How does 'promotion' work in the military?

Factual Questions
1

Lately I’ve been busy reviewing ‘promotion packages’ for people applying for promotion here at the University (from assistant prof to associate, and from associate to full). Having been doing this for some years now, I can say that the whole process seems pretty fair and transparent. All the various procedural aspects of applying for promotion are made very clear. But what impresses me more is that the criteria for promotion are also quite clear. In fact, they’re not only specified for each of the two levels of promotion (from assistant to associate, and from associate to full professor), but also for the ‘basis’ (career path) on which you’re applying to be promoted, i.e. there are three: 1. research, or 2. excellence in teaching, or 3. “creative professional activity” (which I won’t bother defining here).

In any case, all this got me thinking about promotion in the military. I really don’t have a clue how it works.

Do you apply for promotion, or does someone just do it on your behalf when they think you’re ready?

Is there a board convened to assess your promotion or is it simply up to your superior(s)? And if the latter, how far up does it go? Would, say, a captain’s promotion be determined by a major, lieutenant, or even a colonel?

What criteria are used? Are they confidential, or can they be looked up by someone preparing for promotion?

What data is examined (e.g. are letters of support sought? From whom? Who chooses them? e.g. is the opinion of your subordinates taken into account?)

Is the process different for enlisted personnel versus officers? And, within officers, is the process the same at all levels (e.g. is the process different going from lieutenant to captain and going from colonel to general?)

So, lots of questions and obviously I don’t expect anyone to answer all of them, or even several. Still, they’re all basically just variations on a theme, so any input would be helpful - and much appreciated.

Thanks!

2

I got out of the Air Force in 1992, and things may have changed since then. For enlisted people, the first few promotions were fairly automatic, based on time in service and time in grade, assuming good behavior. Think it worked that way up through E-4, and it was possible to be promoted to E-4 “below the zone”–ie, 6 months early–for superior performance. After that, it became a competitive process. To compete for promotion to E-5, a person had to have a certain minimum length of time in service and Grade E-4, take a test on skills/knowledge relevant to their particular career field, and then factor in points for extra time in service/grade + some medals/awards + performance review scores. The qualifying score to get promoted would be established for each career field–higher in some, lower in others based on number of people in that field and the needs of the Air Force. Everyone in the career field that achieved the qualifying score or higher got promoted. Think there may have been an additional layer for senior enlisted ranks, some sort of board of review interview process…E-8 or E-9, maybe. The whole system was called W.A.P.S. for “Weighted Airman Promotion System”

3

E-3, and I was in the USMC until 1985. After E-3, it was based on merit and no longer automatic.

4

For the Air National Guard (at least my unit) it is based upon the Unit Manning Document (you can only be promoted if there’s a slot open), your time in service/time in grade, the recommendation of your supervisor, the completion of your Career Development Courses, the completion of your Professional Military Education, the approval of a promotion board, and the approval of your commander. The Air National Guard does not participate in WAPS.

You can have all your ducks in a row but if the commander doesn’t approve it isn’t happening. My commander once rejected someone in my squadron for promotion because he was too young to be made a Master Sergeant. This was in spite of the fact that he had met all of the requirements for promotion. In the commander’s eyes he simply wasn’t old enough yet.

5

Non-military, but speaking as a close observer…

For officers, there is an annual quota for the number of ranks that are needed. By default, this means that a certain percentage of every rank will get promoted. Obviously, if you do something bad that is particularly egregious, you won’t get promoted, but for the first few grades, it’s almost automatic.

My experience was with Air Force officers-- depending on how great the need and how capable your “class” was, you could expect to make Captain just by breathing (in the early part of the decade the promotion rate for First Lieutenant to Captain was something like 97%). That percentage declines with Major and Lieutenant Colonel, but really hits the wall with Colonel/0-6-- you have to actually achieve something to get that kind of grade.

As far as flag officers are concerned, the dirty joke (which isn’t much of a joke) is that the service knows whether you’ll be a General/Admiral long before you do-- i.e., you’ll be pegged as a “rising star” by Major or even Captain and placed/encouraged on a promotion track.

Another aspect that I can’t do justice to but someone else here will certainly chime in is the concept of a promotion “zone.” Again, you have a commissioning class you are part of, and with that class comes an expectation that you’ll make Captain after X number of years in service, Major after X+Y years after that, etc. If you get promoted before that, it’s a “below the zone” promotion-- these are big deals, there are only so many below the zone promotions permitted in each class, and can signify that you have a long career ahead of you. Otherwise, if you get promoted, you’ll get promoted in the zone. If you don’t get promoted in the zone, eventually you’ll be referred to as “passed over” for promotion… this is a bad thing. It’s rare for officers who are passed over to get promoted in later years (I only knew a handful). You may be asked to leave the service after so many years of being passed over (depending on the service’s need for your specific skill set), although most officers can spot the writing on the wall and get out after that point. It’s nothing dishonorable, you did your service, but if you’re passed over at those lower “gimme” grades, it’s not exactly the highest of praise :).

6

An earlier thread on “How do you become a general?” One of the links used to contain a breakdown by rank. It’s no longer active, but there is some discussion on the numbers.

7

I can only speak for the Army enlisted, but it’s much the same for every branch. You accumulate points in specific categories throughout your career (here’s a cheat sheet). There are three categories: Recommendation, Admin, and Board points.

Recommend- your fitness score, marksmanship score, and your annual evaluation.
Administrative- Time in service, time in grade, awards, certifications, and education
Board Points-

This makes soldiers sweat. You appear before a panel of your superiors, gathered from not just in your unit but also outside it so there’s a balance between objectivity and familiarity. They test your knowledge (“What’s the maximum effective range of an M-16A2 assault rifle?”, “What’s the definition of Duty”), inspect your uniform (measuring the distance between marksmanship badges), and maybe quiz you on some ambigous situational questions (“A junior soldier does____. How would you handle that situation?”)

One study guide can be found here.

Then you get compared to the rest of the soldiers in your grade and MOS. If you’re in the top X%, you get promoted. And the Army publishes your name in the Army Times, along with everyone else getting promoted.

The National Guard and Reserve is a little different. You don’t usually physically appear before a board. The board just reads statements from your unit superiors and you’re judged in absentia. And you also need to have a slot that you can be promoted to. For example, if your unit only has 3 E-5 35Ws and there are already 3, then no one is getting promoted unless they change units. That sucks for people that get bottlenecked behind someone in for life, but the alternative is to have a unit of all chiefs and no indians. No one wants that either.

8

Wow. Very, very helpful.

The ‘cheat sheet’ was interesting and is not dissimilar from the type of thing we use. One thing that is very different, though, is the requirement that there be open slots above you. That is definitely not something I could accept readily. I assume there’s some sort of waiting list such that whenever there’s a ‘bottleneck’, the first people to arrive there get promoted first when a slot opens even if a later arrival to the bottleneck has a better overall score or ‘package’.

I also had no idea about the degree of formality and almost ‘pickyness’ there is when a candidate for promotion appears before the board. Not only does much of the knowledge requirement in such situations sound mind-numbingly rote, but the attention paid to things like “taking exactly two steps” or “highly shined brass” or, the best (or scariest depending on your POV),

Wow. I most definitely am not cut out for the military.

Again, thanks for all your responses.

9

Promotions are done once a year. The branch knows what it needs and looks at potential promotees that qualified by a certain date. If somebody qualifies after that with a better package they go into the next year’s batch.

10

Something I was surprised to learn, when we did the no. Admirals/no. ships thread a few months back, is that there is a maximum number of ‘general officers’ (Generals/Admirals) for each service, sweet by act of Congress, of which only a specific percentage (for each rank) can move up to two, three, and four stars. In the Navy (which is what I was looking up, for obvious reasons), you would not get your third star until and unless you got a billet calling for a Vice Admiral, and likewise for the fourth star (full Admiral). I don’t know if this is the case for the other services. IIRC there could be only a maximum of 19 Admirals with 3 or 4, stars, of which only four or five (I don’t recall which) could be 4-star full Admirals at a time.

11

I’ve heard that British soldiers used to drink to “Bloody wars and dread diseases”, as those were the only two ways that a slot above them would open up for promotion.

12

Am I correct in thinking that flag officers must have Senate confirmation, or is that only at a certain number of stars?

13

I was a Navy officer years ago, so I will make some comments pertinent to officer promotions.

Neither. You don’t apply for promotion, nor do they care whether or not you are ready. For the first promotion from O-1 to O-2, promotion is automatic once you have the required time in grade (usually 2 years). All promotions after this are based on boards that meet and review the officer’s fitness reports (annual reviews) and their current and past assignments. The percentage of officers selected for promotion from O-2 to O-3 is also close to 100%, and officers are promoted to O-3 at the four year point for their total time in service. Selection percentages then go down the higher up you get, from ~80% selection rate from O-3 to O-4, to ~50% selection rate from O-5 to O-6. Getting selected for promotion to admiral is much more difficult. Senate confirmation is required for all promotions for O-4 and above.

After promotion to O-3, the promotion flow rate starts to vary, and you can get officers being selected for promotion “below zone” (i.e. early), “in zone” (right on time), and (rarely) “above zone” (late). Officers get two chances for promotion. If they are “passed over” for promotion, they get one more chance for a board to consider them for “above zone” promotion a year later. Officers who fail to get promoted after being considered by two boards are forced to separate or retire. (The latter is only an option for an officer with at least 20 years service.)

14

That’s “bloody wars and sickly seasons,” I believe.

15

Off the top of my head but yes, I believe Congress makes an Act that confirms newly nominated general-class officers (which includes admirals). It’s generally done either standalone or as some sort of routine omnibuss bill. It would take a LOT to politicize that event and get a nominee some negative attention and therefore get derailed.

16

If there are no (or too few) slots open above you for you to be promoted into, does that stop the clock with respect to shifting you from ‘in zone’ to ‘above zone’?

17

Robby,

Why that up or out system? Doesn’t this mean that people who are competent as 0-4s but not above will be expelled, even though they could continue to do a good job in that position?

Before someone is promoted, are they given a chance to see how they would perform at the superior level? E.g.: a platoon leader is given temporary command of the company to see how he handles it.

18

No, there are always too few slots for everyone that is eligible to be promoted.

19

The military sees it as the way to keep the best people. If you’re an O-4 that can’t make O-5 you’re out to make way for someone that can. Otherwise no slots would open and junior officers wouldn’t get promoted. It’s the ‘No Peter Principle.’

No, but part of the rating of officers is the judgement by their current commander of how they would perform at the next level.

20

My last job in the Army dealt with promotion boards for Army officers. Things could have changed in the last ten years but this is essentially the process:

2LT to 1LT - At the designated time (varies with the “needs of the service” between 18 months and two years), promotion is automatic unless blocked by your second line supervisor (usually a LTC).

1LT to CPT - A “fully qualified” criteria by a central board. That is, if you meet the minimum qualifications (no disciplinary actions, not overweight), you will get selected.

All other promotions - A “best qualified” criteria by a central board. That is, in addition to meeting the minimum qualifications, the board has a number they are allowed to selected. All candidates are scored and the ones with the highest are selected until the allowed number is selected.

For medical and dental officers, they start as CPT and their promotion to MAJ is “fully qualified” and after that they are “best qualified”.

In the medical area (where I worked), the board would have additional criteria such as “you must select two neurosurgeons”. In those cases, the first check would be if two were selected independent of the requirement. If not, the best scoring neurosurgeon not meeting the cut line (but fully qualified) is moved up and the lowest that otherwise made the cut is dropped down.

Lawyers and chaplains also have their own boards, all other Army officers are in a big pool sometimes referred to as the “Army Competitive Category”.