As a former army pilot, I wouldn’t advise many people to go fly in the army. Lots of army guys try to go to the AF (AD/ANG/AFR), don’t know of anyone in the other services trying to go into the army.

Warrants do staff jobs too. No CW4 billets at the company level. All are in the battalion/brigade level. They are more flying related than commissioned staff jobs, though. They also hold ridiculous additional duties while WO1-CW2 (environmental compliance, key control, property book, urine test officer, etc.), and better additional duties as CW3s (safety, stan eval, tactics, maintenance). They do stay flying most of their career though, and their additional duties are far less time consuming than the jobs of commissioned guys. And I don’t know how life in ARNG units compares to AD...maybe it’s better.

I’ve said it in other threads...army aviation is the armpit of all military aviation. Smallest pay (fewest flying bonuses and the whole warrant structure), the least focused on flying, prioritizing stuff like organized unit PT every morning, a big focus on being like everyone else in the army, and then you get to fly a few times a month. We went to the field (sleeping in tents) when not deployed, deployed for training deployments that were worse than real combat deployments, and other fun stuff. And we deploy 9-15 months at a time...closer to 9 now. And we (even warrants) didn’t fly a whole lot when not deployed. Flying attack in the army is fun. Shooting stuff from that close in is fun. I’m sure the UH/CH guys liked what they did too. But there’s a reason so many guys in the army try to go ANG/AFRES. If it’s what you want to do, it can be a great job for an 18 year old, and there’s always time to make the switch to the ANG/AFRES later if you decide the grass is greener in the AF.

Best way to put it is the Army is a ground force that happens to have helicopters to help support the ground mission...they are just another tool, the same as artillery or tanks. It’s more army-ish. The Air Force is a flying force that has other assets to support the flying. They are focused accordingly.