Most Air Force captains can count on automatic promotion to major after Dec. 1, 2017, the service announced last month. "Beginning December 2017, the pool of line officers considered for promotion to major will have a 100 percent promotion opportunity," the statement said. (Dennis Rogers/U.S. Air Force)
Most Air Force captains can count on automatic promotion to major after Dec. 1, the service has announced.
“Beginning December 2017, the pool of line officers considered for promotion to major will have a 100 percent promotion opportunity,” said a statement issued last month.
The move addresses a shortage of 1,555 pilots and manning shortages in other jobs usually filled by majors that have ballooned in recent years as officers opt for commercial aviation jobs, Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson said earlier this year.
Just under one in 10 Air Force jobs for field-grade line officers, whose main job involves commanding troops, are vacant while about one in four nonrated field-grade officer jobs are unfilled, the statement said.
“With this change, captains whose conduct has been exemplary can expect to be promoted to major,” Wilson said. “We’ve been letting capable people leave the service and we need them.”
Only a few officers will not be eligible for the automatic promotion - those with a record of disciplinary action and those with rare “do not promote” records, the Air Force statement said.
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