U.S. Air Force Unboxes Dusty Warrant Officer Titles, Discovers They’re Still in Mint Condition

In a groundbreaking move that surely took only a few decades longer than necessary, the U.S. Air Force has decided to dig through its archives and resurrect the long-dormant rank of warrant officer, probably just for nostalgia’s sake. Two fortunate members of the Civil Air Patrol have now found themselves in this exclusive club, boasting the highly sought-after and yet mysteriously elusive title after attending the prestigious Warrant Officer Training School—a place where jargon and acronyms are likely the primary language spoken.

Senior Master Sgt. Luke Bunge, in a stroke of fortune usually reserved for winning the lottery, now carries the rank of warrant officer 1, a position that seems to be both prestigious and obscure. Meanwhile, Capt. Christopher Brun has surpassed all imagined expectations, achieving the dizzying height of chief warrant officer 2. Their roles are most accurately summed up as a combination of technical wizardry and operational leadership mixed with some military fanfare.

Bunge, who moonlights as the Michigan Wing’s director of IT and noncommissioned officer adviser, now also juggles duties as a 17Y cyberspace effects warrant officer with the Michigan Air National Guard’s 272d Cyber Operations Squadron. His job is to develop “tactics, techniques, and procedures,” buzzwords that sound impressive and likely ensure he remains the go-to person for when computers misbehave.

Christopher Brun, on the other hand, takes on the equally vital role of IT magician for the Maui Composite Squadron and serves as a 17W warrant officer. His mission, should he choose to accept it, involves providing combat-ready cyber communications support—a term that undoubtedly involves a lot of wires and the occasional WiFi signal.

What prompted the Air Force to dust off the warrant officer tier, you ask? Surely it was the pressing need for highly technical leadership in cyber operations—either that or they ran out of new job titles and decided this retro throwback was the best option. The first few classes, including our protagonists here, have graduated, potentially marking the start of something grand, or at the very least, something that looks grand on paper.

The latest graduating class, including Bunge and Brun, was composed entirely of Air National Guard members, proving once again that every old trick can still be new if you wait long enough to reuse it.