How to Be Considered for Promotion if You’ve Been on Active Duty for Less Than 1 Year

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The FY25 promotion board NAVADMIN was released. If you are in-zone or above-zone for an upcoming promotion board but you’ve been on active duty for less than 1 year, you should read paragraph #8:

8.  In-zone and above-zone eligible officers in the grades of chief warrant 
officer 2/3/4, lieutenant, lieutenant commander, and commander, whose 
placement on the active-duty list is within one year of the convening dates 
of these boards, are automatically deferred unless they specifically request 
to be considered.  The officer may waive this deferment and request 
consideration for promotion, in writing, emailed to 
NPC_Officer_SELBD_Elig_Waivers.fct@navy.mil or mailed to: 
 
    Commander, Navy Personnel Command (PERS-802) 
    5720 Integrity Drive 
    Millington, TN 38055-0000 
 
For in-zone and above-zone eligible line officers in the grade of commander, 
the request must be received by PERS-802 not later than 2359 CST 15 days 
prior to the convening date of the respective board.  For in-zone and above-
zone eligible staff corps officers in the grade of commander, in-zone and 
above-zone eligible line and staff corps officers in the grade of lieutenant 
commander and lieutenant, and in-zone and above-zone chief warrant officers, 
the request must be received by PERS-802 not later than 2359 CST 30 days 
prior to the convening date of the respective board.  Specifically: 
 
Selection To                    Convening Date     Due Date / Time 
URL/RL Captain                    10 JAN 24     25 DEC 23 / 2359 CST 
Staff Corps Captain                6 FEB 24      6 JAN 24 / 2359 CST 
URL/RL Commander                  13 FEB 24     13 JAN 24 / 2359 CST 
Staff Corps Commander             29 APR 24     29 MAR 24 / 2359 CST 
Staff Corps Lieutenant Commander  29 APR 24     29 MAR 24 / 2359 CST 
URL/RL Lieutenant Commander        6 MAY 24      6 APR 24 / 2359 CST 
Chief Warrant Officer 5/4/3/2      3 JUN 24      3 MAY 24 / 2359 CST

What does this mean and why would it apply to you? Maybe you had prior service, you went to medical school, and now you’re a senior LT who is in-zone for LCDR right away. Maybe you did a civilian NADDS residency and you are in-zone right away for LCDR. There might be other situations that would put you in this position, like getting time-in-grade credit for other experience.

If you believe you are in this position, here is what I’d do:

  1. Confirm you are in-zone or above-zone. How can you do this? The easiest way if you are MC is to read Chapter 2 of the Promo Prep. Or you can use your date or rank and the zones spelled out in this NAVADMIN. Or you can hunt down your Corps’ lineal list, which are probably floating around as they are usually released in mid-DEC.
  2. If you wish to be considered for promotion to LCDR, CDR, or CAPT, do what it says above. Send the letter simply requesting this. It can probably be a very short letter. There is no need to be verbose.
  3. Also, here is a great article on this topic from the August 2018 Medical Corps Newsletter:

Do you know about OPT-IN requirements for promotion?

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