From: "John R Weiss"
Date: 1/16/2004 10:39 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id: SsUNb.70673$nt4.95664@attbi_s51

"Kevin Brooks" wrote...

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.

There are "just" WOs and Commissioned Warrant Officers now. The WO1 rank is
not
a Commissioned Warrant Officer, but all CWO2 through CWO5 ranks are
Commissioned
Warrant Officers. Last I knew:

Army has WO1 - CWO4 (may have adopted CWO5 by now)

Air Force has no Warrant Officers

Navy and Marines have CWO2 - CWO5 (no longer any WO1s)

John Weiss
LCDR, USN, Ret (not a Warrant Officer)


If memory serves the C in CWO is for chief. I don't believe warrants are
considered commissioned.

Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired