Blood Rank

[Guest Caroline Anne]

Hey Girls and Guys!

Let me tell you what happened last weekend. I finally got promoted to CW2! Wahoo! I'm so excited! I was sooo tired of being a W01 "spot".

My orders got published in November, but my chain of command didn't pin me until last weekend. So, we wear ACUs now, and everything that goes on the uniform now has velcro. Well, all except the badges...anyway, the rank also has velcro. For those of you who don't know what blood rank or blood wings is, let me describe... in the old days, your rank pinned on to your uniform. When you would get promoted, they would un-pin your old rank and push your new rank through your uniform without putting the backings on the pins. Then, as a show of machismo, you would get pounded on the rank to give you what was known as blood rank

Fast forward to last weekend when my commander velcro'd my new rank on. He pushed it into place, then in slow motion I saw what he was fixing to do. (Our rank is in the center of our chest now). Regardless, I saw what was fixing to happen and I flinched. I knew that I really couldn't take a fist to the chest. He would kill my boobs if that happened and would have to call the medics to get me off the ground. So, naturally I flinched backwards. So, while I am moving slightly backwards, he hits me and I go stumbling backwards three steps. I probably looked like the biggest lightweight in our unit.

This was in formation and I was standing at attention in front of my squad. Bummer. We had a good laugh at that and then got back to work.

Me? I was just happy to not have been hit left or right of center.

In any case, I'm a CW2 and they really can't touch me. I'm part of the Warrant Officer mafia now, watch out.

I'd give anything to be able to get out now, though. 2 years 5 months until Caroline can live.

Caroline

[Guest Elena]

Congrats Caroline!

Ahh, yes I remember gettin pinned very well! So did you ever get pinned like they do in the cav? Everyone in the formation with the same rank as you just got pinned with got to 'set' your stripes... Ouch! Making spec4 really sucks...

<3

Elena

[Guest Caroline Anne]

Never like that Elena. I probably would have panicked.

My two most recent branches are Aviation and Signal. Aviation could care less about alpha male domination rituals (except for who can fly under bridges or the crossed swords in Baghdad without getting killed) and Signal, the biggest bunch of nerds and polar opposites of the alpha male to wear a uniform.

[Guest Megan_Lynn]

Blood rank remmeber it all to well. What a bunch of bs that was...

[Guest cassie51]

Agree with you Megan, by the time I reached E-6 I had had enough of that silly game.

{{HUGGS}}

Cassie

[Guest Donna Jean]

.

That never happened to me in the Air Force .....

Interesting concept.......

If someone had "pinned" me when I was in 'Nam, I probably would of shot 'em......lol

Hang in the, Honey......hopefully the time will go fast.....

(There were no W/O's in the Air Force......do you get saluted, flipped off or what?"

Dee Jay

[Guest Caroline Anne]

Sometimes not saluted, but never flipped off. Warrants are too mysterious for public displays of aggression like that. People think we have voodoo and altars. All warrants except pilots, they are envied.

It's funny, all ranks will defer to the Warrants. Even upper commissioned will say: "uh, just go and do whatever you Warrants do. We'll call you when we need you." also, if there are any disagreeable duties or leading of details, we can bow out with the "I have some Warrant officer stuff to do". Works like a charm.

However, we had best have the answers when called upon. It's our a$$ and credibility if we don't. That's enough to keep all the Signal Warrants I know, up at night making sure they have knowledge of every aspect of their domain.

[Guest DanielleH]

I remember getting blood rank when I made spec 4, the second time around, lol. It was about a week before we left to go over to Bosnia. What's really bad is that almost the whole squad was spec4, we had one PFC. Ouch. My colarbones were so bruised for a week after that, that wearing my LBE was sore.

[Guest Gina9223]

In the Navy when I first started they would 'tack' on your 'Crow' (Petty Officer rank). When I made 2nd Class (E-5) just about the entire squadron tacked it on. Like, so many that when the two heavy hitters (one of them was 6'8", the other simply knew how to punch a hole in anything barehanded) came along...well, after they took their turns my arm blew a nice ugly set of hemotoma's. Then Tail Hook happened and they accidently killed a guy in P'cola during a hazing event. Sooo.... I thought all of that was offically, offically banned?

And congradulations on your advancement. And just so you know, Outserve is working with/for Trans inclusion in the active duty US Military.

[Guest Amanda Whyte]

As Gina said, they used to tack on your Crow in the Navy. It is very against the rules so much so that people are now getting written up for just doing a good job tap on the shoulder. When I made E-5 though they were still doing it and while I didnt get a hemotoma like she did I did have a nice bruise. One thing that a lot of enlisted sailors work on is their ESWS, Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist. You get a pin to wear on your uniform, and when I earned that I got the pound-it-into-your-chest treatment and had several holes in my chest when it was done.

[Guest Michellewhois]

DJ here's you history lesson for today... :lol:

I'm not sure who the last person to receive an Air Force warrant was, but I do know the last to leave active duty was CWO-4 James H. Long, who retired in 1980. CWO-4 Bob Barrow, who retired in 1992, was the last Air Force Reserve Warrant Officer on the rolls.

The good news is the Air Force was looking at the possibility of reactivating the warrant officer program just last month. Still more good news is the fact that the Air Force never relinquished authority to appoint warrant officers. They just haven't exercised that authority in 50 years.

As for pinning, I guess I got linked up with people that knew about the old brown shoe days. I got pinned the day I left flight training. Took a week for the bruises to fade and two weeks for the two little holes to heal.