wrote...

Warrants are commissioned officers...

...except for the Army WO1.

Sing along now....I was ...."in the Navy".....USN doesn't have a WO1,
correct??

As I was...

You are correct: Only the Army uses the WO1 rank. However, there are a few
Army guys roaming around here, and the discussion of flying WOs will always
get around to the Army way of doing things... :-)


I think the warrant program in the USN, where you commission really
good senior CPOs, and then they continue to work in their area of
expertise, like as branch or division officers, is a great idea. Our
'Gunner', AO branch officer, in all the squadrons I was in, is a prime
example.

I agree that the WO/LDO programs are good ones. I still can't quite figure
out why the Navy continues with both, though. It seems to me that either
one serves the purpose in the Navy. The Air Force eliminated the WO program
a while back, and the Army uses it in a different, specific manner that
suits their goals (e.g., of getting Helo pilots right out of high school).

I might even propose a change to the program so that the WO program
completely replaces the LDO program through O4, and allows a shift to an LDO
or EDO track at the O5 level (e.g., WO5 to O5) for those who "screen" for
high-level billets like AIMD Officer and other significant "commands."