Chief Warrant Officers 5 may wear their choice of nonsubdued pin-on or embroidered silver bullion rank insignia on the sleeves of the Blue or White Mess jackets; the insignia is worn vertically and centered in the space that’s formed by the lower curves of the knot (trefoil) meeting the sleeve braid. Here at The Salute Uniforms, we recommend the embroidered silver bullion insignia because it meshes much more nicely with the sewn-on sleeve ornamentation than a shiny, pin-on metallic rank device does.
We offer two types of embroidered bullion rank insignia for both the Blue and White Mess jackets (make sure you choose the correct color backing using the Fabric option to the right). Sew-on insignia is attached directly to the sleeves of the jackets and requires either a professional tailor or seamstress (or highly experienced amateur) to achieve the cleanest, most professional application. Clutch back insignia use a traditional pin-and-clutch system to secure the insignia to the sleeves, eliminating expenses for attaching it and also for removing and replacing it (an extremely unlikely event for a Chief Warrant Officer 5).
The position of Warrant Officer was in many ways an ad hoc solution to an ongoing problem—how to classify those Soldiers specializing in fields or duties not within an existing branch. In War Department General Orders No. 65 issued 20 October 1920, the “solution” was announced: Except for those appointed to the Army Mine Planter Service, which was in the Coast Artillery Corps, Warrant Officers would not be permanently appointed in branches, but instead be appointed as “Warrant Officers at large.” As The Institute of Heraldry puts it, “Warrant officers at large could be changed from one arm of the service to another or from one duty to another at will which virtually made them a special corps of their own.”
Warrant Officers did wind up with their own corps, complete with a branch color (brown) and unique branch insignia, the famous “Eagle Rising.” But the first hints that Warrant Officers would soon be operating with the same type of branch boundaries as other officers came in 1942, when wartime exigencies led the Army to give examinations in order to select Warrant Officers to serve in 40 occupational specialties other than the ones they had previously served in: mine planting, bandleading, administrative work, and supply.
The forerunner of today’s Warrant Officer System, which has Warrant Officer Military Occupational Specialties (WOMOS) that are within specific branches, was the Warrant Officer Program introduced in 1960. In 2004, the Warrant Officer Corps colors and insignia were disestablished, and today all Warrant Officers wear the colors of the branch in their WOMOS.