FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. -- The 104th birthday commemorating the history of the U.S. Army Warrant Officer Corps drew a crowd July 8 at Brown Parade Field.
“Established by an act of Congress in July 1918, the warrant officer cohort has provided invaluable skills, leadership and technical expertise upon which our Army has come to rely,” narrated Chief Warrant Officer 4 John Livesey, U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence. “With more than 26,000 warrant officers serving in seventeen branches throughout the active Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard, the warrant officer embodies the abiding spirit of the ‘quiet professional.’”
Chief Warrant Officer 5 Pete Davis, chief warrant officer of the Military Intelligence Warrant Officer Training Branch, and Chief Warrant Officer 5 DeShawn Bell, chief warrant officer of the Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM), both hosted the ceremony.
“Military intelligence warrant officers have proven themselves as key leaders, innovators and technical experts in every modern conflict,” said Davis. “The MI warrant officer earned a well-deserved reputation for excellence…proving their ability to continuously evolve, adapt and meet the needs of our nation.”
New warrant officers of the MI Branch often look to their senior warrant officers to impart sage advice.
“I will tell all the young warrant officers just starting their journey to make sure you build a strong relationship with the senior enlisted advisor in the formation,” Bell said. “You will realize he or she will have your back if you have a good relationship with them to push [through] some of the issues and challenges to come.”
“A large part of a warrant officer’s success is due to perspectives, feedback and personal/professional relationships he or she cultivates throughout one’s career with other warrant officer branches,” Bell added.
In celebration of the warrant officer legacy, Warrant Officer 1 Seth Crist and Chief Warrant Officer 5 Rich Smith, representing the youngest and oldest warrant officers, cut the birthday cake together.
Smith presented the first piece of cake to Crist symbolizing the passing of knowledge and wisdom from one generation of warrant officers to the next.
The guest speaker, retired Chief Warrant Officer 5, Joe Okabayashi is a 2020 MI Hall of Fame inductee and the 5th Chief Warrant Officer of the MI Corps.
He retired from active duty in October 2015 with over 38 years of active service in the Army. Currently, he is a contract senior intelligence analyst and capabilities developer in the Capabilities Development & Integration Directorate of U.S. Army Futures Command here.
“The Army is going through another transformation now, transitioning from counterinsurgency [operations] to modernizing capabilities to meet the challenges of large-scale combat,” Okabayashi said. “Army warrant officers are integral for this transformation.”
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Fort Huachuca is home to the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM)/9th Army Signal Command and more than 48 supported tenants representing a diverse, multiservice population. Our unique environment encompasses 946 square miles of restricted airspace and 2,500 square miles of protected electronic ranges, key components to the national defense mission.
Located in Cochise County, in southeast Arizona, about 15 miles north of the border with Mexico, Fort Huachuca is an Army installation with a rich frontier history. Established in 1877, the Fort was declared a national landmark in 1976.
We are the Army’s Home. Learn more at https://home.army.mil/huachuca/.
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