40 years and counting: Special Forces warrant officers celebrate 4 decades of history, service

Photo By Steve Morningstar | Retired Special Forces Warrant Officers gather for the dedication of the CW4 Harry Rider conference room in the Special Forces Warrant Officer Institute on the SWCS campus, on Nov 11, 2022, at Fort Bragg, NC. (unknown photographer)  

FORT LIBERTY, NC, UNITED STATES

05.09.2024

Story by Steve Morningstar 

United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School

FORT LIBERTY, N.C. – “We have agreed, after careful assessment, that a separate career system for Special Operations personnel is feasible and appropriate for enlisted personnel, warrant officers, and commissioned officers.” When the former Honorable John Marsh, Secretary of the Army, signed this memorandum in 1984, the Special Forces Warrant Officer career field was created. The quote is the centerpiece of the entire memo. From those critical words, the Special Forces Warrant Officer career field was born and is now celebrating 40 years of service on May 15.
Special Forces warrant officers emerged from an Army study of special operations forces conducted by colonels John H. “Scotty” Crerar and Charles A. Beckwith in 1981. While the study was broad, its examination of the Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alpha (SFOD-A) structure and leadership recognized the need for a seasoned Special Forces technician and tactician as the detachment executive officer or Assistant Detachment Commander. The gap the study identified was the lack of commissioned officers and the inexperience of the lieutenants being assigned to the SFOD-A. The study was conducted in the U.S. Information Agency Advisor's office at John F. Kennedy Hall at then Fort Bragg, N.C.
The Special Forces warrant officer was the answer to have an experienced officer providing mentorship and continuity to the Special Forces Operational Detachment - Alpha. The first class of selectees to attend training were senior non-commissioned officers including Sergeant Majors (E-9), Master Sergeants (E-8), and Sergeant First Class (E-7), with numerous years of experience. While adding an experienced officer to the Assistant Detachment Commander (ADC) position was the goal, Special Forces warrant officers proved to be much more and filled a larger role.
“[An SF warrant officer is] a subject matter expert, understanding unconventional warfare, and leaning into the irregular warfare space,” said Chief Warrant Officer 5 Gary Ostrander, Command Chief Warrant officer for the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. “The SF Warrant also serves as the mentor, not just to the enlisted side, leadership ‘down and in’, also mentoring the captain, leadership ‘up and out.’”
Ostrander added that “the SF warrant officer knows where to find the answers.”
Chief Warrant Officer 5 John R. Anderson III, Special Forces Warrant Officer Institute commandant, explained they “have a plethora of knowledge, tools, and capabilities that other warrant officers don’t even consider.”
“The systems we must work in intelligence, dissemination, and analysis, targeting cycle and operations; the SF Warrant has a piece in all of it,” he said. “They are educated in operational planning and, as they progress in the career field, their education keeps pace and is comparable to the position and level in which they are working.”
Special Forces warrant officers fill key positions across special operations forces commands, including 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne), U.S. Army Special Operations Command, theater special Operations commands, joint and combined special operations commands, U.S. Special Operations Command, and key U.S. Army positions as versatile and innovative leaders, fully capable of operating in uncertain and challenging environments.
Now that the Special Forces warrant officer is established, an education system is necessary.
“When it originally began in 1984, SF warrant officer candidates attended a three-week officer orientation course after successful completion of Warrant Officer Candidate School,” said Guy Griffaw, Instructor – Writer for the Warrant Officer courses.
Early Special Forces warrant officer training was modeled after Military Intelligence warrant officer curriculum. Military Intelligence was tied to the Special Forces warrant officer for career progression purposes after detachment experiences. As the career field grew, positions and opportunities opened at levels above the detachment, resulting in additional professional military education being developed to meet the demand.
Through lessons learned and best practices since its inception from the past 40 years, the Special Forces warrant officer program evolved from courses and academy models to today’s Special Forces Warrant Officer Institute, established in 2007. It is in the new Volckmann Hall on the SWCS campus. It took on the designation of ‘institute’ due to its alignment with technical professional education.
Leadership education is a unique requirement for the Special Forces warrant officer.
“An SF warrant officer assumes an immediate leadership position as the Assistant Detachment Commander of an SFOD-A upon appointment,” Anderson said. “No other warrant officer in the U.S. Army serves in a combat leadership position, they serve as technicians and subject matter experts.”
Anderson added that “Special Forces warrant officers can expect to be in charge. They serve in a myriad of positions from ADC on a SFOD-A to staff positions as operations warrant officer at the company and battalion levels through the most senior level, as chief warrant officer 5.
“You will find a chief warrant officer 5 on a senior staff at a general officer-level command or sitting on his Commander’s Initiative Group (CIG) or be selected to the nominative position of command chief warrant officer,” he said.
A new initiative within the Special Forces branch to prepare senior warrant officers for staffs and future leadership positions is the Senior Warrant Officer Seminar.
“The Senior Warrant Officer Seminar is an executive-level leadership training and education to prepare senior warrants to sit on senior staffs and ascend to senior leadership positions,” Anderson said.
Ostrander added on the leadership SF and Aviation have shown the Warrant Officer career field.
“The terms senior warrant officer advisors and command chief warrant officer were only used by Special Forces and aviation. A MILPER (military personnel) message was issued in September 2023, where the terms and definitions were codified, and it directed the other warrant officer career fields to establish these positions.”
Anderson added that he doesn’t “see huge rudder changes. What we do and how we do it will always be rooted in the baseline, threat informed, operationally focused, and tactically driven.”
The Special Operations Force will see an expansion within the career field as robotics continue to integrate into the SOF enterprise. The Special Forces Warrant Officer Institute is helping develop the new career field of ARSOF robotics technician warrant officer. The field is being built with the same baseline of the Special Forces warrant officer.

• Date Taken: 05.09.2024
• Date Posted: 05.10.2024 07:12
• Story ID: 470899
• Location: FORT LIBERTY, NC, US