Policy change may affect promotion board release dates

  • Published
WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  A recent policy change may result in officers waiting an additional two to six months for promotion board results.

The policy will not, however, affect actual promotion pin-on dates.

The Senate Armed Services Committee previously confirmed promotion lists within three months of the board, regardless of the actual pin-on dates.

Under the old procedures, the Air Force secretary and chief of staff were briefed on the results of promotion boards, and the list continued through the coordination process to the secretary of defense for approval. Once approved, the results were released to the public, regardless of when the first promotion increment occurred, officials said.

Once publicly released, the nomination was released to the White House and then to the Senate committee. The nomination lists remained in the committee until 90 days before the first promotion date and then sent to the full Senate for confirmation.

The new procedures will remain the same up to the point where they go to the secretary of defense. At that point, any list of Airmen not scheduled for promotion within 9 months will be returned to the Air Force Personnel Center and held until the first day of the ninth month before the promotions begin. The nomination package will then be returned to Secretary of Defense for signature and released to the public.

This change is expected to affect a small number of boards and competitive categories, personnel center officials said.

Based on the current five-year promotion plan, this new procedure will delay the release of the 2004 major officer line and nurse corps boards by four and six months, respectively. The tentative release of the line officer results is May 2005. The nurse corps release is tentatively projected for July 2005.

All other competitive categories will be released on time, officials said. In addition, they anticipate no impact to the 2005 board releases.

For more information, visit www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/offprom/.