Warrant officers can now join Chemical Corps - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Warrant officers can now join Chemical Corps

The Chemical Corps is opening nearly 300 positions for a cadre of warrant officers with technical expertise in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense.

In establishing warrant officer specialty 740A, the Chemical Corps will convert 13 percent of its branch commissioned officer authorizations to warrant officer positions, to be filled from the active component, National Guard and Army Reserve.

Ultimately, this will allow the Army to significantly reduce the number of officers who are temporarily detailed to the Chemical Corps as lieutenants, and then returned to their basic branch upon promotion to captain.

The warrant officer specialty has been created in response to the need for technical experts who can deal with the emerging areas of CBRN defense, according to Chemical Corps officials.

The experts will be drawn from the ranks of enlisted military occupational specialty 74D (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear specialist), and will be trained to operate at the battalion level and above in providing CBRN vulnerability assessments, reconnaissance, decontamination, force protection and combating weapons of mass destruction.

They also will be trained to provide specialized technical support to civil authorities, and in providing expert advice to commanders.

The Chemical Corps has 2,452 commissioned officers, with 1,070 of those in the active component, 826 National Guard and 556 Army Reserve, according to information provided by the branch’s personnel proponency office at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

The plan is to convert 289 of those authorizations to warrant officer positions — 136 in the active component, 110 in the National Guard and 43 in the Army Reserve.

Initially, the conversions will involve CW2s replacing CBRN lieutenant positions in field artillery, air defense and military intelligence battalions, and in chemical battalion assistant S-2 positions.

The career progression map for CBRN warrant officers includes CW3, CW4 and CW5 positions in explosive ordnance disposal and quartermaster groups, technical escort battalions, maneuver enhancement brigades, chemical brigades, divisions, corps, Army staffs and at the CBRN School, Fort Leonard Wood.

The Army does not plan to convert any CBRN lieutenant positions to warrant officer positions in heavy brigade combat teams, infantry brigade combat teams, Special Forces and aviation battalions, Stryker brigade combat teams, and the recon platoons in brigade combat teams, according to the CBRN School.

Initial selections for the CBRN warrant specialty will be made by the Army-wide warrant officer accession board that meets Nov. 15-19 at Fort Knox, Ky.

Applications for this board must be received by Oct. 1.

Soldiers selected by the November board will attend the six-week Warrant Officer Candidate Course at Fort Rucker, Ala.

Those who successfully complete the course will be appointed to the grade of WO1, and will be scheduled for attendance at the 10-week CBRN warrant officer basic course at Fort Leonard Wood.

On average, warrant officers can expect to be promoted to CW2 at about two years of service.

To apply for the CBRN warrant officer program, active and reserve soldiers must meet these requirements:

• Rank of staff sergeant or above.

• Graduate of the MOS 74D Basic NCO Course (also called the Advanced Leader Course).

• Have less than 12 years of active federal service.

• U.S. citizenship.

• High school degree or the equivalent.

• At least five years experience in MOS 74D, which does not include any time spent in recruiting, drill sergeant duties or other non-technical positions.

Letters of recommendation from a soldier’s company commander and battalion commander must be included in the application packet.

For details about the warrant officer application process, click here.