Army 923A Warrant Officer: Petroleum Systems Technician

In today’s post I am going to educate you about the Army 923A Warrant Officer position, also known as a Petroleum Systems Technician. We’re going to cover the following things:

• Duties and responsibilities
• Pre-requisites
• Warrant Officer Basic Course
• My Experience
• Jobs You Could Have in the Army
• Jobs After the Army

By the time you finish reading this post, you should know if this is a good career choice for you or not.

923A Duties and Responsibilities

• Serves in staff positions requiring petroleum experience; this could include positions at the battalion, brigade, division, corps or Army level
• Determine requirements for bulk fuel and packaged petroleum products, storage space and fuel/water systems
• Monitor quality surveillance procedures for petroleum or water
• Develops, supervises and coordinates unit SOPs and programs on environmentally sound handling of petroleum products and water chemicals.
• Prepare reports for maintenance and records
• Oversees receipt, storage, handling and issue of fuel and water
• Oversees spill and clean up operations
• Supervises personnel
• Personally responsible for accountability of fuel
• Advises commanders on fuel related issues
• Evaluates test results and recommends disposition of off-specification or captured petroleum products
• Serve as the quality surveillance representative throughout the petroleum community
• Recommend locations of petroleum pipeline routes, terminals, supply points, and depots; advises on bulk petroleum distribution system design. Ensures petroleum operations adhere to applicable environmental policies, procedures, laws and regulations

923A prerequisites (Active Component): 

This information comes directly from the official Army site (see references below).

• Must be a SGT(P) or above.
• Be an ALC graduate in MOS 92F, 92L or 92W.
• Must have at least five years experience as a Fuel or Water Handler in MOS 92F, 92L or 92W within the last eight years.
• Must score at the 12th grade level on the English portion (Language) of the Test for Adult Basic Education (TABE); Soldiers possessing an Associate, Bachelor, Master or PhD Degree are exempt. Soldiers must also possess three semester hours of College Algebra or the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) equivalent.
• Provide copies of all NCOERs; the majority of the Soldier’s NCOERs must be noted with “Successful” Performance and “Superior” Potential ratings by the Senior Rater.
• Submit HQ USAREC Form 1936 (Letter of Recommendation) from a Senior Petroleum Systems Technician (e.g. CW3-CW5), assigned to the Soldier’s organization, that attest to their technical and tactical competence in MOS 92F, 92L, or 92W. If no Senior Petroleum Systems Technician is assigned, provide a letter of recommendation from another Senior Quartermaster Warrant Officer (e.g. 920A, 920B, 921A, or 922A) assigned to the Soldier’s organization/installation.

Active duty Soldiers should contact the POC listed below for questions regarding the Quartermaster Prerequisites, address all other inquiries to the Warrant Officer Recruiting Branch:

923A prerequisites (Reserve Component):

This information comes directly from the official Army site (see references below).

• Must be a SGT or above.
• Be an ALC graduate in MOS 92F, 92L or 92W (waiverable on a case-by-case basis).
• Must have at least five years experience as a Fuel or Water Handler in MOS 92F, 92W or 92L within the last eight years. Military Technician, Government Contract, and other civilian job experiences that correlate with the feeder MOSs will be considered for all Army National Guard and US Army Reserve Soldiers.
• Must score at the 12th grade level on the English portion (Language) of the Test for Adult Basic Education (TABE); Soldiers possessing an Associate, Bachelor, Master or PhD Degree are exempt. Soldiers must also possess three semester hours of College Algebra or the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) equivalent.
• Provide copies of all NCOERs; the majority of the Soldier’s NCOERs must be noted with “Successful” Performance and “Superior” Potential ratings by the Senior Rater. Military Technician, Government Contract, and other Civilian appraisals will be taken into consideration to determine the Soldier’s level of competence in the feeder MOSs.
• Submit HQ USAREC Form 1936 (Letter of Recommendation) from a Senior Petroleum Systems Technician (e.g. CW3-CW5), assigned to the Soldier’s organization, that attest to their technical and tactical competence in MOS 92F, 92L, or 92W. If no Senior Petroleum Systems Technician is assigned, provide a letter of recommendation from another Senior Quartermaster Warrant Officer (e.g. 920A, 920B, 921A, or 922A) assigned to the Soldier’s organization/installation.

Army National Guard and US Army Reserve Soldiers should contact the POC listed below for questions regarding the Quartermaster Prerequisites; address all other inquiries to the Warrant Officer Recruiting Branch:

923A Warrant Officer Basic Course

This is where new Warrant Officers receive their initial training on their duties and responsibilities.  The course is nine weeks, three days long.  It consist of classroom and hands on instruction.  To the best of my knowledge, it is located at Fort Lee, Virginia.

My Experience

I should tell you right up-front that I was never a Warrant Officer; however, I was assigned to a 923A duty position while I was deployed to Kosovo.  In that position, I worked as the Bulk Fuels Accountable Officer.  It was a very fun and rewarding job.  You can read about my experience as a BFAO here.

Jobs You Could Have in the Army

Here are a few jobs you could have in the Army while serving in this specialty.

• Fuels Officer
• Staff Officer
• Accountable Officer
• Instructor
• Inspector

Jobs After the Military

Here are a few jobs you could have after you ETS or retire from the military.

• Fuel Manager
• Advisor
• OSHA
• Regional Fuels Manager
• Fuel Inspector

Final Thoughts

The bottom line is that the 923A, Petroleum Systems Technician is a great career field in the Army.  You will have an enormous responsibility and get to work closely with Soldiers.

What are your thoughts?  If you’ve served as a 923A before, I would love to hear from you.  Please leave a comment below to share your experience.  I look forward to hearing from you.

References

• http://www.quartermaster.army.mil/oqmg/warrant_officer_proponency/wo_mos.html
• http://www.nationalguard.com/923a-petroleum-systems-technician
• http://usmilitary.about.com/od/warrantofficerjobs/a/923A.htm

Sincerely,








Chuck Holmes
Former Army Major (resigned)
Publisher, Part-Time-Commander.com
Email: mrchuckholmes@gmail.com

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