The difference between a Commissioned Officer and a warrant officer?

Answer 1

In UK an Officer holds the Queens commission. Senior NCOs are warrant officers & they have a Royal Warrant. NCOs are non-commissioned Officers, they do not have a commission. Privates do what they are told ! Other than very junior Officers who may well be 'advised' by senior NCOs, the Commissioned Officer is the one who makes the executive decision. He is there to give the orders & provide the leadership. The senior NCO however is the one who has time-served his position. More so in times gone by than now this was very much part of the British Class system. The commissioned ranks would be only an option if you had the' breeding' ! (&, of course, the money)

Answer 2

Warrant officers are a grade of officer, generally found in all three services, whose authority stems from a warrant, usually signed by a government minister or representative of a service board. As such they rank below commissioned officers but above NCOs or petty officers. Warrant officers originated in the 17th century, as 'standing officers' on warships---like the sailing master, carpenter, and gunner---appointed because of specific technical skills and holding Navy Board warrants.

Their use extended into armies in two ways. First, as in the naval context, to emphasize particular skills, especially in logistic and administrative areas: for many years the British army's senior warrant rank was that of Conductor in the Army Ordnance Corps (later Royal Army Ordnance Corps). Secondly, to grant added status to individuals whose functions were clearly more important than those of NCOs but could not be granted commissioned rank. The rank of adjutant (not to be confused with the post of adjutant, held by a commissioned officer in the British army) was introduced into the French army in the 18th century, and in the 19th the British Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM), initially simply the most senior NCO, became a warrant officer.

The British army created the warrant rank of Company Sergeant Major (CSM) in 1913: CSMs ranked as Warrant Officers Class 2 and RSMs as Warrant Officers Class 1. The rank of Warrant Officer Class 3, Platoon Sergeant Major, was introduced just before WW II to produce warrant officer platoon commanders, but was not a success and was allowed to lapse. Here the British were influenced by the success of German Unteroffiziere mit Portepee ('NCOs with (an officer's) sword knot') in WW I, but the notion did not transplant into the British army where distinctions between commissioned and non-commissioned rank were often as much social as military.

The use of warrant officers by the US Army reflects the older use of the rank as a means of giving pay and status to an individual whose technical skill may not be mirrored by a need to exercise wide command responsibility. Warrant officers were recruited in large numbers during the Vietnam War to fly helicopters.

The status of warrant officers is reflected by their uniforms and badges of rank which are often more like those of officers than those of NCOs and men: in the British army the break point comes between WO1 and WO2. In some forces they mess with the officers and, like them, are saluted.

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In the US Military, Warrant Officers are treated the same as Commissioned Officers in that they are saluted by enlisted soldiers. They are addressed as "Mister/Miss" or "Sir/Ma'am" as well. Informally, they are often called "Chief" in the Army or "Gunner" in the Navy/Marines. In the Army, warrant officers upon reaching CWO-2 rank become commissioned officers, although they are maintain their warrant rank badges and title.

Answer 3

A Warrant Officer is an enlisted soldier that went to Officer Candidate School and Commisson Officer is one that has graduated from a college or University and received an Degree

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Wrong. A commissioned officer is an officer who holds a executive or royal commission, thus they are actually members of the executive branch of government. In the US military they receive their commissions either through a military academy, ROTC, Officer Candidate School or (rarely) a battlefield commission. A US commissioned officer is commissioned by the President and ratified by congress.

A Warrant Officer is an officer who's authority is initially derived by warrant (in the US military) through the Secretaries of their particular service. Later, warrant officers may be commissioned by the President as well, but their rank is still below that of standard commissioned officers.

Answer 4

Non-commissioned officers, "noncoms" for short, are men who are not actual officers, but who do have control, charge, or supervision over other men. Noncom ranks are some specialist ranks, corporals, sergeants, staff sergeants etc.

Commissioned officers are "brass", Second Lieutenant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, etc., and who have command over units of men, platoons, batteries, companies, troops, brigades, corps, etc.; or, over specific missions or deployments.

There is a third class of officer in American ranks call the Warrant officer. Warrant officers have the command authority of a noncom, but the rank equivalent of juniro to mid-grade officers. It is traditional in the US Army for example to defer to the knowledge and authority of a warrant officer in his area of specialty regardless of ones rank due in no small part to the specialized training and job responsibility they receive.