Warrant Officer Warrant officer (WO) is a Military rank, rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ...

Jake Alpert, is a senior warrant officer in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, who served as

Warrant Officer of the Royal Air Force The Warrant Officer of the Royal Air Force (WORAF), previously known as the Chief of the Air Staff's Warrant Officer (CASWO), is the senior Royal Air Force (RAF) appointment for a warrant officer (WO), and therefore the most senior non-commissio ...

from 2019 to 2023. Therefore, he was the most senior

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...

in the RAF.

Military career

Alpert joined the

(RAF) in 1988. He completed his first tour while with No. 15 Squadron RAF Regiment at RAF Hullavington. Upon completion of the Pre-Parachute Selection Course and the Basic Parachute course, he went on his first operational tour to

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. He then moved to

No. II Squadron RAF Regiment The II Squadron RAF Regiment is a squadron of the RAF Regiment based at RAF Brize Norton. The squadron is parachute trained. History The unit was formed as Number 2 Armoured Car Company RAF at Heliopolis (Cairo suburb), Heliopolis, Egypt on 7 ...

serving with them for 11 years at multiple bases and took on further operational tours. In 2001, he was posted to the RAF Force Protection (FP) Centre on promotion to sergeant. He then completed the All Arms Commando Course and was subsequently awarded the Commandants' Certificate in 2004. He was then assigned to 45 Commando Royal Marines as the troop sergeant. He completed two tours with the

Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

during that time. In 2008, Alpert was promoted to

flight sergeant Flight sergeant (commonly abbreviated to Flt Sgt, F/Sgt, FSGT or, currently correctly in the RAF, FS) is a senior non-commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and several other air forces which have adopted all or part of the RAF rank structur ...

and rejoined No. II Squadron. He was subsequently deployed back to Afghanistan on Operation Herrick IX as an Intelligence Surveillance Recognition Manager. He was promoted to warrant officer in 2010 and served as the Station Warrant Officer (SWO) at

RAF Shawbury Royal Air Force Shawbury, otherwise known as RAF Shawbury, is a Royal Air Force station near the village of Shawbury in Shropshire in the West Midlands of England. History The First World War The station at Shawbury was first used for milita ...

and served as OC FP Training Flight. In 2011, he returned to II Squadron as the WO in charge of the RAF security unit deployed on Camp Bastion. In 2013, he once again returned to Afghanistan as garrison sergeant major of

Kandahar Air Field Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport, also referred to as Kandahar International Airport (, ), and by some military officials as Kandahar Airfield (KAF), is located in the Daman District of Kandahar Province in Afghanistan, about southeast f ...

. In 2015, Alpert was selected for the RAF's Executive Warrant Officer employment program, while serving as the station warrant officer at

RAF Halton Royal Air Force Halton, or more simply RAF Halton, is one of the largest Royal Air Force stations in the United Kingdom. It is located near the village of Halton near Wendover, Buckinghamshire. The site has been in use since the First World ...

. He received the

Meritorious Service Medal A Meritorious Service Medal is an award presented to denote acts of meritorious service, and sometimes gallantry, that are worthy of recognition. Notable medals with similar names include: Singapore *Pingat Jasa Gemilang, or Meritorious Services Me ...

for his services. In 2017, Alpert was appointed Command Senior Enlisted Leader of Allied Air Command and completed several command courses. In October 2019, he was appointed to the role of

. Though when first appointed the position was known as the Chief of the Air Staff's Warrant Officer. He left the office of WORAF in April 2023.

Honours and decorations

In 2016, during his time at RAF Halton Alpert was awarded the

. The medal is awarded for "meritorious service by those military members who are of irreproachable character with at least 20 years of service and already hold the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal of their service". In 2019, he was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Alpert, Jake Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Royal Air Force airmen Warrant Officers of the Royal Air Force British military personnel of The Troubles (Northern Ireland) Royal Air Force personnel of the Iraq War Royal Air Force personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Recipients of the Meritorious Service Medal (United Kingdom) Members of the Order of the British Empire