FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa – Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jason D. Etling was selected recently to be the ninth Pennsylvania Army National Guard’s Command Chief Warrant Officer.
Etling will succeed Chief Warrant Officer 5 Darren E. Dreher, who has served as CCWO since October 2023.
Etling, 30 years’ serving, is now stepping into a new role for the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. As the CCWO, Etling will be the senior ranking warrant officer in Pennsylvania. He will serve as the principal advisor to The Adjutant General of and will also chair the State Warrant Officer Advisory Council.
“I would say it’s a very humbling experience,” Etling said. “I’ve been in for thirty-one years, so at this point of my career getting selected to take over as the ninth Command Chief Warrant Officer of Pennsylvania, and it is an exciting time for me.”
Etling completed Warrant Officer Candidate School in June 2003 at Fort Rucker, Alabama. Then followed by 915A Warrant Officer Basic Course in 2004 at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland.
His first assignment was the Unit Maintenance Officer with the 1st “Attack” Battalion, 104th Aviation Regiment in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. In January 2005 he deployed to Ramadi, Iraq, as an Engineer Equipment Maintenance Warrant Officer in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Recently finishing a long list of positions within 2021, he was the Senior Ordnance Ground Maintenance Officer for Pennsylvania, Joint Force Headquarters at Fort Indiantown Gap.
When asked about the approach he took in this new position after serving in maintenance, logistics, intelligence, and sustainment roles.
“I think having that experience at each level of command is what really set me up to potentially be successful,” Etling said. “I think that’s one of the things that gave me an advantage leading up to this assignment.”
“The first thing I’m going to accomplish, is we’re going to be Soldiers first,” Etling said. “We are all subject matter experts in our fields, but none of that really matters if we’re not great Soldiers first.”
Lasty, to strengthen professional development and mentorship for warrant officers is finding out what fields best meet the needs to excel the standard of warrant officers.
“The state’s going through a big transformation right now with structuring different things,” Etling said. “As far as professional development goes it’s reestablishing the warrant officer becoming the most trusted advisor to all levels of command.”