The title comes from the practice of having the people on a general carreer track holding traditional lieutenant-thru-general and ensign-thru-admiral positions hold their officer authority from a commission from the commander in chief, while those in certain highly technical specialized tracks not expected to occupy posts of general command hold it by a warrant issued by the service’s secretary.
So happens that under the current military regulations and law in the US, you become a WO by a Warrant from the service’s Secretary at grade WO-1 (out of 5s) , but then ***do ***get a commission upon getting to grade WO-2 (the Navy was the first to do this IIRC and in fact no longer even has WO-1s; meanwhile the Air Force stopped issuing new officer warrants in 1959 when the senior enlisted ranks were reorganized and they split the specialized posts between senior enlisted and plain old commissioned officers in technical specialties.)
Further, practice in the USA contrasts with the “Warrant Officer” title in the Commonwealth militaries, who are actually seniormost enlisted personnel (sergeant-majors and the like).
I’m not sure if you are speaking strictly Army stuff, but in the AF, NCO orders are legal orders that must be obeyed. There’s no “mostly obey”. And the orders have legal authority.
It sounds like officers are analogous to physicians, NCOs are like nurses, non-NCO enlisted are orderlies and warrant officers are like midwives, pharmacists or equipment technicians in having a skilled specialized niche in which a physician who doesn’t have that specialty would be unlikely to second guess them. Is that about close?
How do orders tend to go? Could a 2nd Lt give an order to the highest rank of warrant officer?
A 2nd Lt. outranks any warrant officer, but whether they could (lawfully) give an order to them depends on whether the LT is that person’s commanding officer or not. If the WO is in a unit that the LT commands, then the LT is in charge. Otherwise, the LT attempting to give an order would be at least a serious faux pas and at most potentially illegal.
My understanding is that commissioned officers obtain their authority from the President. NCOs obtain their authority from the officers appointed over them.
Warrant officers are outside of this system and are granted a limited authority in a certain area of expertise.
Well, for starters, all of the above posts saying Warrants don’t hold commissions are just plain wrong. WO1s are appointed but all other warrant ranks (CW2-CW5) do hold commissions. This started in the Navy and then the Army adopted it.
A commission basically means, “The President gives this soldier the authority to lead his armies and enforce military justice.” The same way a police officer or a judge has certain legal powers and the authority to compel obedience, an officer has the authority to make decisions and policy and other soldiers are required to obey them. A Noncommissioned Officer does not have command or UCMJ authority. NCOs are only allowed to exercise their authority in enforcing military regulations and carrying out the Officer’s instructions. An NCO could not - for example - be the judge for a UCMJ action because they do not have that authority.
Anyway…
A Warrant Officer is a single-track speciality Officer and subject matter expert. Most are aviators but there are also technical warrants, as others have mentioned. When I was in the Army I was a signal tech. That means every day I got up and did highly specialized computer work that required a lot of know-how.
The problem with the Army is that any soldier will move up in rank to the point where they spend most of their time administrating rather than applying their skills. The Army needed someone who could put 100% of their effort into mastering their skill set, without being distracted by the day-to-day business of managing the organization. In exchange, I accepted that I would never be a “Commander,” in that I would never have authority over my own company or battalion. I might be a detachment commander or a platoon leader if circumstances required.
Most Officers look forward to those assignments where they get to command. (Eg Company Commander, Battalions Commander, etc). That’s what they signed up to do. It also comes with a lot of responsibility in terms of property, UCMJ, planning and accountability, etc. I never wanted that. Things like motor pool and command & staff meetings bored me to tears. All I cared about was being the best at my job, so I chose to specialize as a Warrant Officer. It’s kind of like being a mad scientist, where you get to sit in a corner and nerd out on complex problems, where the other soldiers might not even understand what you are doing or why.
I retired as a Chief and I always viewed my role as being a manager in whatever I was doing, whether dealing with personnel or with technical aspects. A good manager makes the wheels turn, whether in the military or in the private sector. Officers made executive plans and decisions, Chiefs made sure they were carried out, so yes, the Chiefs (at least the good ones) ran things. I had junior officers who attempted to bypass me to try their luck at hands-on control; it was usually amusing to watch. I looked at it as a learning experience for them, as most of them quickly realized that they were out of their element.
The other side of a good NCO is to advise those above him as to how to best accomplish the mission, based on years of experience and a good understanding of the workforce capabilities. A good officer will listen to that advice.
There is a lot of mystique about the Chief community in the Navy, mostly created by and for that community in order to instill discipline and a bit of fear, if you will. It’s a bit like a military mafia at times. Now, I knew more than a few really bad actors in that community who had been promoted past their level of competence. You just had to grit your teeth and try to limit the damage they did on a daily basis.