The Air Force has selected 23.34 percent of eligible airmen for promotion to master sergeant, the Air Force Personnel Center said Friday.

AFPC said that 5,019 out of 21,504 promotion-eligible technical sergeants were selected. That is a slightly higher selection rate than the 22.44 percent rate for E-7 promotion last year.

But because 23,619 airmen were eligible for promotion last year, even with the higher selection rate, fewer airmen were actually picked for promotion this year. In 2015, 5,301 airmen were picked for master sergeant.

This year's selection rate is the highest since 2012, when 27.58 percent of eligible airmen were selected for E-7.

The 2016 cycle was the second time a promotion board was held to select master sergeants. In 2015, the board's first year, the Air Force had a two-phase process that only allowed the top 60 percent to go before the board.

But this year, the Air Force moved to a one-phase process, allowing all eligible tech sergeants to be reviewed.

Brig. Gen. Brian Kelly, director of military force management policy, said in April that the Air Force was able to move to a one-phase process because it started only looking at the last five years of airmen's performance reports, instead of the last 10 years.

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Stephen Losey covers personnel, promotions, and the Air Force Academy for Air Force Times. He can be reached at slosey@airforcetimes.com.

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