Marine EOD has 3 active CWO5's.

I personally know quite a few from various MOS's.

The greatest felling in the Marine Corps is when you make E-9 and go over 20 years active. I got into an argument with an LDO Captain and he threatened me with a "Bad FitRep". I told him the only way he could hurt me with a FitRep, was to roll it up and poke me in the eye with it, then walked away.

MarineOrdie: Do you know Kelly C. CWO5 EOD type out at the ATC? BTW: T.L.D. is retiring next Feb. One step closer!

Shit you're right.  I forgot about that.

Respect goes both ways, regardless of rank.

We had quite a few WOs when I was with HMA-369.  They were the trigger pullers on the Cobras. They were mostly WO-2 or WO-3.  There was one WO-4. This was back in the real early 70s.

The CWO 2 I worked for back in 29 Palms 97-98 picked it up in 2010 I believe. He might still be around.

Read an article and interview about the USMC precision rifle section he was running.

My SgtMaj always said "Sir, what are they going to do to me, they don't make E10"  

They just send you to the shitty post nobody else wants

Yermo?

One evening back in the 1970's I checked into an Attack Squadron as a CWO3.  The Squadron had been without a Gunner for a few years. The Duty Officer was a very young Ensign Maint. Officer who took it upon himself to fill me in on the latest info about the Squadron.  We were to deploy the following week aboard a CVA  Room assignments were to be given out the next day at 13:00.  I would be assigned one of the JO Bunk rooms that were converted fan rooms with WW2 style canvas / rope bunks and no lockers in the room.  I replied that I doubted that was going to happen and the next morning I found that he had reported our conversation to the CO / XO who both had a good laugh at him.  We had a morning AOM where the XO explained to the JO's what a CWO3 was and that I would have a Stateroom with the Ops Officer, an LCDR.  The Ensign and some of the JG's felt it was unfair and made it known to me that they were unhappy about it.  My standard response was, "Kid,  I got more fucking time in the chow line than you have in the Navy".  And, "I've worn out more Seabags than you have socks and If I ever need your opinion, I'll retire."

A few months later, the ensign and I were good friends and remain so to this day.

I met a CWO5 exaclty ONCE in my enlistment - and I'll never forget it.

I was pulling targets in the pits during the last week of PacDiv Intramurals at Pu'uloa rifle range in Hawaii. Over the previous days, I had befriended a CWO3 on the target next door to me, and had been casually referring to him as "Gunner"...as just about everyone in the Corps does. I, in my original Terminal Lance Coolie, glory, decided to do it just as an actual CWO5 walked by on the small little passage way between us and the targets where we were standing. Anyway, this tall fella that I mistook at a quick first glance for a lowly 1st Lieutenant popped his head between targets - anxious to see another fucking unicorn, as I can only surmise upon his another unseen Marine being referred to as "Gunner".

What he saw must have tickled him -  scrawny, dirty Lance Corporal of Marines referring to a CWO3 as "Gunner", and the CWO3 not correcting the junior Marine on proper rank nomenclature. By this point, I was a 5 year Lance Coolie for the second time around, and had enough self-preservation skills that I knew an ass-chewing was incoming as soon as I realized that lowly 1st Lieutenant was an actual CWO5 "Gunner". Needless to day, I locked my nasty little body and stared straight ahead like Chesty Puller himself had descend from the Heavens and paralyzed me with the Spirit. Expecting an ass-chewing for the record books, what he did instead was crack a giant grin, look at the CWO3 like he wanted to kill him, then slap me on the back and said he remembered me from the pistol qual that morning before, and "....that is pure-dee-fucking-fact from Pohang to Pax River that Marines were known to be outstanding-fucking-marksmen, and just what the fuck was I trying to do to his beloved Corps by shooting a pistol that badly?"

In a fatherly tone, he proceeded to ask me where I was from, and when I replied "TEXAS, SIR!" with my body still rigidly locked at the POA, he laughed and said to relax and that he "..shoulda fuckin' known you were from Teeexas and I'd do a helluva lot better shooting a "gawddamded hand-cannon like a .45" and that "...it is a common-known-pure-dee-goddamned-fact from Olongapo to Abilene that Texians cain't shoot nuthin' but gawddamded hand-cannons like .45s...not no little 9 milly-meters".


Still giving the scared-to-death CWO3 looks that would make a Full Bird Colonel pinch his corn-hole, he saw me max out the rifle range earlier that morning and wanted to see one of the few Marines that he didn't personally know that could do that (I did indeed get a perfect score of 60...I normally shot low to mid 50's, and held the range high at K-Bay at the time). He had gotten my name from my team OIC (a CFFR CWO2 that I refused to call "Gunner"...he was such a douche bag) and that I was to report to him for pistol coaching at the pistol range after we were done with the last relay and secured for the day.

I did indeed meet him that afternoon for further instruction, and to this day, every time I pick up a handgun and grip it correctly as he instructed, I think of Gunner 'Ski. He was shooting legend in the Corps at least at the Intramural match level, or so I was later told. I really only spent 45 minutes with the man, but he impacted my pistol shooting profoundly. I'm no Jerry Michulek - but I am better for his instruction.

I often wonder what happened to that old Hard Charger. I only shot one more season and never saw him again after the match was over later that week.

I saw one in my four years in, and met one during some DoD work I was involved in after I got out.

We were in Haiti '04 with 3/8 after the President bailed the country and we were training at a make shift range to kill some down time. The guy was like a unicorn that came out of nowhere and sat in a lawn chair under an open tent he had setup. Had to be mid 50's and he was crushing us, would yell at us for anything including drinking water, talking, or breathing air. After 6 or so hours he got out of his chair and vanished, probably to crush kittens and consult the necronomicon to determine his next course of terror.

I soooo wish Arfocm had a "Like" button.

Many, many years ago (1994) I was assigned to the I corps CMMC (Corps Material Management center).  I was a lowly E-5, fresh out of 39CX5 ASI school.  Another member here "CAR-AR-M16", had been one of my civilian instructors.  As a young NCO, fresh out of school I was chomping at the bit to work on the equipment I had been trained on, that wasn't to be.  I found myself at a high level staff job filling an E-8 slot as an E-5.  Without boring everyone with the details, There was a CW5, 3 ea. CW4's, 2ea. CW3's, 3ea. E-8's, 1ea. E-7 and me (the lowly buck Sgt).

Between all of us were were supposed to be the SME's for everything from soup to nuts in I corp.  The CW5's job was to advise the Corps Commander, daily on the status of the entire Corps equipment, and if it was critical and deadlined, why it was still NMCS.  As things turned out, I rarely worked past 13:00 everyday.  If my reports for the next day were on his desk at 11:30, then why the fuck was I still drawing his air, go home, you've done your work.  One time an 0-4 pinged me about what I was doing in civvies during duty hours, word got back and I was "called on the carpet".  I was told by my CW5 that if anyone had any problems to come talk to him, that 0-4 never said another word to me for the rest of the time I was there.


Some of you old timers might remember something called "Right Arm Night and "Bosses Night", basically ever other Thursday, the NCO's would host the Officers at the NCO club and the next week the Officers would host the NCO's at the O club, for drinks and food.  It was during one of these nights, at the NCO club at American Lake, that I made a decision that has haunted me since.  I was cornered by 3 CW4's and they asked me when I was going to "Drop" my packet, meaning apply for Warrant Candidate School.  I hemmed and hawed about paper work and endorsements, to which they replied by pointing across the room at our CW5, and collectivly saying, you've got his signature you just need to to be ready for the school.


Now I have no idea if I would even graduated WOCS, let alone made a good Warrant, but I never tried.

Knowing what you do now, would it have made a difference?  Would it have changed your life significantly?

Warrant officers and ranges, man.  What a pain in the ass.

Oh absolutely, I had reclassed from a Combat Arms MOS, into an MOS that while highly technical, was a dead end for promotion.  One of the CW4's I mentioned above was a female.  She was an awesome person, that was great to work with.  No, she wasn't a tier 1 snake eater, she was a C/E Warrant and probably forgot more about crypto than most others ever learned.  One day she watched me anxiously scan the Army Times for the promotion cut-off points.  Of course there it was, 990 never, amount promoted 0.  She looked me square in the eyes and said, "I wouldn't worry about making E-6, E-7 you need to worry about.  You're the wrong sex and color."

 

This salty old bastard talks about how the only other people who are still active duty and served in Vietnam are probably CWO5's



http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/2015/06/28/last-serving-vietnam-vet-retires-after-service-as-marine-green-beret/29303763/