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True to the Corps: The new face
of Warrant Officer training
By Sgt. Robert G. Cooper III
Indiana National Guard
Adaptive
technical expert, combat leader, advisor and professional; these are
a few of the words that describe the Army’s Warrant Officer Corps.
As a highly-trained individual who assumes the role of teacher and
administrator among a vast array of Army operations, the warrant
officer is crucial to maintaining, leading and managing a system of
success for many military departments.
As such, the need for
warrant officers across the board has continued its upward
progression and created a greater need to train these elite
specialists. Answering
the call to teach were the National Guard Bureau and Command Chief
Warrant Officers from various states, who last year tailored the
Army’s firm indoctrination of the Warrant Officer Corps into
readily-available training for Reserve Components.
In September 2006, Indiana set a landmark
throughout the corps’ history by graduating 119 warrant officer
candidates during the first Warrant Officer Candidate School-
Reserve Component (WOCS-RC). This year, the program continued its
training, graduating 108 candidates on August 4 at the Indiana War
Memorial in Indianapolis. But it’s not stopping here; as a result of
last year’s successes, the program has grown considerably.
Prior to 2006, the only way to receive warrant
officer training was to attend a five-week course at Fort Rucker,
Ala., making it unfeasible for traditional National Guard and
Reserve Soldiers to attend. The WOCS-RC program customized the
training into something more practical; one weekend a month for five
months of on-the-job training, followed by a two-week leadership
course.
“The
Warrant Officer
Candidate School
is important because it is the only way to assess and appoint
warrant officers,” said Chief Warrant Officer Frank T. Vaughn,
Command Chief Warrant Officer of the Indiana National Guard.
“Unlike commissioned officers, we have no direct
appointment process,” he said. “It needs to be earned. This program
is unique in that it allows for Reserve and National Guard members
more flexible opportunities to complete this necessary training with
the same high standards of Fort Rucker. It gives them a chance to
become what they aspire to become without compromising their careers
or families.”
Tough
training for technical experts
Both this year’s and last
year’s two-week training phases were held at the Indiana Military
Academy, which is located at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training
Center, Edinburgh, Ind. Later this September, Fort McClellan,
Ala.,
is scheduled to begin offering the final phase training as well, and
plans to graduate another 120 candidates. Chief Warrant Officer
Chris Jennings, the senior Training, Advising, Counseling (TAC)
officer for Indiana’s training, explained the importance of the
two-week course.
“The focus of training is to develop a more
rounded leader, somebody who can make the right decision and stand
by it,” he said. “As a warrant officer, you can’t micromanage; you
need to step back, evaluate how things are going.”
The course, which tests the physical and mental
capabilities of each individual candidate, stresses leadership and
task prioritizing. Training days incorporate early morning physical
fitness followed by long days of training that require each
candidate to constantly follow strict guidelines that hone their
ability to interpret and analyze orders. In addition to classroom
education, candidates also receive weapons and urban combat
training, conduct land navigation missions, operate and maintain
forward operating bases in hostile environments, and perform squad
tactical exercises that form them into a cohesive fighting team.
Following graduation from
the course, the candidate will then go on to complete the Warrant
Officer Basic Course, which varies depending on the individuals
occupational specialty. Jennings
said that the two-week course prepares them for what lies in store.
“They still have some growing and learning to do
when they leave here, but our job is to get them postured right so
they are ready,” he said.
Warrant Officer Candidate Paul Kawashiri of the
California National Guard, who completed this year’s course, said
that he was challenged constantly throughout the two weeks.
“We trained in a very stressful environment,” he
said. “You don’t know what will happen next, and you have to think
on your feet. You had to make a decision, right or wrong, and stick
with it. This was one of the most challenging leadership schools
I’ve been to.”
Kawashiri said that the school has shaped him into
what the Warrant Officer Corps demands from each person within its
ranks.
“It helped me to identify the weaker points in my
leadership abilities and improve them” he said. “I’ve been in 14
years, been deployed, and managed small teams; this class has helped
me gain more confidence than any of that.”
The need to
grow
Although the history of the Warrant Officer Corps
dates back to 1918 when the first warrant officers served as mine
planters with the Coast Artillery, the WOCS program was created in
1985. Despite the ability to train and appoint warrant officers,
strength numbers across the board are low. On the National Guard
level, strength reports as of July 2007 show that the Warrant
Officer Corps stands at 67 percent strength nationally, with
approximately 6,661 warrant officers assigned.
Vaughn said that there are many reasons for the
low numbers, primarily because of the high standards needed to
become a warrant officer. But another reason is because many of
those who are qualified are vying for open slots at Fort Rucker. Now
that the Reserve Components have more venues in which to receive the
training, strength numbers are expected to increase.
“The word is spreading
Jennings
said “We’ve almost doubled our number of candidates from last year
because of (Fort
McClellan).
Fort Rucker has seen our success. We’re becoming the standard for
all participating states.”
“The timing was correct for this venue,” Vaughn
said. “Next year will be our accreditation year. We hope TRADOC
signs off on it, meaning that we are performing at their standards.”
Despite accreditation, the WOCS-RC is receiving
high marks from Fort Rucker. Col. Mark T. Jones, commandant for the
Warrant Officer Career Center there, praised the accomplishments of
the program
“This program is more than
necessary,” he said.
“Where
the Army is right now, we could not be doing this any other way.”
Jones went on to exemplify Indiana’s
training capabilities.
“How Indiana and Camp Atterbury are allowing other
states to come in and train at our standards is without peer,” he
said. “Chief Vaughn, along with (Indiana Adjutant General) Maj. Gen.
Umbarger and (Indiana Joint Force Land Component Commander) Brig.
Gen Tooley deserves a ton of credit for ensuring that these officers
are produced at such a high caliber. I’ve been there to watch how
they train and prepare them, and I told them, ‘How you get there may
different, but the standard is not compromised.’
“This program is very powerful and very positive,
and I like to see more states step up and see the importance of this
program,” Jones Added.
Currently, 21 states have participated in the
WOCS-RC program by sending their candidates through the course.
“Will other states get involved? Hopefuly,” Jones
said. “But Indiana is leading the pack.”
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