Chief Warrant Officers 4 wear embroidered silver bullion rank insignia with the Blue Mess or White Mess jacket. The insignia is worn vertically, centered in the area formed with the sleeve braid as a base and the two bottom curves of the sleeve knot, or trefoil, touching it.
Choose the color of the Mess jacket for which you need insignia and then select either Sew-On or Clutch Back for your preferred attachment method. Clutch Back insignia are quickly attached by pinning the insignia to the sleeve and securing it using a clutch mechanism similar to what’s found on lapel pins and other types of pin-on jewelry. As the name makes clear, Sew-On insignia are sewn directly onto the jacket sleeve, a process that requires some sewing expertise as well as a little patience.
Another type of CW4 rank insignia authorized for the Blue or White Mess jackets is nonsubdued pin-on metal insignia (see the "Coat Rank Insignia" link below) like that worn on the shoulder loops of the AGSU Coat, All-Weather Coats, and Windbreakers. However, we recommended the embroidered silver bullion because it is more in keeping with the sewn-on sleeve ornamentation found on these two jackets.
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Nearly three decades elapsed between the time the Army created three grades of Warrant Officers in the Army Mine Planter Service and the War Department announced it was seeking to expand the number of WO grades to four in 1947: Chief Warrant Officer (four brown bars), Senior Warrant Officer (three), Warrant Officer First Class (two), and Warrant Officer (One).
More CWO 4 Rank Insignia Pre-2004 Warrant Officer Branch ItemsOddly enough, the insignias were approved, but the titles changed to a more consistent system with Chief Warrant Officer at the top and the remaining three ranks numbered sequentially (Warrant Officer First, Second, and Third Class).
An insignia for Chief Warrant Officer 4 was authorized in 1956, but it wasn’t until 1970 that the Army introduced the system of displaying the Warrant Officer’s pay grade though the number of black enamel squares on the insignia: Two black squares meant CW2, three represented CW3, and so forth. This clear-cut system remained in place until the Army decided to create two ranks in the W4 grade in 1988, with the Master Warrant officer rank (MW4) awarded to those W4’s who had completed training at the Warrant Officer School at Fort Rucker; it featured silver rather than black squares. In 1991, another type of Warrant Officer, the CW5, would be authorized to wear the Master WO rank.
The confusion was finally brought to an end when the Army approved a new insignia for CW5s and eliminated the Master Warrant Officer rank altogether, leaving only Chief Warrant Officers 4 wearing an insignia with four squares as their grade insignia.