Warrant officer

Two Warrant Officers of the Bermuda Regiment

Warrant Officer Warrant Officer (WO) - a group of ranks in English-speaking countries, as well as in the former colonies of Great Britain.

According to the status, the warrant officer occupies an intermediate position between sergeants and junior officers, and performs special functions of a technical specialist. However, the Warrant Officer is not expected to command any military unit, unlike the junior officers in the army and navy.

A warrant officer is a very rough analogue of a warrant officer in the countries of the former USSR, a graduate student in French and Portuguese speaking countries, or fenrich in German speaking countries.

In the army of the Russian Empire , the rank of ordinary officer was appropriate; the same word, and not “warrant officer”, was used in the English-Russian dictionary compiled by the US Department of Defense in 1945 ^[1] .

Unlike junior officer ranks ( Eng. Commissioned officer ), which usually requires an officer patent (“commission”) from the head of state or commander in chief, the rank of warrant officer is given by order of the Minister of Defense or the military commander. In the USA, warrant officers, starting with the CWO, also receive a patent from the Secretary of Defense, although they are not considered junior ("field") officers; starting from the captain (army and marines) and lieutenant (navy and coast guard), a patent is issued on behalf of the president of the United States.