actually there are small differences on the O insignia between Army and Navy. O-3 comes to mind. I have not seen the Space Cmd so I not sure about them.
The Army, after Vietnam and McNamara's morons, still had to deal with low intelligence troops. two things I remember they did was drop manuals, regulations and even PM Magazine to the 6th grade reading level and change WO rank insignia. It was found to be too complicated for them to differentiate between gold and silver backgrounds and count dots, too. So it was decided to make the bars all silver and let the troop count dots to determine rank. I do not know how the CW5 was determined that was after my time. About the the time insignia changed, Army made slots for each grade. No longer were WOs interchangeable and just get promoted and stay in same job as they progressed through the ranks.

Response by Lt Col Jim Coe made Jul 17 at 2020 9:30 AM

Lt Col Jim Coe — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 09:30:23 -0400

Army, Air Force, and Space Force use the same rank for O-1 through O-10. Sea service rank worn on collar, hat, or chest for O-1 through O-6 are different in shape from the Army. The Navy and Coast Guard use the stripe system on the sleeve of Service and Dress uniforms. Stripes also on shoulder boards worn on some uniforms and coats.

When the AF had WOs we used sky blue stripes on the bars. Gold bar for W-1 and -2, silver bar for W-3 and -4.

Response by MSgt Neil Greenfield made Jul 17 at 2020 12:49 PM

MSgt Neil Greenfield — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 12:49:50 -0400

Actually, I wonder if “Space Force” is going to have warrant officers....

Response by CSM Darieus ZaGara made Jul 17 at 2020 3:04 PM

CSM Darieus ZaGara — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 15:04:32 -0400

Why not go all the way and do the same for enlisted Service members. The Army and Marines are very close-Marines almost got it right. Kidding Brothers and sisters. Anyway it would make too much sense for that.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 17 at 2020 3:09 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 15:09:45 -0400

What would be the point?

Response by CW4 Keith Dolliver made Jul 17 at 2020 11:41 PM

CW4 Keith Dolliver — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 23:41:06 -0400

The Army actually used to be the same as the others, except the Army used brown, while Navy/CG was blue and USMC was red. We were the one that changed it to the current rank insignia in 1972. In 2004, the Army also changed the old CW5 rank insignia (that was different from the other services) to the current insignia to match the same as the other services.

Response by CW3 Charles Morris made Jan 9 at 2022 12:42 AM

CW3 Charles Morris — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 00:42:46 -0500

Don't care about the color of the rank, but I sure miss the warrant officer 'squashed bug' and would love to see it on my lapels and service cap.