Fort Rucker Soldier Service Center namesake posthumously promoted to CW5
The name of the Soldier Service Center at Fort Rucker is now the Chief Warrant Officer 5 Michael J. Novosel Soldier Service Center, after the building’s namesake was posthumously promoted this summer.
In a letter to the Secretary of the Army back in 2025, a former combat helicopter pilot, retired Chief Warrant Officer 5 William D. Sorenson, urged the Army to grant Novosel the promotion after Fort Rucker was redesignated as Fort Novosel back in 2023.
The grade of chief warrant officer 5 did not exist during Novosel’s active-duty career. If it had, Novosel would have been “number one on the list” for promotion to CW5, Sorenson wrote. Novosel retired in 1984, years before the grade of CW5 was created in 1991.
In a letter dated May 5, 2026, then- Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll responded to Sorenson’s request that after careful review of Novosel’s military records, Novosel would be posthumously promoted, noting the promotion was subject to a 60-day congressional oversight period.
Driscoll added, “The Army and our Nation are forever grateful for his honorable military service.”
Posthumous promotions are a way for the military to recognize service members whose careers ended before they could be considered for a higher grade or whose contributions were not fully recognized during their lifetimes.
Such promotions do not change a service member’s wartime record, but they can formally acknowledge the level of responsibility, performance and distinction associated with a higher rank.
Novosel served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
The storied aviator had already attained the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, but relinquished that rank to serve as a “Dustoff” medevac pilot in Vietnam.
In Vietnam, he flew 2,543 missions, and is credited with medical evacuation of some 5,589 wounded Soldiers. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for saving 29 Soldiers from certain death while under intense enemy fire. Wounded, and with a heavily damaged aircraft, he piloted the aircraft and completed the mission.
After retirement, Novosel continued to mentor future generations of Army aviators for two more decades.
Though the installation was renamed Fort Rucker in the summer of 2025, the installation took steps earlier this year to memorialize the legendary aviator’s service.
In a dedication ceremony back in April, Fort Rucker named the Soldier Service Center in honor of Novosel to ensure his legacy of service will forever be connected to Army Aviation Soldiers.
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