Currently I'm a 15Q air traffic controller in the army with a PPL. I have 3 more years on my contact but have always wanted to go warrant officer. The problem is not getting accecped to Wocs but what happens 6 years from now. I ask those who are WO2 what they think about getting to WO3.
wrestling with the idea; army warrant officer
- Thread starter kevin6062
- Start date
Matt Loiacono
Well-Known Member
So… you'd retire as a CW3 vs E-7/8. With more options for post Army employment?
By the time you're up for W3 it'll be almost 10 years from now. Way too far in the future for worrying about that now. Get the slot first.
You can do it. It's a good time, once the nonsense is over and you're settled in a unit.
By the time you're up for W3 it'll be almost 10 years from now. Way too far in the future for worrying about that now. Get the slot first.
You can do it. It's a good time, once the nonsense is over and you're settled in a unit.
Lawman
Well-Known Member
What am I thinking about to make CW3? Not sucking at life and performing better with each and every evaluation.
Look if your afraid of promotion rates, think of it this way everybody in the Army is potentially on the chopping block. Ask yourself now do you want to do more than what your doing now. If the answer is yes, then do it because this Army thing will eventually end, and if you don't go out and do something your going to regret it later.
Look if your afraid of promotion rates, think of it this way everybody in the Army is potentially on the chopping block. Ask yourself now do you want to do more than what your doing now. If the answer is yes, then do it because this Army thing will eventually end, and if you don't go out and do something your going to regret it later.
dustoff17
Still trying to reach the Top Shelf
Throughout the years I have been asked by dozens of young people about my experiences in the Army. Many are seeking answers/information to determine if the military is right for them. My answer about their chances and opportunities has always been the same......
"Don't join the military just to perform a single job while IN the military. Figure out what you want to do once you leave the military, then find the branch of the service that will best serve YOUR desires. By doing this, your mindset and attitude while serving will be better because you will be working towards YOUR goal. You'll get some of the best training available and a marketable skill. If you want to be a yacht captain when you leave the military don't join the Air Force."
As @banjo has mentioned above, what do YOU want to do with the rest of your life?
"Don't join the military just to perform a single job while IN the military. Figure out what you want to do once you leave the military, then find the branch of the service that will best serve YOUR desires. By doing this, your mindset and attitude while serving will be better because you will be working towards YOUR goal. You'll get some of the best training available and a marketable skill. If you want to be a yacht captain when you leave the military don't join the Air Force."
As @banjo has mentioned above, what do YOU want to do with the rest of your life?
F
Flying Saluki
Guest
This runs counter to everything I've been told about the military, which is that you join because you want to serve, not because you want to be served.
That said, I saw a bit of a documentary about the Air Force Academy the other day. One of the recurring themes was about preparing to be a warrior. That really struck me; the idea that, first and foremost, you're a warrior when you join the military. I wonder how many young men and women join up without ever really thinking that they could be ordered to pick up a rifle and take that hill.
DaveC
Well-Known Member
Great advice. The key word in "Army Aviation" isn't "Aviation." As a junior Warrant, you'll spend a lot more hours doing PT and sitting on staff duty than you will in a helicopter your first few years.
dustoff17
Still trying to reach the Top Shelf
Well said.
If you are choosing to look into the military, you have already made the decision to serve the country. My point is that now you must decide in what capacity to serve. Since the military gives you a choice (to some degree), why not make the choice that will serve both you AND the country?
No matter what your specialty is in the military, your primary job is to kill the enemy. Cook, accountant, lawyer, pilot, personnel management, etc....doesn't matter; every military position is either in direct or indirect support of killing the enemy.
At flight school, the Army reminded us that we were Soldiers on the day they promoted us to Officer. Not until the next day did they pin on our Aviator wings; its a reminder that we are a soldier FIRST. (See @Nark comment above)
Bottom line. If you want to be in aviation, the Army is the last place you want to do it. Just a culture thing; you don't go to the Air Force to become an artillery officer, you don't go to the Army to fly as first choice. Why? Because Big Green cares as much about aviation as Big Blue cares about tanks, infantry and armor.
Has nothing to do with pilots in the respective services, just the service culture. To Big Green, you're just a deuce and a half at 50 AGL in your Blackhawk.....nothing more. Forget all the training and qualification it takes to become that, but that's just how Big Green sees it.
Has nothing to do with pilots in the respective services, just the service culture. To Big Green, you're just a deuce and a half at 50 AGL in your Blackhawk.....nothing more. Forget all the training and qualification it takes to become that, but that's just how Big Green sees it.
Guy did that sitting next to me on a TWA flight. He ran to the Lav as we were climbing out. God that smell was horrible!
@jskibo @H46Bubba @JEP
Speaking of the mysterious goat locker, if I send one of my Ensign/Second Lieutenants down there to instruct you guys to make some steak dinners for us (from the Chiefs fund, of course) and have a table place setting ready for us to eat there, would he be successful in his mission?
Speaking of the mysterious goat locker, if I send one of my Ensign/Second Lieutenants down there to instruct you guys to make some steak dinners for us (from the Chiefs fund, of course) and have a table place setting ready for us to eat there, would he be successful in his mission?
. Might be an interesting experiment, though I'd send a Wobbly One along with a video camera as the result would provide hours of entertainment
No, they care very much about aviation, they just don't care about Aviators.
I was recently briefing the Battalion training plan to the (non-aviation) Brigade Commander. When I got to the part about NVG operations he stopped me and asked "can you guys just do that without any training?"
"Sir?"
"Isn't there some kind of training you have to do before flying NVGs?"
"Uh, yes sir... Lots of it. And we've all done it. And we fly NVGs every week."
"You do? Man, you aviators get too much money. "
Fair point. And it's unfortunate, what with how much aviators do for the overall organization, yet the organization seems to not recognize that nor care.
Sadly, the Air Force is headed down that same road, seemingly.
I worked in X-2 division (Admin) I aint cooking anything... ;-) We did have a Seaman Apprentice though worked in the Officer's mess and always brought us some of the good food. It's about the connections. We MIGHT be able to make some connections for you though...