# What is the difference between a Warrant Officer and an NCO? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 5, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-a-warrant-officer-and-an-nco/580834 "2011-05-05T13:54:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-a-warrant-officer-and-an-nco/580834/21 "2011-05-06T03:26:18Z")
In the US military, Chief Warrant Officers receive commissions: > [@](#): > > [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.](http://www.defense.gov/about/insignias/officers.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-a-warrant-officer-and-an-nco/580834/22 "2011-05-07T16:41:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > My understanding is that when someone who isn’t a commissioned officer is doing a job that would normally be done by a commissioned officer (pilot, for instance), you give that person a warrant. They have as much authority as is needed to do the job. Wow that is really wrong. In the Army some branches have WOs. Not all of them. By branch I mean Intelligence, Engineers, Aviation.. not Army, Air Force… Each branch has its own requirements. All but Aviation require you to be a former NCO. Each WO has to go through warrant officer candidate school after a very lengthy selection process. No one is just given a warrant. For the most part WO slots are set up to be non-command slots which have a need for authority. That is not to say that WOs do not have personnel under them. They have positions like Battalion Motor Officer. Those slots are set up specifically for WOs not jobs “that would normally be done by a commisioned officer”. Under certain circumstances a Warrant Officer can be placed in command of a unit although they generally are not if a commisioned officer is available. They are officers and their authority is the same as any other officer to those of lesser rank. Their authority does not change do to what job they have. At least no more than any other officer or NCO. The reason why the Army uses warrants as pilots is a good one IMO. Any commissioned officer needs to get promoted or gets kicked out. All LTs need command time at the company level and above. Its a very steep pyramid. So out of the 30 something pilots in a company, if all of them were LTs they would all be fighting for that one CPT slot per company. Then they would have to worry about getting the proper staff positions, schools, getting set up for battalion command… A warrant officer pilot just has to fly from the time he starts till he retires. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-a-warrant-officer-and-an-nco/580834/23 "2011-05-08T03:53:39Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > The reason why the Army uses warrants as pilots is a good one IMO. Any commissioned officer needs to get promoted or gets kicked out. All LTs need command time at the company level and above. Its a very steep pyramid. So out of the 30 something pilots in a company, if all of them were LTs they would all be fighting for that one CPT slot per company. Then they would have to worry about getting the proper staff positions, schools, getting set up for battalion command… A warrant officer pilot just has to fly from the time he starts till he retires. That makes sense… how do the Air Force, USMC and Navy do it then? Don’t their pilots have to be commissioned officers, not warrant officers? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-a-warrant-officer-and-an-nco/580834/24 "2011-05-08T05:54:47Z")
A very US Centric description I must say. In Commonwealth countries, Warrant Officers are Senior NCO’s. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-a-warrant-officer-and-an-nco/580834/25 "2011-05-08T06:06:03Z")
Never saw a navy pilot that wasn’t commissioned. There may be small boat captains that are warrants. Legend has it that Adm Rickover wanted to make all the nuclear operators warrant officers. That would have been very weird, and I imagine there would have had to be some further muddling of the chain of commands… I can’t imagine having a day1 newb outrank a chief from another division, yet alone 500 of them(as the case would have been on the enterprise), or WO1 bilge cleaners… ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-a-warrant-officer-and-an-nco/580834/26 "2011-05-08T18:38:43Z")
The US seems to be an outlier, in that WO=specialists. You don’t have technical branches like Engineers in the US Military? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-a-warrant-officer-and-an-nco/580834/27 "2011-05-08T18:43:09Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > The US seems to be an outlier, in that WO=specialists. You don’t have technical branches like Engineers in the US Military? Engineers are combat arms like infantry. Infantry that can do math. There are WOs in the engineer branch. Most are not. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-a-warrant-officer-and-an-nco/580834/28 "2011-05-08T18:59:14Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Engineers are combat arms like infantry. Infantry that can do math. Woh. Careful! ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-a-warrant-officer-and-an-nco/580834/29 "2011-05-08T19:06:30Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Woh. Careful! Do YOU want a 11b to tell you how close you should be when something goes boom? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-a-warrant-officer-and-an-nco/580834/30 "2011-05-08T19:34:21Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Engineers are combat arms like infantry. Infantry that can do math. They \*have \*to know math. After all, it’s not as if they can count with their fingers. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-a-warrant-officer-and-an-nco/580834/31 "2011-05-08T20:00:09Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > The US seems to be an outlier, in that WO=specialists. You don’t have technical branches like Engineers in the US Military? The [Navy Civil Engineer Corps](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Engineer_Corps). ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-a-warrant-officer-and-an-nco/580834/32 "2011-05-08T20:01:10Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Do YOU want a 11b to tell you how close you should be when something goes boom? I’m an 11B with a 144 GT and a 148 TECH score. I can figure it out myself. Any _other_ 11B? Well. . . I can see your point. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-a-warrant-officer-and-an-nco/580834/33 "2011-05-08T20:27:46Z")
Aptitude does not equal knowledge. loach 12B 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-a-warrant-officer-and-an-nco/580834/34 "2011-05-08T21:07:36Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > The US seems to be an outlier, in that WO=specialists. You don’t have technical branches like Engineers in the US Military? Yes, and those branches will have proper commissioned officers and NCOs and junior enlisted in the appropriate positions. WOs fill a specific niche for highly skilled experts in a particular field who you want to outrank the enlisted/NCO “laborers” \*\*but \*\*you do not want to force to play in the up-or-out promotion track politics with the commissioned-officer “general managers”. As mentioned, the WO concept started in the US with the naval services, carried over from British naval practice, “back when” it was applied to those people in important positions aboard who were not really the ones sailing the ship – the ships’ surgeon, or the gunner for instance. Later on came the concept of staff corps or limited-duty commissioned officers, but the WO option remained open for other specialties. Now they are fully trained and integrated members of the force, but the WO category helps fill a niche. Now, nothing actually requires the WO grades to exist universally or be used the same way in all services: the US Air Force stopped naming new WOs in 1961 when the E8 and E9 grades were introduced, instead spreading their former functions among upper senior enlisted and junior staff officers. The Navy and Coast Guard don’t have a W1 but rather everyone enters prior-enlisted as a CW2; the Army’s helo pilots may join up straight as WOC rather than do time as enlistees first, etc. Regarding First Sergeants and the such: As mentioned earlier, **in British/Commonwealth armies, “Warrant Officer” refers to certain Senior Enlisted ranks, not a third category as in the US**. A Brit WO may in turn also hold the _appointment_ of Company Sergeant Major or Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant or whatever. Your rank is WO, your appointment is CSM, and you are addressed by your appointment. In the US Army, meanwhile, an E9’s rank title IS Sergeant Major; if s/he in turn has an appointment to be the senior enlisted adjutant to their batallion/brigade/post commander, then the rank title, not just the appointment, becomes Command Sergeant Major. In the US Marines and Army “First Sergeant” is the same sort of combined rank+appointment title, for an E8 who’s the senior enlisted adjutant of a company or its equivalent. In the Marines it’s even more so a fixed rank: you don’t “lateral” between 1stSg and MSgt as you can in the Army. In the Air Force OTOH you can be a First Sergeant in grades E7 thru E9 depending on the size of the unit. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-a-warrant-officer-and-an-nco/580834/35 "2011-05-08T23:29:20Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Yes, and those branches will have proper commissioned officers and NCOs and junior enlisted in the appropriate positions. WOs fill a specific niche for highly skilled experts in a particular field who you want to outrank the enlisted/NCO “laborers” \*\*but \*\*you do not want to force to play in the up-or-out promotion track politics with the commissioned-officer “general managers”. > > As mentioned, the WO concept started in the US with the naval services, carried over from British naval practice, “back when” it was applied to those people in important positions aboard who were not really the ones sailing the ship – the ships’ surgeon, or the gunner for instance. Later on came the concept of staff corps or limited-duty commissioned officers, but the WO option remained open for other specialties. Now they are fully trained and integrated members of the force, but the WO category helps fill a niche. > > Now, nothing actually requires the WO grades to exist universally or be used the same way in all services: the US Air Force stopped naming new WOs in 1961 when the E8 and E9 grades were introduced, instead spreading their former functions among upper senior enlisted and junior staff officers. The Navy and Coast Guard don’t have a W1 but rather everyone enters prior-enlisted as a CW2; the Army’s helo pilots may join up straight as WOC rather than do time as enlistees first, etc. > > Regarding First Sergeants and the such: > > As mentioned earlier, **in British/Commonwealth armies, “Warrant Officer” refers to certain Senior Enlisted ranks, not a third category as in the US**. A Brit WO may in turn also hold the _appointment_ of Company Sergeant Major or Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant or whatever. Your rank is WO, your appointment is CSM, and you are addressed by your appointment. > > In the US Army, meanwhile, an E9’s rank title IS Sergeant Major; if s/he in turn has an appointment to be the senior enlisted adjutant to their batallion/brigade/post commander, then the rank title, not just the appointment, becomes Command Sergeant Major. > > In the US Marines and Army “First Sergeant” is the same sort of combined rank+appointment title, for an E8 who’s the senior enlisted adjutant of a company or its equivalent. In the Marines it’s even more so a fixed rank: you don’t “lateral” between 1stSg and MSgt as you can in the Army. In the Air Force OTOH you can be a First Sergeant in grades E7 thru E9 depending on the size of the unit. There’s also the position of Senior Enlisted Advisor, sometimes referred to as the rank of E-10 (no such thing, of course). This is the Sergeant Major of the Army, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, etc. I believe the position comes with extra pay. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-a-warrant-officer-and-an-nco/580834.md?page=1)