"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 23:51:14 -0600, "Gene Storey"
wrote:

"Ed Rasimus" wrote

Yep. Lots of losses of helicopters. Lots of helicopters. Lots of
intrepid Army aviators shot down multiple times. An incredibly
hazardous mission.

So hazardous the missions were flown by Warrants:

"These commissioned warrant officers are direct representatives of
the president of the United States. They derive their authority from the
same source as commissioned officers but remain specialists, in contrast
to commissioned officers, who are generalists."

To put it nicely.


Yes, a lot of Army aviators are warrant officers. A lot are also
commissioned officers.

Yep. But the great majority of Army aviators are, and were at that time,
WO's/CWO's.


Don't know the source of your quote, but it starts out with an
oxymoron, "commissioned warrant officers". They area either one or the
other.

He is probably confusing the contemporary situation with the situation that
existed in the Vietnam era, when Army WO's were indeed "just" WO's, so to
speak. A few years back the Army came up with this nifty plan to
"commission" its senior CWO's (which would I guess make your "oxymoron" a
reality) so that they could meet all of the requirements set forth for
commissioned officers (i.e., UCMJ stuff, command, etc.)--not sure how it all
turned out in the end, but I *think* they made it happen. If there are any
serving CWO's out there, feel free to correct that view.


Whether or not a warrant officer is an appropriate rank for a job has
nothing at all to do with the hazard involved.

Very true.


One might want to review the ranks of the POWs in the Vietnam war to
check regarding the hazard and warrant relationship.

That would be a factor of geography more than anything else, as the WO
aviators were doing the vast majority of their flying down south where the
likelihood of becoming a POW was quite a bit less--unfortunately, the
likelihood of finding yourself *dead* was not that much different, as can be
attested by the fact that over a thousand Huey pilots died during the war.
That said, I do remember serving with one former aviator type CW4 (he had
lost his flight ticket due to medical reasons and was serving out his last
years in the maintenance arena, and helped support our construction
operation in Central America) who did indeed end the war as a POW. He had
been shot down while flying an OH-6 Loach near the DMZ, and got snagged by
the NVA and transported northward. I believe his observer/co-pilot did not
make it.

Brooks



Ed Rasimus