My older brother, retired from the Air Force after 20 years, told me there are no Air Force warrant officers now. In the original Straight Dope book, Cecil said that the President is at all times accompanied by an Air Force warrant officer carrying a thin case containing certain “codes” the President uses to “push the button,” so to speak, ordering a nuclear attack/strike. Is my brother right? And if there are no more Air Force warrant officers, who accompanies the President now, carrying the case with codes?
http://www.dfas.mil/money/milpay/2000pay/jan2000.htm
I couldn’t find much about warrant officer on that site, but the linked page does include their pay rates. They are rare enough that I could definitely see how someone might miss them entirely…
It’s understandable that the AF wouldn’t have much use for W.O.'s. By definition, a W.O. is an officer who isn’t a gentleman. But since most pilots aren’t gentlemen, most AF Commissioned Officers aren’t gentlemen anyway, which sorta kills the point of having a separate category.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams
The site you referenced is for military pay rates for all services, not just the AF, so that is why Warrant Officers pay rates are included. The AF hasn’t had Warrant Officers for many years now, since before I joined, which was about 13 years ago.
In my experience, John, most Air Force members, officers and elisted alike, are extremely proffesional and courteous, the hallmarks of a gentleman (or lady). Exactly how many AF members, pilots or otherwise, do you know that you feel you can issue a blanket statement on AF pilots?
I understand that the army uses Warrent Officers to fly it’s helicopters. Don’t know about the other branches of service.
“I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island
The Army required pilots be at least warrant officers because of a general convention that a pilot was in command of the flight, even if that flight was a helicopter with a crew of two (or one!) and only officers could hold command positions.
That said, it’s confusing to describe the difference between NCOs (non-commissioned officers, or senior enlisted), warrant officers, and commissioned officers.
A warrant officer is, simply, one appointed as an officer “by warrant” by the Secretary of his armed service branch, generally based upon a high level of technical and tactical competence. The warrant officer is a highly specialized expert who operates, maintains, administers, and manages equipment, support activities, or technical systems for his entire career.
This is in contrast to a commissioned officer, who is thought to be more of a generalist.
Having drawn that line, I will now obscure it: it is possible, per Title 10 USC, for a warrant officer of grade CW2 or higher to be commissioned. These commissioned warrant officers, like any commissioned officer, are direct representatives of the president of the United States. Their authority comes from the same source as commissioned officers, but remain technical specialists. *See DA-PAM 600-11</i)
The rank of warrant officer dates back to the early days of the British Navy. Nobility conferred a presumption of fitness to command troops and ships, but seldom did it also confer the ability. So while the dukes, earls, and lords of the British Isles were strutting self-importantly about, someone was needed to actually direct the setting of sails, the manning of guns, and so forth. The senior sailors given such duties were recognized by “royal warrants,” which granted them semi-officer status: they were permitted to command the troops and get things done, but not offend the extant class structure.
When the United States set up Navy shop, as it were, in the early days of the republic, this system struck everyone as just fine; warrant officers have thus been a part of U.S. Naval tradition as long as there’s been a U.S. Navy. For this reason, also, the U.S. Marines have the rank.
The Army, on the other hand, did not have a warrant officer program until 1916, although its progeny can be traced back to 1896 and the rank of “Headquarters Field Clerk.”
We can now see why someone might, undoubtedly tongue-in-cheek, opine that warrant officers are not gentlemen in the same way that commissioned officers are. To the extent that ancient class distinctions are embodied in the current division between enlisted ranks, warrant officers, and commissioned officers, the former are the peasants, unmannered and unruly. The warrant officers are the foremen, schooled and technically able, but “not our kind, deah.” And the commissioned officers are the sons of noble birth, educated generalists but useless for real work.
Please note the firm presence of tongue in the aforementioned cheek.
Finally turning our attention to the OP, the Air Force once had a warrant officer program, but abolished it in 1980. Existing Air Force Warrant Officers were permitted to stay in and retire, but no new warrants were issued.
Finally, I have a Air Force friend now on duty in the Pentagon as an O-5 (Lt. Col.), who as a captain was assigned to President Bush for unspecified duties which I believe included carrying the nuclear “football” - this is speculation on my part, based on dropped hints and oblique references. Take it in what sense thou wilt.
- Rick
Frickin HTML, useless fingers, dang keyboard, sun got in my eyes.
Or something. Only the DA-PAM reference above was supposed to be italicized. Rats.
- Rick
To Lucretia and others: OK, if Air Force warrant officers no longer exist, Cecil’s first Straight Dope book must be emended, in that he says in it that the President is always accompanied by an Air Force warrant officer carrying a thin case with the “codes” the President uses to order a nuclear strike. Without USAF warrant officers, who accompanies the President in that capacity now?
Dougie, in my answer above, I say that I have a friend who, as an Air Force captain, accompanied then-President Bush. So a reasonable assumption is that the duty is now handled, inter alia, by commissioned Air Force officers.
- Rick
Thanks, Bricker. 
I apologize; I must have overlooked it. :o
(Sigh!) Peepul ain’t got no kulchah no more!
“Gentleman” is a technical term. A gentleman is someone who, when he passes a policeman on the street, the policeman tips his hat to and says, “Good morning, sir!”. A gentleman is someone who can afford his own horse and carriage, even when he’s at his town home. A gentleman is – well, he’s “one of us, dear, not one of – you know – them.”
In the Army, officers are supposed to be gentlemen because there are so few of them, compared to the enlisted men. In the Navy, officers are supposed to be gentleman because there are only a few to each ship. But there are a lot more airplanes in the Air Force than there are ships in the Navy, so there aren’t enough gentlemen around to take all the Air Force jobs.
If you still don’t get it, go to your local community college and take the course on “The 18th-century novel”.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams