FORT SILL, Okla. (May 22, 2014) -- Chief Warrant Officer 5 David Williams visited Fort Sill May 14, as part of his tour of facilities as the first Army senior warrant officer.
The position was created in March to provide Gen. Ray Odierno, Army chief of staff, subject matter expertise on warrant officer training and development.
"General Odierno wanted to have eyes and ears within the warrant officer ranks to improve things. So, I serve as his warrant officer adviser to deal with day-to-day issues, from training, promotions -- everything dealing with warrant officers," Williams said.
"The warrant officers have said for years that they wanted to have a champion within the Pentagon. We did a study about a year ago and that echoed the same thing that warrant officers felt within the Pentagon. We would get more things done if we had a champion to explain things to our senior Army leadership," Williams said. "That's what we hope will come out of this trip, and out of the decision from the CSA (chief of staff of the Army) to stand up this position."
Fort Sill is the first installation that Williams has visited in his position, but this was not his first time here.
"I'm a CH-47 pilot -- a CW5 in Army aviation. When we deployed about six or seven years ago, we came to Fort Sill to do some pre-deployment training. But this is my first time to actually go around the installation, the garrison and get to know the history of the post," he said.
Williams observed the firing of the Paladin M109A6 155mm artillery system on West Range as part of the final events of the "Redleg War" training for second lieutenants in the Field Artillery Basic Officer Leader Course. Lt. Col. Robert Krieg, 1st Battalion, 30th Field Artillery commander, said 120 lieutenants in Class 2-14 graduated last Tuesday.
"It's always great to have visitors out here to watch the live-fire. When they have guests, the lieutenants don't do anything differently. They just go on doing what they were trained to do," he said.
For Williams, being able to sit inside a Paladin during a firing cycle was a special experience.
"I've been in the Army 37 years, and when I was at Fort Bragg, N.C., we used to fly [Paladins] around all the time. We used to do sling load missions with the field artillery and fly them and their crews all over, but I never had an opportunity to get up close," he said.
Williams was accompanied on his visit to the Fires Center of Excellence by CW5 Robert Lamphear, Combined Arms Center Command chief warrant officer at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
In addition, there were seven officers out on the range, observing the firing exercise: CW5 Gary Ensminger, command chief warrant officer of the Army National Guard; CW5 Earnest Metcalf, command chief warrant officer of the Texas Army National Guard; CW5 Christopher Rau, command chief warrant officer of the Oklahoma Army National Guard; CW4 David Jones, Air Defense Artillery proponent warrant officer for the ADA branch; CW5 Robert Whigham, Field Artillery chief warrant officer for the FA branch, and CW3 Shannon Mowery, Field Artillery proponent warrant officer for the FA branch.
"This afternoon we had over 100 warrant officers from across the installation, representing every branch across the post, not just field artillery or air defense artillery. I explained to them where the Army was going and what the boss General Odierno has charged me to do. He wants me to go across the Army and talk to senior warrant officers, and to especially talk to senior leaders about the warrant officers and what they felt the cohort should be doing or needed to do," Williams said.
"I also explained to them some things maybe they didn't know about things we were doing on behalf of the (chief warrant officers), some directions we were going, positions, that sort of thing."
Williams said the Army has between 12,000 and 13,000 warrant officers in the active component, and a total of 25,000 warrant officers across the Army, including active National Guard and Reserve. The warrant officers he spoke with expressed concerns about educational opportunities that are available for them to further their education.
"They wanted to know exactly what was taking place in our leader development, which is the CSA's top priority. I made sure they understood that, as warrant officers, they are leaders and leader development is at the top of the CSA's strategic priorities," Williams said. "The CSA's main mission is to make sure that we have competent, quality leaders at all levels, and that included the warrant officers."
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