Brit warrant officers made redundant via email

[vaskidmark]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/3411906/38-senior-Army-heroes-including-one-on-the-Afghan-front-line-are-sacked-by-email.html

As the headline says, one wattant officer currently humping his backside all over Talibanland, and four other WOs, got notice via email to pack up their kit bag and smile, smile, smile.  No packet of KY Yours and Mine.

Seeing as how warrant officers are usually the best of both worlds for the troops (they used to be one of us, and generally act like us except we have to salute them), and an unending source of confusion for the commissioned corps (we have to let them into the O-Club but they are not really our equals) laying them off as redundant not only takes out the accumulated history, wisdom and operational knowledge of the military, it makes the troops wonder who might be next.  Doing it by email is just all that more special.

First (f)GB refuses to grant citizenship to retired Gurkas on the grounds that they cannot afford to offer them medical care, and now this.  I'm thinking that Airstrip One is losing it's value.  It's fairly obvious that certain parts of the MoD have lost their minds.

stay safe.

[RevDisk]

Last night the MoD said: "We apologise for the inevitable distress this will have caused. Commanding officers have now spoken to the soldiers to ensure they receive all necessary advice and support."

MoD's position was "We're deeply sorry about this hitting the media and promise to do nothing about it."

Great.  Because the best quality folks won't notice this treatment, that nothing was done about it, and bail.

[Hawkmoon]

Last night the MoD said: "We apologise for the inevitable distress this will have caused. Commanding officers have now spoken to the soldiers to ensure they receive all necessary advice and support."

Yes, yes ... quite so.

Translation: "Now that the slap in the face has been duly (and smartly) administered, commanding officers have been dispatched to apply soothing balm to the wounds."

[MechAg94]

So they didn't reassign them or find a way for them to finish their careers in a different job/rank, they just kick them out?  Does that make any sense?

[MicroBalrog]

Are Warrant Officers the same thing in England as they are down here in the desert? A career NCO?

[Hawkmoon]

Are Warrant Officers the same thing in England as they are down here in the desert? A career NCO?

I don't know about the British army, but in the U.S. Army warrant officers are not NCOs. They are sort of between NCOs and commissioned officers. They are typically specialists, who are accorded the general perks of a company grade officer (officers club rather than EM club, enlisted personnel salute warrant officers but do not salute NCOs, etc.) but who don't have command rank. Rather than an NCO, more of a CNO ("Commissioned Non-Officer").

[Matthew Carberry]

Astonishingly they have their first officer rank by Warrant of their Service Secretary rather than a Commission from the Pres.

There are jobs that need command authority that would take too long for Lt's to master (like, say, most of them) so you give an experienced NCO a little more power to ensure things keep running smooth.

[French G.]

Astonishingly they have their first officer rank by Warrant of their Service Secretary rather than a Commission from the Pres.

There are jobs that need command authority that would take too long for Lt's to master (like, say, most of them) so you give an experienced NCO a little more power to ensure things keep running smooth.

Like ALL of them. Different services are different too. In the Army you can be a 19yr old WO fresh off the street with the keys to a helicopter. Now the navy thinks you need a liberal arts degree to be allowed to crash a helicopter...
Actually in the Navy there is no way to be a CWO without first having been at least a Chief. They are pretty much the top of the division level food chain. (what would be company level to you drylanders) Aside from one notable suckass, and one who got beat up a lot in school and as an E-man, I remember, they are generally great guys. My last active CoC had two warrants and an LDO LCDR as department head. Wonderful.

[Scout26]

There are jobs that need command authority that would take too long for Lt's to master (like, say, most of them) so you give an experienced NCO a little more power to ensure things keep running smooth.

Ummm, not quite.  WO's as a rule generally aren't given commands.  They are specialists. Like in Maintenance or Communications.  Most CID (Criminal Investigations Division) agents are Warrant Officers, some have prior service as enlisted. (One of my E-4's applied for and was accepted into the CID Warrant Program) others like French G said are 19yo Helicopter Pilots, their are Commissioned Officer pilots, but they generally end up in command slots which means they do lots of paperwork, while all the warrants do is fly. 

And they have the best of both (enlisted and commissioned) worlds.

[roo_ster]

Most warrant officers I worked with had been NCOs of the E6-E7 flavor before going warrant. 

I was also lucky to serve under several mustangs, one of which was a former E7*.  Another musting I knew as an E7 who was the platoon sgt, got his commission, and came back as the platoon leader O1.  He may have been a 2LT, but he was no butter bar.



* Also served with an E6 who had been RIFfed when he was a company commander O3 some years back.