Established by an Act of Congress on 9 July 1918 and a War Department Bulletin issued 22 July 1918, Warrant Officers were originally limited to the Army Mine Planter Service. With the passage of the National Defense Act of 1920, Warrant Officers were allocated to administrative, clerical, and bandleader positions, and the following year a distinctive insignia was approved for them: an eagle rising with spread wings, standing on a pair of arrow representing the military arts and sciences and enclosed with an oval-shaped wreath.
From that time until 2004, Warrant Chief Officers were unique among all Army Officers, both Commissioned and Noncommissioned, in that they did not wear an insignia reflecting the particular Army branch in which they served. Warrant Officers were, in essence, a “branch” unto themselves, and the eagle rising was the branch insignia. 2004 marked the integration of Warrant and Chief Warrant Officers into the various officer branches, and the “eagle rising” insignia was retired save for one group of Soldiers for a select period: those in their senior phase of Warrant Officer Candidate School. Upon graduation from the Warrant Officer Basic Course, they replace the “eagle rising” insignia with the insignia of branch in which they serve.
Pre-2004 Warrant Officer Branch Items