FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — In his previous role, as the U.S. Army Engineer School’s regimental chief warrant officer, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Dean Registe was used to, among other things, managing training and leader development for the Army Engineer Regiment.
Earlier this month, he assumed a new role — new for him and for the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, under which, USAES is organized. Registe is now MSCoE’s first command chief warrant officer.
According to Registe, the new position is designed to bring synchronization between the three schools here regarding all things warrant officer-related — besides USAES, Fort Leonard Wood is home to the U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear School and the U.S. Army Military Police School.
“There are a lot of things, warrant officer-wise, that we look at across Army policy, and it’s different for an engineer and the CBRN and the MP tech,” he said. “That’s kind of the genesis of this position, to build something that can be the ultimate arbitrator of all three schools.”
Registe noted eight of the 10 centers of excellence already have a CCWO, and MSCoE has about nine percent of technical warrant officers in the Army. His new position brings better representation to these Soldiers in matters specific to the Warrant Officer Corps, including policies, such as warrant officer training modernization, promotions and service obligations.
“It helps us out,” he said. “Now, we have a little bit of a say.”
Registe said he has a couple of goals already laid out to assist in synchronizing efforts between the schools, when it comes to warrant officer modernization, including his direct involvement in the curriculum of a new course for chief warrant officers 2 and Army protection doctrine.
“In our piece in protection, based off of whatever school we come from, or what our technical expertise is in, whether it’s chemical — you’re looking at chemical defense for protection — versus military police for protection, we all have a piece in the pie, but we do it differently,” he said.
As this is a new position for MSCoE, Registe — who has 22 years of warrant officer experience — said he’s also initially looking to “build the position, so it’s sustainable.”
“So, we can actually have a command chief warrant officer that informs the (commanding general) on all warrant officer-related matters — keeps the CG in the know of what’s going on,” Registe said.
Having experience as a regimental chief warrant officer helps in this position, Registe said, adding a lot of the responsibilities are similar, just done “at a grander scale.”
“And you don’t just do it for one regiment; you do it for all three,” he said. “It’s a whole lot of synchronization — how do I interweave everything together? — so, I think it’s very important being a regimental chief warrant officer before coming to this position, because you understand how to manage those RCWOs. Because if you didn’t, you kind of go, ‘I don’t know what you do, but I want you to do this.’ There’s a lot of things they do that help me do my job, as far as (professional military education) modernization, and there’s a lot of things that I can do for them that I know they need done.”
The three current regimental chief warrant officers here — USAES Regimental Chief Warrant Officer 5 Willie Gadsden Jr., USACBRNS Regimental Chief Warrant Officer 4 Matthew Chrisman and USAMPS Regimental Chief Warrant Officer 4 Angela Rulewich — each said having warrant officer representation at the center of excellence level will help in advocating for a lot of initiatives here to the leaders making decisions at the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas — under which, each of the centers of excellence are organized – and U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.
Gadsden, who took over Registe’s former role at the Engineer School in July, called the CCWO position “a touchpoint,” or “continuity” between MSCoE and the CAC.
“For a very long time, we didn’t have direct representation at the table, when decisions were being made at the senior executive level,” Gadsden said. “I think (the CCWO position) helps champion a lot of the initiatives — now, we have a touchpoint.”
Chrisman, who is on his second tour as the RCWO for USACBRNS, called it “a louder voice” for every warrant officer on the installation.
“You have that champion — you have that voice — and it’s at a higher level,” he said, noting many regiments and other centers have warrant officers permanently stationed here as well. “They could be a maintenance tech; they could be a human resources tech assigned here on the installation — and that senior warrant officer up there at the center represents and can speak on behalf of all warrant officers on the installation.”
Rulewich described Registe’s position as another way the Army is taking care of its people.
“I think it’s going to help at our center of excellence because there are a lot of warrant officers here, who perform a great role, not only just in the center of excellence, but on the installation that support those units for TRADOC,” she said. “So, I think having him will help take care of the warrant officers here in a way that they’ve never been taken care of before.”
Registe said the MSCoE team is looking at rotating the CCWO position across the three RCWOs here, “to give them the exposure of being a command chief warrant officer at this level.”
“I think this will be a great experience, and a great job for a former regimental,” Registe said. “I’m just glad I got the opportunity to build this for all the future warrant officers that are going to come through. And now they have the opportunity to not only be the regimental but stay within the MSCoE realm. Because in the past, once you were done with the regimental job, you were done with your regiment, MSCoE and you had to go elsewhere to get an opportunity. So, it’s good we can retain talent here and move MSCoE, as a whole, forward.”
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