What's the difference between a sergeant major and a warrant officer?

Answer 1

a sergant major is in the army and a warrant officer works on behalf of the courts

Answer 2

In the UK Army all warrant officers hold the queens warrant, how ever that is not an appointment it is a rank and may be either Warrant Officer class 2 or class 1. Class 1 is highest and is the highest rank of all the ranks below officer.

A sergeant Major is an appointment to a job, it may be as a company Sergeant Major, CSM, as a WO2 or a Regimental Sergeant Major,RSM, as a WO1. These are both Regimental posts. Other Sergeant Major posts are technical Jobs.

Oh and just to clarify, all Sergeant Majors are Warrant Officers, but not all Warrant officers are Sergeant Majors

Answer 3

Which armed forces are you referring to? A lot of the replies on here are from the USA and not relevant if you mean British Army. Anyway, wikipedia gives a good description for all armed forces if you search for warrant officer and then look at the entry for the country you are interested in.

In the British Army for example, a Warrant Officer Class 1 may be appointed RSM = Regimental Sergeant Major. Therefore WO and sergeant major are the same thing - the sergeant major is part of the job title/appointment and WO is the rank.

Answer 4

A sergeant major is an Army rank and is a warrant officer. However there are a number of other "warrant officers" in the three services. For example.

Army

ASM - Articifer Sergeant Major (Technical warrant officer for tanks/helicopters weaponry etc) - This is a Warrant Officer 1
CSM - Company Sergeant Major - Warrant officer 2
RSM - Regimental sergeant major - Warrant officer 1
BSM - Battery sergeant major - Warrant officer 1 in the Royal Artillery.

Air Force:

A lot easier as they use the term "Warrant officer 1" or "Warrant officer 2"

Navy:

GSM - Gunnery sergeant major - Warrent officer 1 (often referred to as "Guns")
Chief Eng - WO2 - Chief engineer


A warrant officer receives a "warrant" from the queen to discharge her orders and those of the officers set over them.

An officer is commisioned and receives a commision from the queen.

Basically you have:

Officers - Queens commision
Warrant officers - Queens warrant
NCO´s - Staff Sergeant and below - Non commisioned officers
Privates / Sappers / Riflemen / Craftsmen etc etc - No rank at all.

Answer 5

Sergeant Major and Warrant Officer are the same thing. There are two ranks of warrant officer - WO-1 and WO-2 (Warrant Officer 1st Class and Warrant Officer 2nd Class)

A famous Warrant Officer of World War Two - Frankie Howerd.

Answer 6

A sergeant major is the highest enlist rank you can attain in the army and the Marine Corp. The Marines also have a Master Gunnery Sergeant, who is also an E-9.

A warrent officer is not a commissioned officer, but he is above any enlsited personnel, and below a 2nd Lt. Warrent officers are usuall specialist in the field of things like flying helicopters, criminal investigation, engineering, etc. The grade of warrent officers are from WO1- CWO4/5 depending on branch of service.

Answer 7

A Warrant Officer is an actual officer (though not "commissioned") and a Sergeant Major is still an enlisted man, although a very high-level (E-9) rank.

A Warrant Officer could never actually have a command like a commissioned officer could. (He'd never be a Company Commander, for example.)

Enlisted personnel do not give orders, but commands only. The Sergeant Major would be given orders from a commissioned officer. The Sergeant Major, in turn, would give the commands to accomplish that mission.

Answer 8

There are 2 classes of Warrant officer. There is a warrant officer 1st class and warrant officer 2nd class. ( known as WO1 & WO2) they are both non commisioned . They are the next rank to a commisioned Officer. They are also a higher rank than sergeant major. A warrant officer wears his rank on his sleeve, near the wrist. It is commonly known as a scrambled egg, but in fact is a coat of arms. sergeant major wears his rank in the normal position.

Answer 9

A Sergeant Major is an enlisted rank and a Warrant Officer is officer rank. Normally SMG's have come up through the ranks and has excelled in all aspects of duties performed. SMG's are normally in the military well past 20 years and have vast experience in all aspects of the military. WO's have ranks of W-1 through W-5 and are typically some sort of expert or specialist in their career field. Most of the chopper pilots in the Army are WO's. WO's normally do not reach W-4or5 until they have over 20 years of service.

Answer 10

Nothing. A Sergeant Major is a Warrant Officer.A senior NCO.

Answer 11

Sergeant-Major is a job description - it describes what the man DOES.

Warrant Officer is a rank - it describes what the man IS.

A Sgt-Major can be any rank, though for practical purposes he has to be at least a WO to be able to do his job.