Air Force Eyes Bringing Back Warrant Officers After Decades-Long Absence

I think the target audience is going to be the younger generation in the various Information Operations career tracks (AFSC's). This will include, cyber, intel, and ISR related fields like RPA sensor operators and perhaps maybe even a small cadre of WO RPA (Drone) pilots. The Air Force has recognized that for years, despite six figure re-enlistment bonuses in those AFSC's, many airman saw long term financial gain by getting out and moving over to the contractor side where they were in the low six figure range of pay, negating the bonuses which would be parsed out over 4 to 6 years depending on the contract. The questions were, how do you keep a cyber warfare specialist in the ranks at $45k a year when they can take that specialty to Company X and be pulling a $135K starting per year? Same goes for Intel specialists and linguists who can find double to triple the pay. I think by adding a Warrant Officer track to these specialties may make a better incentive pay wise to keep the proficient and highly skilled talent in the ranks. They surveyed a lot of these folks in the past to find that a commission was not desirable to them as they noted the officers in most of these fields are doing more of the back shop leadership and admin duties over getting knee deep in the weeds with these skillsets. If money is a key factor for retention, it makes plenty sense that a WO track would be finally created.

How it in theory gets instituted in terms of W1 versus W2, that I don't think anybody can say at this point one way or another. I would think having it top out at W5 would make sense if you end goal is to retain the most seasoned of talent. Whether or not someone becomes a W1 or W2 from the start, perhaps it would depend on the skill level. Maybe a first term airman at a level 5 AFSC would get W1 and a second term NCO 7 level or above would rate a W2 and perhaps a mix of education and experience would be in play.

Like I said, its hard to say, I am sure the bulk of the proposed discussions will be how that is handled. Your guess is good as mine.

I believe it should be wide open with the WOs given the opportunity to be helicopter pilots. First Air Force requirement will be a College Degree [yes, Outdoor Basket Weaving will do]. The breakdown should be 15% College Graduates [the 22-30 year-olds]; 40% Senior NCOs [E7 and above]; and 45% Junior NCOs [E5-E6].