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CW5 David Williams Army Staff Senior Warrant Officer Headquarters, Department of the Army

2nd Quarter, Fiscal Year 2016 Newsletter 13 April 2016

ARSTAF SWO Mission Statement

The Army Staff Senior Warrant Officer (ARSTAF SWO) provides the Chief of Staff of the Army (CSA) with subject matter expertise on all aspects of warrant officer training and development, communicates with commanders, senior leaders, and warrant officers throughout the Total Army to ensure their concerns and recommendations are considered, and synchronizes warrant officer policies and management actions in order to ensure the Warrant Officer Cohort is fully prepared to support the Army and Joint

Force of the future.

Greetings once again from the Pentagon! For those of you who are new to the cohort, welcome! It is my goal to publish a newsletter each quarter to keep everyone informed of what we are doing for YOU and what is happening at HQDA. This quarter was extremely busy. I had the privilege of visiting eight installations across CONUS. In January, the first-ever Warrant Officer Solarium gathered 84 CW2s/CW3s at Ft. Leavenworth in order to identify issues impacting the cohort and Army readiness into the foreseeable future, and provide recommendations to senior Army leaders. Links to articles written about the solarium are further down in the newsletter. In February, I visited Ft. Bliss and briefed senior NCOs attending the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy. The purpose of my briefing was to inform future sergeants major about the current state of the Warrant Officer Cohort, provide a short history about warrant officers, and request their help in assessing quality NCOs to become warrant officers. In March, the Army Warrant Officer 2025 (WO 2025) Strategy was approved by the Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Army, marking a major milestone for the cohort. A brief history explaining the reasons why we need a strategy is on the next page. If you want up-to-date information on what’s happening in the Warrant Officer Cohort, I recommend visiting my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ARSTAFSWO. As pertinent information is released, I instantly post it to my page. Viewing my page doesn’t require you to have an account; simply type in the link, and you can see what’s happening in real time. Of course, if you do have a Facebook account, make sure you “LIKE” my page! Lastly, my installation visits this quarter were phenomenal once again. I continue to receive candid and helpful feedback from warrant officers and senior leaders that I share with the CSA and Army Staff. I consider it an honor and privilege to serve all of you in this capacity. If you have a suggestion or need help with an issue, please feel free to contact my assistant, CW3 Sexton at michael.e.sexton.mil@mail.mil or 703-697-6789, to set up a phone or office call. Thank you for all that you do for our cohort, your unit, the Army, and the Nation! Army Strong!

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The Army Warrant Officer 2025 Strategy It has been a long and arduous road, but the WO 2025 Strategy has finally been approved! Thank you to the warrant officers who spent countless hours researching, refining, and developing the strategy over the last year. Your tireless and thankless efforts will have a lasting impact on warrant officers over the next decade. So…why does the Warrant Officer Cohort need a strategy? Glad you asked! If you look to the left of this article, you will see links to historical warrant officer studies. Most of you are probably familiar with some of them; however, you should be familiar will ALL of them. These studies influenced how we (warrant officers) got to where we are today. The studies, although vital to improvement, were piece mealed and failed to keep pace with the evolutionary nature of our Army. Each time issues were identified, a study was conducted, and fixes were subsequently recommended to HQDA. Some recommendations were implemented; however, many were not, only to be revisted time and again in future studies. If you notice the year of each study, you’ll realize that every 7-11 years a study was conducted (1985, 1992, 2002, 2013) to “fix” warrant officer issues. Management by study served warrant officers well for the past 31 years; but, moving forward, a coherent strategy was needed to keep pace with future force objectives. The WO2025 Strategy was developed and synchronized with the Army Operating Concept, Force 2025 and Beyond, Human Dimension Strategy, Army Leader Development Strategy and Warrant Officer Continuum of Learning Study. These documents serve as the foundation and guiding principles for the shaping of the warrant officer of the future.The WO2025 Strategy also applies the Army Warfighting Challenges (AWC) to frame the learning and collaboration required for the future force. The WO 2025 Strategy provides vision and guidance on the ends, ways and means for accessing, developing and utilizing WOs to best serve the Army now and in the future. The WO 2025 Strategy is organized into four distinct Lines of Effort (LOEs) that are synchronized with the AWCs. The LOEs emphasize redesigning the recruiting and selection process, revitalizing WO professional military education, posturing leader development for effective utilization and joint force integration, and institutionalizing a culture of professionalism. The LOEs are: (1) Accessions: In order to meet the demanding and unknown future requirements identified in the Army Operating Concept, the Army will reevaluate the current accessions model.

Links to Historical Warrant Officer Studies & WO 2025 1985 – TWOS Total Warrant Officer Study handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA172309 (copy and paste link into web browser) 1992 – WOLDAP Warrant Officer Leader Development Panel https://warrantofficerhistory.org/PDF/WOLDAP_Memo_2-27-92.pdf 2002 – ATLDP-WO Army Training & Leader Development Panel Warrant Officer Study http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/atld-panel/wo_report.pdf 2013 – WOCLS Warrant Officer Continuum of Learning Study https://www.milsuite.mil/book/docs/DOC-164240 2016 – WO 2025 Warrant Officer 2025 Strategy http://www.tradoc.army.mil/tpubs/misc/WO2025_Strategy_20160329.pdf

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3rd Quarter, FY 16 Tentative Events Installation Visits *Ft. Lee (15 APR) *Germany (18-22 APR) *Ft. Gordon (26 APR) *Ft. Rucker (09-11 MAY) Facebook Virtual Town Hall * “Warrant Officer 2025” (03 MAY, 1400 EST) www.facebook.com/ARSTAFSWO * = Tentative event that can be changed or canceled at any time.

(2) Development: WOs serve as the Army's technical experts, systems operators, integrators and collective trainers of Soldiers. Development efforts will focus on sustaining and improving these competencies to enhance readiness and reduce reliance on contractor support. (3) Talent Management and Utilization: The Army will review how WOs are managed and assigned and develop ways to ensure top talent is retained and placed in the best possible roles. (4) Army Profession: The Army will develop WO cohort specific materials to increase understanding, improve mentorship and counseling, as well as enhance the pride and esprit de corps of all service members. In short, the WO 2025 Strategy provides strategic direction to ensure Army Warrant Officers are technologically agile, adaptive, and innovative leaders.

*** WO 2025 Facebook Virtual Town Hall *** To clear up any questions you may have about the strategy, I will host a Facebook Virtual Town Hall on 03 May 2016 at 1400 EST. Read ahead questions are strongly encouraged. Please email questions directly to CW3 Sexton at NLT 27 April 2016. Warrant Officer Solarium 2016 US Army STAND-TO! Announcement http://www.army.mil/standto/archive_2016-01-13/

FtLeavenworthLamp.com Article http://www.ftleavenworthlamp.com/news/20160121/warrant-officers-gather-for-solarium

Three-part Solarium Series by Army.mil Part I http://www.army.mil/article/161079/Solarium__Warrants_need_training__Army_over_relies_on_contractors/ Part II http://www.army.mil/article/161172/Solarium__Warrants_want_to_get_in_STEP_with_professional_military_education/

Part III http://www.army.mil/article/161225/Solarium__Some_warrants_get_more_broadening_than_others/

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Army Staff Senior Warrant Officer Accomplishments March 14, 2016 marked the two-year anniversary of the establishment of the Army Staff Senior Warrant Officer position. Since being appointed, I have worked tirelessly with senior Army leaders, warrant officers, and NCOs to implement many changes and initiatives for the betterment of warrant officers across all three components. Some of these changes and initiatives include:

- Warrant Officer 2025 Strategy

- Army Directive 2015-30 (Professional Military Education, Leader

Development and Talent Management for Warrant Officers)

- ARSTAF SWO Facebook page created to keep warrant officers

informed on a daily basis

- ARSTAF SWO Newsletter created to keep warrant officers

informed quarterly

- Army Senior Warrant Officer Summit (brought together ~150

senior warrant officers to hear from senior Army leaders and

discuss warrant officer issues)

- 2016 Warrant Officer Solarium (afforded our CW2s/CW3s the

ability to discuss warrant officer issues amongst themselves and

voice their concerns to senior Army leaders)

- Stratification of the warrant officer grades (WO1/CW2 = Company

Grade Warrant Officers; CW3/CW4 = Field Grade Warrant

Officers; CW5 = Senior Field Grade Warrant Officers)

- Field Grade housing authorized for CW3/CW4; Senior Field

Grade housing authorized for CW5

- Field Grade and Senior Field Grade Warrant Officers authorized

wear of the Field Grade Service Cap

- Warrant officer selected to be a Legislative Liaison (Capitol Hill)

- Warrant officers authorized to attend 30-day HQDA Strategic

Broadening Seminars

- Nine warrant officers authorized to attend the Command and

General Staff Officer Course (CGSOC) annually

- AUSA Breakfast and WOPD established annually in the National

Capital Region

Stay up-to-date on Army publications, MILPER messages, and Army news by subscribing to the following websites: US Army STAND-TO! https://lists.army.mil/mailman/listinfo/stand-to Army Publishing Updates http://www.apd.army.mil/AdminPubs/new_subscribe.asp#subscribe (copy and paste link into web browser) S1 Net If you would like to join S1NET: 1. Create a milSuite account at https://www.milsuite.mil/. 2. After establishing a milSuite account, proceed to the S1NET Home Page at https://www.milsuite.mil/s1net. Look for the “Join S1NET” widget in the upper left corner and use it to join. Approval is automatic.

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Potential Warrant Officer Broadening Assignments and Education Opportunities - TAC Officer - Branch or WOCC Schoolhouse Instructor - HRC Assignment Manager - CSA Strategic Studies Group - Strategic Broadening Seminars - White House Fellowship - Office of Congressional and Legislative Liaison (OCLL) - Training with Industry (TWI) *select branches only

- Degree Completion - SAMS - CGSOC This list is not all inclusive. For more information, contact your Branch Manager or CWOB/RCWO, and stay up-to-date on all MILPER Messages. https://www.hrc.army. mil/Milper/All

- Warrant officer selected to serve on the Army Talent Management

Task Force overseeing warrant officer initiatives

- Aviation and Special Forces Brigade CCWOs authorized to attend

phase I and III of the Pre-Command Course with their command

team

- Select CW5s authorized to attend US Army War College Strategic

Leader Seminars

- Select warrant officers attend Army forums

- Countless Warrant Officer Professional Development (WOPD)

briefings conducted at 26 installations across the Army

- WOPD briefings for 14 WOILE classes and 11 WOSSE classes

conducted at Ft. Rucker

- Briefings conducted at CGSOC and the United States Army

Sergeants Major Academy informing ~2,400 Field Grade Officers

and ~800 senior NCOs on the duties and responsibilities of warrant

officers

USAR AGR Officer and Warrant Officer Accessions HRC continuously accepts applications from qualified officers and warrant officers for the USAR AGR program. Members of the AGR Program serve in an active duty status while supporting USAR operations, projects, and programs. If you are a qualified officer or warrant officer who is interested in joining this highly competitive, nominative program; please review the document at https://www.milsuite.mil/book/docs/DOC-231962 for program information and application details. ARNG and USAR Warrant Officer Shortages The National Guard and Army Reserve are critically short warrant officers in certain specialties. If you are interested in transitioning from the Active Component to the National Guard or Army Reserve, contact: ARNG USAR CW2 Darrell Beal CW5 Mark Sutton 703-607-0881 404-469-4175 darrell.h.beal.mil@mail.mil mark.a.sutton.mil@mail.mil

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General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award Congratulations to the following warrant officers on their selection as Calendar Year 15 General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award winners: Active Army CW2 Derrick Doyle (OD) CW2 Clarence Rabon (SF) National Guard WO1 Ryan Anderson (AG) Army Reserve CW2 Daniel Duggins (OD)

CW4 Stephen Love, CW3 Sharon Mullens, and CW3 Jason Wright were selected to attend an HQDA Strategic Broadening Seminar at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom (Cranfield University - Shrivenham). During the seminar, they will begin the process of attaining a Post-Graduate Certificate in Defence Leadership.

Warrant Officer Corps or Cohort? I get asked this question on numerous occasions, so here is the history behind the answer. On 09 July 2004, the Warrant Officer Corps was officially dissolved based on a recommendation in the 2002 ATLDP-WO Study. As a result, warrant officers became a part of the overall Officer Corps, removing the Eagle Rising insignia and Warrant Officer Branch Color (Brown), and replacing them with their branch insignia and color. This relegated the Eagle Rising and Warrant Officer Branch Color into history. Although the Warrant Officer Corps no longer exists, we are considered a cohort inside of the overall Officer Corps. The definition of a cohort is a group of people banded together or treated as a group. Reference the 2002 ATLDP-WO Study to fully understand the history behind the decision.

“Eagle Rising”

1921-2004

CW2 Nicholas Punimata, a native of American Samoa became the first warrant officer to be presented the GEN MacArthur Leadership Award in 2001. CW2 Punimata was assigned as Commander, Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha 151, Ft. Lewis, WA when selected.

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www.facebook.com/ARSTAFSWO

@ARSTAFSWO

Best of luck to all warrant officers eligible on this year’s Promotion Selection Board!!

Facebook The purpose of my Facebook page is to be a place where every warrant officer can go for the latest news, updates, and stories about the cohort. If you know of an event that should be recognized, please email it to CW3 Sexton. If it’s noteworthy, I’ll share it on my page. This helps tell our story to the Army and to the world. I look forward to hearing from you!