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First Warrant Officer Arrives at the 134th Air Refueling Wing

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Brad West
  • 134th Air Refueling Wing

McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base, Tenn. - The 134th Air Refueling Wing welcomed its first warrant officer from the Air Force’s newly reinstated warrant officer program on May 20, 2025.

Warrant Officer 1 Curtis Cooper, a network analyst with the 119th Cyber Operations Squadron, was among the latest group of Airmen to graduate from Warrant Officer Training School on Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.

WOTS is an eight-week course designed to retain technical expertise and fill technical leadership roles in the Air Force. The training blended physical readiness and team-based activities with leadership instruction and orientation to the new warrant officer identity.

“There was no technical instruction,” Cooper said. “It was more about preparing us to help others understand what a warrant officer is and how we can bring value to a unit.”

Warrant officers in the Air Force are technical experts positioned between commissioned officers and the enlisted ranks. Unlike senior noncommissioned officers, they are not assigned routine administrative responsibilities, such as writing evaluations or handling disciplinary actions. Instead, they serve as high-level advisors and problem solvers within their career fields.

Warrant officers do not replace existing enlisted or officer leadership, but instead support both sides through mentorship and technical proficiency.

“We’re not here to supervise in the traditional sense,” Cooper said. “We’re here to solve problems and provide insight. We’re meant to have a little more free rein to just accomplish things that need to get accomplished without as much bureaucracy as is inherent in other positions.”

Cooper’s appointment comes as the 119th COS continues to grow its cyber capabilities through the Cyber Patrol Team. Prior to his selection, Cooper helped stand up this new team, which he says closely aligns with the purpose of the warrant officer role.

“Our mission involves going to different squadrons, hooking up equipment, assessing networks for vulnerabilities and making recommendations,” he said. “A lot of what I was already doing fit the technical side of this role.”

The Air Force has not announced how many warrant officers it plans to train or for how long. The initiative, first launched in 2024, marks the return of warrant officers to the service for the first time since the 1950s.

“We’re excited to be part of something new,” Cooper said. “We’re not reinventing the wheel, other branches have had warrant officers for decades, but we are building something unique for the Air Force.”

Cooper is one of two warrant officers assigned to the 228th Cyberspace Operations Group, with the other assigned to the 241st Engineering Installation Squadron in Chattanooga. They graduated together and while they are the first warrant officers to return to the wing, leaders anticipate additional appointments as the program grows.