U.S. NAVY / USCG CWO5 GARRISON CAP RANK DEVICE

Ten years elapsed between the passage of Federal legislation establishing the Chief Warrant Officer pay grade of W-5 and the Navy’s October 2002 announcement that it would actually authorize the pay grade and set up a CWO Promotion Selection Board. The grade was to go “live” beginning in Fiscal Year 2004, which began on 1 October 2003—and on that date Food Service Chief Warrant Officer 4 and 29-year veteran Leon A. Cole became the Navy’s first CWO5 in a promotion ceremony held aboard the USS Ronald Reagan.

By statute, only five percent of the Navy’s Chief Warrant Officers can serve on active duty in the W-5 grade at any given time. How does this translate into actual numbers: Consider this: For all of 2017, less than two dozen (23) Chief Warrant Officers 4 were selected for promotion to active-duty CWO5.