B2431 wrote:
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.


This is a fairly recent change, but a Chief Warrant Officer is now
categorized as a "commissioned warrant officer," which is a class of officer
distinct from both "warrant officer" and "commissioned officer."

http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/alma...as/officers.ht
ml

"The lowest ranking warrant officers serve under a warrant, but they receive
commissions from the president upon promotion to chief warrant officer 2.
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. There are no warrant officers in
the Air Force."

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"If brave men and women never died, there would be nothing
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