Prior-service airmen receive SKT exemptions

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Randy L. Mitchell
  • Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  Prior-service airmen who do not possess the minimum required primary Air Force specialty skill level commensurate with their grade will now automatically receive a two-year exemption from taking the Specialty Knowledge Test during promotion fitness exams.

The change will become effective with the next staff, technical and master sergeant promotion cycles.

"This will bring promotion consideration for all prior-service members in line with current procedures used for retrainees," said Chief Master Sgt. Mark Billingsley, chief of the enlisted promotions branch at the Air Force Personnel Center here. "The change will ensure all members are given fair, timely and equitable promotion consideration under the Weighted Airman Promotion System."

The change now treats people coming into the Air Force from a “sister service” –- or returning to active duty in a different specialty after a break in Air Force service -- as other retrainees.

The old policy had treated prior-service people differently than those who had never had a break in service and were retraining into another skill, the chief said.

"Those retraining without any break in service are given an SKT exemption for two years to allow them to continue to progress through the ranks with the understanding that while they were 'upgrading' in the new skill they wouldn't be disadvantaged by having to test along with those who had been in the specialty their entire career," Billingsley said.

"Until now, when it came to prior-service folks returning to active duty there was no such 'grace period' built into the system," he said. "They were required to immediately test on both [the Promotion Fitness Exam and] SKT.

"We've fixed the inequity by giving both groups the opportunity to learn a skill before it becomes part of the promotion equation for them," Billingsley said.

The change in policy will not be grandfathered and supplemental requests will not be accepted for past promotion cycles, officials said.

For the 2004 promotion cycles, any prior-service airman who entered active duty Jan.1, 2002, or later, who does not possess the minimum required skill level commensurate with their grade, will be eligible for the two-year SKT exemption. The change is expected to affect about 1,000 people per year, officials said.

For more information on personnel programs, call the Air Force Contact Center toll-free at (800) 616-3775 or visit www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/cst. (Courtesy of AFPC News Service)