Which is why Halt applied for the Army’s Warrant Officer Aviator Program. Last week, he heard the result: success. He will be trading in Navy blue for Army green, and in the process advancing his career in the military.

‘‘The warrant officer is a highly-trained person in one field,” said Halt. ‘‘I’ll be flying as a career, not moving up into an upper management-style scenario.”

Why leave the Navy? ‘‘The Navy just doesn’t have a big need for that, while the Army has a huge force of people who fly all the time. They have a bigger need and make more selections.”

Before coming Pax River in November 2004, where he has been a member of the Pax River Color Guard, Halt was with HC-6 in Norfolk. There he was a part of crews that ‘‘did a lot of replenishment on ships, transferring cargo and carrying mail.” Joining Pax River’s Search and Rescue, ‘‘I was looking for more of that high-adrenaline excitement, jumping out of helicopters and getting a chance to rescue people.”

There isn’t much actual rescuing, however. On the one hand, ‘‘That’s a good thing, because the object is for us not to have to rescue anyone because everyone comes back safely and there are no problems in the air,” Halt said. On the other hand, ‘‘After a while you get tired of practicing something you don’t get a chance to do.”

The Army has a different role for its helicopters, one that Halt compares to the old-time cavalry. ‘‘They’re used for special operations and support missions, all in support of ground troops,” Halt stated. ‘‘There’s more of a role for that in the Army than in the Navy, where we are shipbound.”

Halt will be moving up in more than rank. He will also become a pilot, ‘‘a job that’s more challenging in a different way.” With his current experience, ‘‘I’ll know what’s going on in the back of the helicopter.”

What does his family think of this? ‘‘My brothers, sisters and girlfriend want me to be happy, but are nervous about the high probability of me going to Iraq when I’m qualified in a little less than two years,” he answered. ‘‘If we’re out of Iraq by then, it may be somewhere else. That’s the biggest concern for them.”

They were also ‘‘looking forward to my leaving the military and staying in this area.” Halt, who will be 27 on Feb. 7, originally enlisted July 9, 1999. With the six-year commitment that comes with acceptance into the warrant officer program, that will make a total of 14 years, and ‘‘it’d be kind of silly not to finish it out and serve at least 20 years.” For now, though, ‘‘it’s six years at a time.”

And it starts with beginning the paperwork to leave the Navy. Within 24 hours of being discharged, he must enlist in the Army. Anytime in the next 90 days he will receive his orders to Ft. Rucker, Ala. for Warrant Officer Candidate School, which Halt describes as ‘‘sort of like boot camp. There are no phones, you are restricted in the amount of money you can have, and you don’t go anywhere unless you’re told. Eight years of being in the Navy and it’s back to boot camp.”

Afterward is 40 weeks of flight training, again at Rucker. He will then be commissioned as a Warrant Officer 1.

Getting to this point has been a year-long process for Halt because of the change in services. ‘‘The Army guys talk to their career coordinators, but the Army uses a different process than the Navy Chief Warrant Officer program,” said Halt. ‘‘The Navy people couldn’t do a lot of it, and when I talked to Army recruiters, they didn’t know much about the active duty to active duty program because they don’t deal with it very much.”

His first submission (in October) was sent back due to some missing medical paperwork. He resubmitted in December for the January board, and learned of his acceptance Jan. 22.

As for his future after the initial six-year Army commitment and probable completion of 20 years, ‘‘It all depends on what’s going on in my life at the time,” said Halt. ‘‘With a pilot’s license there will be a lot of opportunities when I get out, but I love serving in the military.”