en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Officer_(armed_forces)
3 corrections found
The Air Force has discontinued its warrant-officer program and has no LDO program.
This is outdated. The U.S. Air Force reintroduced its warrant officer program in 2024, and new Air Force warrant officers were already graduating and serving by 2025.
Full reasoning
Official U.S. Air Force and DoD sources show that this statement is no longer true.
- A Jan. 16, 2025 Air Force news story reported that Scott Air Force Base had welcomed its first Air Force warrant officers in 66 years from the inaugural Warrant Officer Training School flights.
- A Sept. 12, 2025 Air National Guard / DVIDS article states plainly that “The U.S. Air Force reintroduced the Warrant Officer career path in 2024” and describes a 2025 Warrant Officer Training School graduate already serving in that role.
So while the Air Force had previously phased out warrant officers, the article's present-tense claim that the program “has discontinued” is incorrect as of the Air Force's 2024 reintroduction of the warrant officer career path.
2 sources
- DVIDS - News - Scott welcomes its first warrant officers in 66 years
Scott Air Force Base officially welcomes its first warrant officers from the inaugural graduating flights of the Warrant Officer Training school in 66 years, marking a historic milestone in the Air Force's re-optimization effort.
- DVIDS - News - Warranted Opportunity for 195th Wing Enlisted
The U.S. Air Force reintroduced the Warrant Officer career path in 2024 for the first time since 1958.
Commissioned officers are considered commanding officers under presidential authority.
This overstates what a commission means. Not all commissioned officers are commanding officers, and some commissioned officer categories are not entitled to exercise command because of rank.
Full reasoning
Under U.S. law, “commanding officer” is a specific role, not a synonym for every commissioned officer.
- 10 U.S.C. § 801 defines a commanding officer as a category that “includes only commissioned officers.” That means commanding officers must be commissioned officers, but it does not mean all commissioned officers are commanding officers.
- 10 U.S.C. § 9229 further shows the blanket statement is false by stating that certain commissioned officers—such as medical, dental, veterinary, medical service, biomedical sciences officers, and nurses—are “not entitled to exercise command because of rank” except in limited cases.
So a commission may confer officer status and authority, but it does not make every commissioned officer a commanding officer.
2 sources
- 10 U.S. Code § 801 - Article 1. Definitions
The term “commanding officer” includes only commissioned officers.
- 10 U.S. Code § 9229 - Command: commissioned officers in certain designated categories
An officer designated as a medical, dental, veterinary, medical service, or biomedical sciences officer or as a nurse is not entitled to exercise command because of rank...
the last of the previous cohort of USAF warrant officers retired in the 1980s
The retirement date is wrong. Official Air Force reporting says the last warrant officer in the Air Force retired in 1992, not in the 1980s.
Full reasoning
This sentence gives the wrong decade for the end of the earlier Air Force warrant officer cohort.
An official Air Force article published in 2026 states: “In 1992, CW4 Bob Barrow retired from the Air Force Reserve as the last warrant officer in the Air Force.” That directly contradicts the article's claim that the last of the prior USAF warrant officers retired in the 1980s.
Other Air Force/DoD reporting is consistent with that timeline, describing the 2024-2025 return of warrant officers as the first such Air Force warrant officers in decades, not because they all disappeared in the 1980s, but because the final Air Force warrant officer retired in 1992.
2 sources
- Air Force welcomes first CW5 in 34 years
“In 1992, CW4 Bob Barrow retired from the Air Force Reserve as the last warrant officer in the Air Force and was honorarily promoted to CW5.”
- DVIDS - News - Scott welcomes its first warrant officers in 66 years
Scott Air Force Base officially welcomes its first warrant officers from the inaugural graduating flights of the Warrant Officer Training school in 66 years.