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

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The FY26 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     			14 JAN 25     29 DEC 24 / 2359 CST 
Staff Corps Captain    			11 FEB 25     11 JAN 25 / 2359 CST 
URL/RL Commander     			19 FEB 25     19 JAN 25 / 2359 CST 
Staff Corps Commander              	5 MAY 25      5 APR 25 / 2359 CST 
Staff Corps Lieutenant Commander   	5 MAY 25      5 APR 25 / 2359 CST 
URL/RL Lieutenant Commander    	12 MAY 25     12 APR 25 / 2359 CST 
Chief Warrant Officer 5/4/3/2     	9 JUN 25      9 MAY 25 / 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 3 of The Wealth Captain. 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. Often they are posted on your Corps’ Sharepoint page or e-mailed out by your Specialty Leader.
  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. Here is the template as well as an example with some additional info from an officer that sent a letter (he said I could post it):
Sample_Waiver_of_DefermentDownload
Waiver of Deferment Walk ThroughDownload

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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