Chief warrant officer 5 (W-5)
Chief warrant officer 5 (CWO5) is the highest Marine Corps warrant officer rank, pay grade W-5. Its insignia is a silver bar with one scarlet enamel stripe along its length.
Easily confused with
How to read it
CWO5 follows chief warrant officer 4 (W-4) and is the top of the Marine warrant officer ranks. The uniform regulations describe the bar as the same type as a first lieutenant’s, with one scarlet enamel stripe 1/8 inch wide laid lengthwise down the middle. Every lower warrant rank has blocks across the bar instead.
Also searched as: CWO5.
Ranks and insignia as the Marine Corps’ own orders and pages set them out. Pay grades are the Department of Defense’s.
CWO5 or first lieutenant?
Both are a single silver bar of the same type. The thin scarlet line down the centre marks the CWO5; the first lieutenant’s bar is plain.
Marine or Army?
The Army’s chief warrant officer 5 wears the same design with a black line in the centre of the silver bar.
Read next
- Next in Marine Corps ranksSecond lieutenant (O-1)Second lieutenant (2ndLt) is the first Marine Corps commissioned officer rank, pay grade O-1. Its insignia is a single gold bar.
- The same shape in Road signsDotted lineShort dashes with short gaps, closer together than an ordinary broken line. Through an intersection they continue a lane line to guide traffic; along a lane they warn that the lane ahead exits, ends or changes.
More marine Corps ranks
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines.
Sources
- Marine Corps Ranks, marines.mil, Ranks, United States Marine Corps, Warrant Officer
- Marine Corps Uniform Regulations (MCO 1020.34H), MCO 1020.34H, 1 May 2018, Commandant of the Marine Corps, para 4005.2.k, p. 1-99
- Officer Knowledge (Officer Development School), Officer Training Command Newport, ODS Knowledge Book, Naval Service Training Command, U.S. Navy, Marine Corps Officer Rank Structure
- U.S. Military Rank Insignia, Resources: U.S. Military Rank Insignia (enlisted and officer insignia by paygrade), U.S. Department of Defense (defense.gov), Officer insignia, warrant officers
- DA Pamphlet 670-1, Guide to the Wear and Appearance of Army Uniforms and Insignia, DA PAM 670-1, 26 January 2021, Headquarters, Department of the Army (Army Publishing Directorate), para 21-6a(7), p. 171
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 29, 2026. How we research
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