Pros and cons of switching from enlisted to warrant in the guard? What are the duties of warrant officers compared to regular officers?

2016-03-13T18:01:08-04:00

Response by Capt Tom Brown made Mar 13 at 2016 10:04 PM

2016-03-13T22:04:12-04:00

Here is a link to Army Times which addresses a very similar issue I believe.
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/guard-reserve/2016/03/13/warrants-wanted-army-guard-offers-big-bonuses-qualified-troops/81657428/

Warrants wanted: Army Guard offers big bonuses to qualified troops

The Army National Guard is offering up to $20K to qualified candidates as it struggles to fill its warrant ranks.

Response by CW3 Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 14 at 2016 6:09 AM

2016-03-14T06:09:29-04:00

I'm happy I made the switch, but there are big differences from being an officer versus a NCO. Responsibilities are big, instead of executing, you'll be drawing up the plans from scratch. Training is different too.

Response by CW4 Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 14 at 2016 6:20 AM

2016-03-14T06:20:48-04:00

I'm a active duty Chief Warrant Officer and I might be a little biased but earning the right to become a Warrant Officer is the best thing that I've done in my Army career. Below is a few descriptions of what we are expected to do as Warrant Officers.

"The Army Warrant Officer (WO) is a self–aware and adaptive technical expert, combat leader, trainer, and advisor. Through progressive levels of expertise in assignments, training, and education, the WO administers, manages, maintains, operates, and integrates Army systems and equipment across the full spectrum of Army operations. Warrant officers are competent and confident warriors, innovative integrators of emerging technologies, dynamic teachers, and developers of specialized teams of soldiers. They support a wide range of Army missions throughout their career. Warrant officers in the Army are accessed with specific levels of technical ability. They refine their technical expertise and develop their leadership and management skills through tiered progressive assignments and education."(DA Pamphlet 600-3, p. 3-9)

“Warrant officers possess a high degree of specialization in a particular field in contrast to the more general assignment pattern of other commissioned officers. Warrant officers command aircraft, maritime vessels, special units, and task organized operational elements. In a wide variety of units and headquarters specialties, warrant officers provide quality advice, counsel, and solutions to support their unit or organization. They operate, maintain, administer, and manage the Army‘s equipment, support activities, and technical systems. Their extensive professional experience and technical knowledge qualifies warrant officers as invaluable role models and mentors for junior officers and NCOs.” (Fm 6-22, p. 3-12)

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Overview
In 2005, the Department of the Army developed a new definition to encompass all warrant officer specialties and grades.

"The Army Warrant Officer (WO) is a self–aware and adaptive technical expert, combat leader, trainer, and advisor. Through progressive levels of expertise in assignments, training, and education, the WO administers, manages, maintains, operates, and integrates Army systems and equipment across the full spectrum of Army operations. Warrant officers are competent and confident warriors, innovative integrators of emerging technologies, dynamic teachers, and developers of specialized teams of soldiers. They support a wide range of Army missions throughout their career. Warrant officers in the Army are accessed with specific levels of technical ability. They refine their technical expertise and develop their leadership and management skills through tiered progressive assignments and education."(DA Pamphlet 600-3, p. 3-9)

Further clarification of the role of a warrant officer is found in Field Manuals 6-22:

“Warrant officers possess a high degree of specialization in a particular field in contrast to the more general assignment pattern of other commissioned officers. Warrant officers command aircraft, maritime vessels, special units, and task organized operational elements. In a wide variety of units and headquarters specialties, warrant officers provide quality advice, counsel, and solutions to support their unit or organization. They operate, maintain, administer, and manage the Army‘s equipment, support activities, and technical systems. Their extensive professional experience and technical knowledge qualifies warrant officers as invaluable role models and mentors for junior officers and NCOs.” (Fm 6-22, p. 3-12)

Additional expectations are shown in Field Manual 7-0.

Warrant officers must be technically and tactically focused and able to perform the primary duties of technical leader, advisor, and commander. Through progressive levels of expertise in assignments, training, and education, warrant officers perform these duties during all operations and at all levels of command. While their primary duties are those of a technical and tactical leader, warrant officers also provide training and leader development guidance, assistance, and supervision. Warrant officers provide leader development, mentorship, and counsel to other warrant officers, officers, NCOs, and Army civilians. Warrant officers lead and train functional sections, teams, or crews. Finally, they serve as critical advisors to commanders in conducting organizational training.

The Army warrant officer corps is comprised of over 25,000 men and women of the active Army and reserve components. Warrant officers are technical experts that manage and maintain increasingly complex battlefield systems. They enhance the Army's ability to defend our national interests, and to fight and win our nations wars. Candidates who successfully complete Warrant Officer Candidate School are appointed in the grade of Warrant Officer One. When promoted to Chief Warrant Officer Two, warrant officers are commissioned by the President and have the same legal status as their traditional commissioned officer counterparts. However, warrant officers remain single-specialty officers whose career track is oriented towards progressing within their career field rather than focusing on increased levels of command and staff duty positions (FM 7-0, p. 4-22)

SGT Private RallyPoint Member, I hope this helps. Choose your decision wisely.

Response by CW3(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 14 at 2016 7:11 AM

2016-03-14T07:11:25-04:00

I would say the biggest difference between a comissioned officer and a warrant officer is:

A Commissioned Officer is an administrator. They run the platoon, company, battalion, brigade and so on. You can be an quartermaster officer but thru the needs of the army, can have you in a combat engineer position. This is not utilizing your knowledge of your mos, and setting you up for failure and in some instances, making you look unknowledgable.

A Warrant Officer runs a section of the company, battalion, brigade what have you. They have a specific skill set making them the Subject Matter Expert in their field. They will stay in that field until they reclassify or retire. This sets the warrant officer up for success IMHO.

Response by SFC Daniel Faires made Mar 14 at 2016 8:22 AM

2016-03-14T08:22:10-04:00

Responsibilities of a warrant officer
1. Always have coffee
2. Arrive when you feel the need
3. Never show up for formation
4. When ever you are gone , Soldiers will say " so and so is doing chief stuff" no one has ever figured out what chief stuff "

Just throwing some humor out there this is all to in good fun every warrant I have served with has been a SME and when they speak they have always been listened to

Good luck and God speed

Response by COL Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 15 at 2016 1:55 AM

2016-03-15T01:55:21-04:00

All depends on what you want out of life. Warrant Officers are technical experts in their assigned field. If you want to focus on one thing and get really good at it, perfect fit. If you want to be a leader and decision maker with a "vote" at the table, the traditional officer route would be ideal. If you love being on the line with the guys and teaching them how to be better Soldiers and people, than the NCO corps is the perfect fit.

As with all things in life, it boils down to, "What do you want for you?" Good luck with the decision!!

Response by CW4 Scott Hyde made Mar 20 at 2016 8:51 PM

2016-03-20T20:51:23-04:00

What O or WO MOS can you apply for? What is your current MOS? Duties and responsibilities differ greatly.

A general comment to the WO bashers, a class starts every two weeks so if you do not like what you see, you can be a change champion and help shape the future of our Army. Boards happen each month and you too can apply.