The first-ever board that will decide which airmen to promote to master sergeant was scheduled to convene Wednesday at the Air Force Personnel Center's headquarters at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.
The new promotion board represents one of the biggest elements of the Air Force's wide-ranging overhaul of its enlisted performance system, which is being rolled out this year. The Air Force said last month that it was scheduled to convene May 27, but did not immediately respond to emails asking to confirm that it did begin on time.
But not all of the 25,225 technical sergeants who were eligible for promotion are being evaluated by the board. The Air Force allowed only the top 60 percent – or roughly 15,135 tech sergeants – in each Air Force Specialty Code to move forward to the board process. Without that 60 percent cutoff – which is the only way in which the master sergeant board differs from boards for promoting senior and chief master sergeants – the Air Force said the board would become overwhelmed. The Air Force did not say exactly how many tech sergeants would meet the board.
The first phase of the board process chose the 60 percent who would meet the board by combining specialty knowledge test and promotion fitness examination scores with time in grade, time in service, decorations and enlisted performance reports to set initial scores. Those scores were then sorted by AFSC to decide who would make the cut.
For small AFSCs with 15 or fewer eligible tech sergeants, all eligible airmen moved on to the evaluation board, as long as they met the minimum SKT and PFE scores.
The board will review the selection folder containing each airman's evaluation brief, enlisted performance reports closing out within 10 years of the promotion eligibility cutoff date, and all decorations received over the airman's entire career. Any Article 15 received within two years of the cutoff date and recommended for placement in the selection folder by a commander will also be considered. The board will calculate a score for each airman's record, which will replace the weighted EPR points from the first phase in the process.
The board score will then be combined with the remaining Weighted Airman Promotion System scores from the first phase to create a final overall score. Those overall scores will then be racked and stacked by AFSC to create an order of merit. Finally, the Air Force will apply the promotion quota to each AFSC's order of merit to decide who will be promoted to master sergeant.
The board is expected to complete its work July 2.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
