The Air Force’s first new warrant officers in 66 years graduated Dec. 6 at a ceremony at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.—the inaugural class of the new Warrant Officer Training School (WOTS).
The 30 Airmen spent the past eight weeks in an intense mix of classroom study and physical training to prepare for their new roles, which Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin hopes will help keep the Air Force ahead of rivals such as China and Russia.
“We are in a competition for talent, and we understand that technical talent is going to be so critical to our success as an Air Force in the future,” he said when he announced the return of warrant officers in February.
The Air Force’s career paths for enlisted and commissioned Airmen are geared to put them in leadership roles, but the cybersecurity and information technology career fields move so fast that they require experts who can stay hands-on throughout their careers. Warrant officers already play that role in the other branches except the Space Force.
Staying hands-on sounded perfect to Chief Warrant Officer 2 Richard Barragan, previously a senior master sergeant with 19 years in the Air Force. An information technology expert, Barragan was set on retiring at 20 years, but he enjoyed his most recent role as senior enlisted advisor at Enterprise IT as a Service (EITaaS), an Air Force effort to revamp IT across the branch. Becoming a warrant officer seemed the perfect route to keep doing what he loved.
“It’s been eye-opening to see the effect you can have in that role where you’re asked ‘what do you think?’ and ‘how should we do this?’” Barragan said. “I just love being in that environment, so it makes perfect sense to go the warrant officer route.”
The possibility has Barragan thinking about serving another five or even 10 years beyond what he originally planned. His classmate, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Tajh Smith, made a similar calculation. Previously a master sergeant with 10 years of service, Smith said he had considered getting out because his career path would soon take him out of operational work.
“A lot of folks within the class feel the same way: we kind of need the chaos of the operations world,” he said. “That’s kind of our cup of coffee that keeps us going.”
Becoming a warrant officer offered a third path and a chance to pay forward the mentorship that warrant officers from other services had given Smith throughout his career.
“When I heard about it, I was like ‘you know what, I’ll throw a Hail Mary and see what happens,’” he said. “It’s definitely been a dream come true to be able to have this opportunity.”
Back to School
The two new warrant officers and their fellow graduates faced intense competition to get into the program: nearly 500 Airmen applied for just 60 slots when applications opened in April. Of those, 433 applications were deemed eligible, but the caliber of the applicants was so high that officials decided to bump the first cohort to 78 slots.
The candidates were experienced Airmen at the rank of staff sergeant and above, so some were surprised to find that WOTS spent a lot of time on marching, drill, room inspections, workouts, memorizing standard operating procedures, and other entry-level activities. But there was a plus side to working out six days a week.
“It definitely got everybody a lot more fit,” Barragan said.
On top of the physical workouts was a demanding academic schedule that included wargaming, discussing case studies from actual Air Force missions, and honing communication skills, a huge part of a warrant officer’s job. Throughout his career, Smith saw warrant officers bring clarity to chaotic situations where the stakeholders disagreed on how to solve a problem.
“When the dust settles, the commander looks back at that warrant officer and is like ‘OK so what do you think?’” he said. “Or the warrant officer will bring everybody back to a level playing field and put things in perspective.”
Besides the lessons learned, Smith said it was also helpful just working with his classmates, who he described as “top-tier individuals.” Many were strangers before WOTS, but now they have a professional network.
“That has been probably one of the most beneficial things about this course,” he said. “When you reflect on issues back at your old units, it’s like ‘man, I know somebody now within the cohort who could have helped me figure this out.’”
‘Ease Some of that Burden’
Barragan and Smith will return to familiar places after graduating. Barragan will work at a different office but still help with EITaaS, while Smith will return to serving as a technical director for cyber operations at U.S. Cyber Command. Now it’s up to them and their fellow graduates to prove warrant officers bring something special to the Air Force.
“I’m hoping it’s not an experiment, like enlisted pilots or other initiatives that never panned out,” Barragan said.
Feedback from commanders will play a large role in that decision, he explained, but each commander may have different expectations based on their mission, job specialty, or personal preference. To address that, officials from Air Force headquarters are visiting bases across the service to explain how warrant officers are best utilized.
The niche the 30 new warrant officers will step into is currently occupied by senior noncommissioned officers (NCOs) and company grade officers. But those leaders also have to deal with administrative details such as filling out upgrade training forms and writing enlisted performance briefs, while warrant officers do not.
“We might not be writing EPBs, but we are still there to teach, coach, and mentor those Airmen from the mission standpoint, in conjunction with the NCOs,” Smith said. “Right now, they have to find some way to give 100 percent on both the operational side and the administrative side. But you only have one 100 percent, and you still have to give some percentage back to your family. We’re there to help ease some of that burden … in order to ultimately accomplish the mission.”
Smith and Barragan just hope Air Force leaders have the patience to see the initiative bear fruit.
“My concern is that at the end they just say ‘OK, this has been fun, we’re done, everybody go back to regular life,’ without actually giving the program and the warrant officers that have been produced by it a chance to really have an impact,” Smith said.
But if it works, the warrant officer project could be expanded to other career fields. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in March that he expects the program will eventually include other specialties, pending its success in cyber and IT. Smith said he’s spoken with Airmen from security forces, medical, intelligence, and other fields who also want warrant officers.
For now, the next batch of Air Force warrant officers are due to graduate in March 2025, with applications for the next cohort of warrant officer candidates opening up the same month.
Lt. Col. Justin Ellsworth, a cyber operations career field manager at Air Force headquarters who helped bring the warrant officer program to life, had a tip for future applicants: submit a strong technical letter, where an expert highlights the applicant’s technical skill and leadership.
“That’s what the board is looking for: are you that technical expert, are you that go-to person in your organization?” he said. “Those are the folks that we’re really looking for.”