The sleeve rank insignia for Navy Chief Warrant Officers 2 (CWO-2) consists of a 1/2-inch wide stripe made of gold lacing with 1/2-inch blue bars, or breaks, spaced two inches apart on the outer facing of the sleeve (the same design is used for the stripe found on shoulder boards).
Navy CWOs have been increasingly tasked with leadership responsibilities that in the past were almost exclusively associated with Commissioned Officers. This is due, in part, to the increasingly important role of sophisticated electronics systems both afloat and ashore and the technical expertise required to oversee them. But another factor has been the strictures placed on the size of the various branches of the Armed Forces, which has led to the unavoidable exigency that CWOs must serve as equal parts leader and technician.
To that end, CWOs are eligible to be assigned primary or extra duties that a commanding officer deems necessary to accomplish a unit’s immediate mission. In these cases, a CWO can succeed to the command of a ship or other command (if he or she has been authorized to perform the requisite duties associated with the command). It is a testament to the CWO cadre that they stand poised to assume such significant roles in today’s Navy.