Warrant Officer Insignia - US Military
US Military Warrant Officers Insignia. US Department of Defense, 2022. GGA Image ID # 1b4be51cf3
Warrant officers hold warrants from their service secretary and are specialists and experts in certain military technologies or capabilities. 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.
US Navy Warrant Officers
Chief Warrant Officers and Warrant Officers wear embroidered corps devices above blue-and-gold stripes on shoulder marks and sleeves. Chief Warrant Officers wear on both collar tips of the khaki shirt silver-colored corps devices of the same design as the corps devices used on sleeves and shoulder marks. Warrant Officers wear the miniature pin-on corps device in the same way and in the same design, but their pins are made of gold-colored metal instead of silver.
Warrant Officer Professional Development Opportunities
Changes in Warrant Officer Insignia. On 9 July 2004, two significant and historic changes in collar insignia for U S. Army Warrant Officers will occur. These affect senior warrants' rank insignia and branch affiliation collar insignia.
First. CW5s will no longer wear the Master Warrant Officer (MW4) rank insignia currently worn. The Chief of Staff of the Army (CSA) approved the MW4 insignia in 1988 to designate certain Chief Warrant Officers W4 as master warrants Passage of the Warrant Officer Management Act in 1991 established the grade of CW5. At that time, the Army Chief of Staff approved continued use of the Master Warrant Officer insignia for Chief Warrant Officer W5. On 9 July 2004. CW5s will wear the CW5 rank insignia approved by the CSA in 1970. The Army no longer has Master Warrant Officers and the CW5 insignia of grade will make it easier to identify the warrant officers who have reached the pinnacle of their profession.
Second, U S. Army warrant officers will no longer wear the warrant officer collar insignia—an eagle rising with wings displayed standing on a bundle of two arrows. Warrant officers wore the eagle-rising collar insignia in lieu of a branch insignia. Again, beginning on 9 July 2004, all warrant officers will wear the insignia of their respective branches upon completion of their specific branch qualification. However, the tradition of wearing the eagle-rising insignia will continue. Students attending the Warrant Officer Candidate School and the specific Warrant Officer Basic Courses will continue to wear it.
These changes are 2 of 45 recommendations approved for implementation by the CSA-directed Army Training and Leadership Development Panel in August 2002. Implementation of these two recommendations is specifically intended to make the officer branch the advocate for their warrant officers. for their training and utilization.
USAF Warrant Officer Insignia (1949)
The following insignia and trim items of uniform are prescribed for wear by warrant officers under the administrative jurisdiction of the Department of the Air Force. (Sec AFL No. 37-5.) The warrant officer is thus authorized to wear insignia identical to that prescribed for USAF commissioned officers, except for specific rank insignia.
Cap Insignia. U. S. Coat of Arms, in gold color metal, two and three-eighths inches in height. (Same as authorized for commissioned officers.)
Collar Insignia. "U.S." in gold color metal, seven-sixteenths inches in height.
Lapel Insignia. Officer-type USAF wing and propeller. (To replace currently authorized Army warrant officer branch insignia.)
Rank Insignia. Chief and junior grade, metal, as currently authorized.
Sleeve Braid. Officer sleeve braid, three inches from end of sleeve.
Warrant Officer Insignia, US Department of Defense, 2022.
Lt. Col. Harvey Crockett, "Proponent Notes: Warrant Officer Professional Development Opportunities," in Military Inteligence Professional Bulletin, PB 34-04-3, Vol. 30, No. 3, July-September 2004, p. 75.
"USAF Warrant Officer Insignia," in The Air Officer's Guide: A Ready-Reference Encyclopedia of All Military Information Pertinet ot Commissioned Officers of the United States Air Force, Second Edition, Harrisburg, PA: The Military Service Publishing Company, 1949, p. 156.
