All Branch Topic (ABT) Promotion to Major

[CDTcorp]

I’m getting conflicting information about this topic, so I thought I would post here. This is for Air Force specifically.

From what I understand, you are promoted to major 6 years after your date of rank to capt. does this mean that you go to the board at 5 years and pin on the 6th?

I have also heard of people going to the board at 6 years and pinning on at the 7 year mark, but the promotion was backdated to 6 years from capt date of rank.

How is this supposed to work? I’m currently being told you need 7 years time in grade for promotion to 0-4. So board at 6 and pin at 7.

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[chlrbwls]

I am in the navy and i personally was boarded on the 5th year and putting it on the 6th year mark which was this September.

Unless you did some detrimental or just failed to demonstrate that you were a good officer, you should typically get selected on the 5th and put it on 6th year for each rank

As you go up in rank it does get more difficult

 

[DOswag]

Just recently separated from Air Force. I went to the board at year 5 and pinned on Major at year 6. The rest of my residency classmates that were at the same year as me did as well.

 

[armytrainingsir]

Fun reading on the US Code regulating promotion.
Note that the services have lots of leeway within the US Code.

Promotion Timing, Zones, and Opportunity

This page lists laws and policies on Promotion Timing, Zones, and Opportunity in relation to the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act (DOPMA) of 1980 and its companion Reserve Officer Personnel Management Act (ROPMA).

www.rand.org

 

[Correlate Clinically]

Historically the AF promoted 100% from O-3 to O-4. It is now "best qualified" and competitive. This was supposed to be a very high promotion rate when the change was announced a few years back, and realistically it still is, but it has drifted lower each year. Still around 90% or something. Keep in mind that selection rate (or more accurate, promotion opportunity) is flexible and the AF can adjust it for any reason.

In the past, you should meet your primary board somewhere around 4.5-5 years and would pin on at 6. It seemed like boards were compressed the past few years, and everyone met a board 6-12 months before they pinned on.

You also will now get a line number, so your exact date of rank will vary.

The catch is anyone coming out of a civilian residency or longer residency program. Depending on the exact situation, you may not be eligible for that first board at all - mostly HPSP people, specifically anyone with with a 5 yr program or more. That means either waiting for the next cycle or a supplementary board if they hold one. It also kind of disadvantages the new resident (only training reports, not eligible for awards/medals most of the time, that kind of thing). That probably only has a major impact if it is a competitive selection.

Caveat to all of that - I haven't been sitting at a selection board, so some is just my speculation from helping some people locally and watching the results come out.

You can double check with your CSS or call AFPC.

 

[Monty Python]

This is USN-specific, not AF.
In-rank times and promo opportunities may vary, based on manpower needs. I’ve been a voting member on seven boards and the IZ windows, % opportunities, and SECNAV convening order/precept seemed different each time IIRC.

I wore O-4 for 4 years, 8 months.
Wore O-5 for 6 years, 1 month.
Refused to kiss a@@, pissed off a few people inside the Beltway, stayed busy clinically, did a few admin tasks and committees, still somehow made O-6 at first look IZ. Pure lucky timing.

While all services structure and conduct their staff corps boards in dissimilar manners with an unavoidable amount of subjectivity, the USN’s method is the most “uniformly subjective.“ The board president might be from a different corps. The voting membership on a staff corps board always includes a senior warfare line officer, to get the line perspective on leadership potential.

I advised my JOs to volunteer for duty as a non-voting recorder at a promo board. I did this as a junior O-4 and it opened my eyes to how voting members dissect the wording (or lack thereof — intentionally not stating something can be a message to the board) on officer evaluation FITREPS.