I am now a Chief Warrant Officer 2.
Unless I stay in the army longer than I expect to, this is the rank I’ll leave it with. It’s no mark of special merit: every Warrant Officer gets this promotion automatically after two years as a WO1. Still, it’s nice to have the recognition, the pay raise, the expectation of excellence. WO1 is basically a training rank for flight school students, and I have finally made it through the last vestige of training. I am a RL1, FAC1, CW2 pilot. This is where I wanted to be when I first contacted the Army three and a half years ago and asked if there was any way I could join to fly helicopters, though I couldn’t have expressed it as concisely at the time.
When my platoon leader was promoted from 1LT to CPT, the BN commander put the word out that all officers doing nothing else would attend the ceremony. It was a short thing, but he presented the rank himself, and said nice things about each of the officers being promoted. In contrast, I was promoted in a company formation, and then pelted with various sticky and aromatic foodstuffs while doing basic PT. Even though technically this promotion means that I now hold a commission from the President just like any lieutenant, there remains a sharp distinction between the ways of Warrants and Commissioned officers.
That’s the way it should be. It’s their job to be leaders, to shine, to be conspicuously competent at everything they do. They’ve got way too much dignity to do things our way. On the other hand, all I’ve really got to do is be a good pilot. Warrants are rougher, closer to the enlisted people than commissioned officers. We do silly things full of tradition and absent of practical use, and we gladly focus on one skill instead of broadening our attention across as wide a topic as leadership.
There are further challenges to meet. From here, I need to become a Pilot in Command, and from there I need to become a Flight Lead. That should expend my time in Korea; I hope to become an Instructor Pilot enroute to my next unit. Still, I am at this moment happy. This is where I want to be, and what I want to be doing. Everything else can wait.
congrats!
Congratulations!