Warrant Officer Candidate School

Photo By Staff Sgt. Katrina Timmons | Warrant officer candidate Willie Sanford of Opelika began his Sunday morning with a 10K (6.2 miles) road march. Sanford, a member of the 731st Combat Sustainment Support Battalion in Tallassee and a patrol shift supervisor at the Auburn police department, must successfully complete the road march within two hours while carrying a weapon and a 35-40 lb ruck-sack. The road march is a mandatory requirement for the warrant officer candidate school located at the National Guard Training Center in Fort McClellan.  

UNITED STATES

07.24.2008

Story by Staff Sgt. Katrina Timmons 

Joint Force Headquarters - Alabama National Guard

By Staff Sgt. Katrina Timmons
Alabama National Guard

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The warrant officer rank is rumored to be the best rank in the military. Chief Warrant Officer 5 Thomas E. Gilbert, chief warrant officer for the state of Alabama, agrees with this statement.

"The warrant officer is the technical expert for the Army", boasts Gilbert. "A warrant officer is an adaptive technical expert, combat leader, trainer, and advisor."

"The importance of the warrant officer program continues to increase because of the specialized technical expertise required in today's fast moving modern Army," Gilbert explained

Gilbert's enthusiasm for the warrant officer rank is shared with candidates currently enrolled in the warrant officer candidate school at Ft. McClellan, Ala.

When asked why he wanted to be a warrant officer, Warrant Officer Candidate Jeff Haynes of Alexander City explained, "I want to make a difference."

That was the common reasoning behind the brave WO candidates who marched their way around the National Guard Training Site at Ft. McClellan on Sunday, July 13, to complete a 10K (6.2 mile) road march. The candidates conducted the road march to prepare for the prerequisite 10K road march they will conduct during their Phase 3 training at WOCS. Each candidate must complete the road march within two hours while carrying a weapon and a 35-40 lb ruck-sack.

There are currently 14 candidates enrolled in WOCS at Ft. McClellan. The candidates completed their 4th individual duty training weekend last Sunday. Those candidates will join approximately 85 candidates from 11 states and Puerto Rico, for Phase 3 training scheduled to begin in September.

The WOCS is broken down into three phases. Phase 1 is a web based format consisting of 70 hours of self-paced lessons. Phase 2 has five IDT weekends, and Phase 3 is a 15-day active duty training period designed to give the candidates opportunity to demonstrate his/her leadership skills in a field environment.

The majority of Phase 2 and Phase 3 are comprised of classroom lessons on a variety of subjects including military history and briefings. During Phase 3 training the candidates will also conduct a field training exercise, maneuver through the Leadership Reaction Course and conduct another 10K road march. Both Phase 2 and 3 are conducted at Ft. McClellan.

• Date Taken: 07.24.2008
• Date Posted: 07.24.2008 14:42
• Story ID: 21819
• Location: US