promotion
You Should Care About Promotion Board Precepts and Convening Orders
Whenever a promotion board starts, the members are provided two items to guide them as they decide who to promote, the board precept and the convening order. These documents are available on-line and should be used to figure out how to promote and write your fitrep.
The Board Precept
The precept is released in December and can be seen anytime afterwards. For example, if you go to the FY19 O4 Staff Corps Promotion Board page and click on the link marked with an arrow, you’ll get the board precept even though this board hasn’t started yet:
The Convening Order
The convening order for a promotion board is not released until it starts. If you monitor the board page closely, you’ll usually be able to get it within 1-2 days after the board begins. You just click the link that reads “Board Convening Order”:
Incidentally, this is how I always find out the promotion opportunity for all the boards and post it on the blog. It is in the convening order.
Why You Should Care
You should care about the precept and convening order because they tell you how to promote to the next rank. Go to this page and download them from the most recent boards of your next rank. You can see all the different boards circled in red here:
Click on the board for the next rank you’ll be competing for, and download the precept and convening order. If the board hasn’t happened yet (like the FY19 O4 board), then you’ll have to look at last year’s convening order (FY18).
Use these documents for two things. First, to figure out how to promote. For example, I deconstructed a past O6 convening order here.
Second, use them to come up with wording for your fitrep bullets, as discussed here where I showed you how to pull phrases for your block 41.
The Bottom Line
- Go to this page.
- Get the precept and convening order for your next rank. You might have to go to last year’s board for the convening order if the board hasn’t started yet.
- Use them to figure out how to get promoted and for writing your fitrep.
FY19 Medical Corps Promotion Opportunity 85%
Here is the just released FY19 Active O5 Staff Corps Promotion Board Convening Order. The promotion opportunity was 85%, the highest in a long time:
| FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | FY16 | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | |
| CDR | 80% | 80% | 70% | 70% | 65% | 75% | 85% |
The 90% CAPT Promotion Opportunity and a Promotion Board Math Review
People are very excited about the 90% promotion opportunity for the recently concluded FY19 Staff Corps O6 promotion board. But it is easy to misinterpret this opportunity. It does not mean that 90% of CDRs will be selected for CAPT. Let’s review promotion board math…
Where Does the Promotion Opportunity Come From?
The short answer is from manpower projections. How many physicians are getting out or retiring? What is the current Medical Corps manning level for that rank? What are future needs anticipated to be? What is the size of the promotion zone?
The answers to all of these questions determines the promotion opportunity and guides PERS and BUMED when they are making their decision.
As you can see here, the promotion opportunity varies from year-to-year:
| FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | FY16 | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | |
| LCDR | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
| CDR | 80% | 80% | 70% | 70% | 65% | 75% | |
| CAPT | 60% | 60% | 60% | 50% | 70% | 80% | 90% |
Historical promotion opportunities for FY13-19.
But as you can see here, the percentage who are promoted from the in zone group is substantially lower:
| FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | FY16 | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | |
| LCDR | 97% | 89% | 90% | 93% | 88% | 85% | |
| CDR | 58% | 66% | 49% | 53% | 44% | 40% | |
| CAPT | 55% | 43% | 47% | 39% | 34% | 37% |
Historical percentage of in-zone candidates selected for promotion for FY13-18.
FY19 O6 Promotion Board Math
The FY19 lineal list shows that there are 74 CDRs in the FY19 zone. If you take the 90% promotion opportunity and multiply it by 74, you’ll see that they could have promoted 67 CDRs to O6 during the board:
90% opportunity X 74 people in zone = 66.6 (rounded up to 67) people they can pick for O6
These 67, though, could have been picked from CDRs who were below zone, in zone, or above zone. Usually, there is one person picked from below zone, and a number from the in zone and above zone categories. The exact mix won’t be known until they release the results in May.
The Bottom Line
I’d much rather have a 90% promotion opportunity for O6 than the 50% in FY16, but the actual percentage of CDRs who were picked from this year’s zone won’t be known until May. If I had to guess, the 90% promotion opportunity will lead to approximately 40% of those in zone being selected, but my guess could be way off. We’ll just have to wait and see.
90% Medical Corps Promotion Opportunity for FY19 O6 Board
Here is the FY19 O6 Promotion Board Convening Order, which was just released on this website. On page 2 you can see that the promotion opportunity is 90% for Medical Corps, the highest it has ever been in recent times:
Historical Promotion Opportunities for Medical Corps
| FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | FY16 | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | |
| LCDR | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
| CDR | 80% | 80% | 70% | 70% | 65% | 75% | |
| CAPT | 60% | 60% | 60% | 50% | 70% | 80% | 90% |
10 Years of O5 and O6 Promotion Rates by Specialty
The Non-Surgical Detailer and I are working on a research project to take a deep dive on how all the various career factors affect the ability of physicians to promote. One of the first products of our preliminary research is a spreadsheet that shows 10 years of promotion rates to O5 and O6 by specialty. I’m sure the MCCareer.org audience would enjoy checking it out, so here it is:
CAPT and CDR (2100) Selection Rate by Specialty
There are multiple tabs, one for each fiscal year as well as the first tab, which is an overview.
Do You Still Need to Send the Above Zone Letter?
The standard advice has always gone something like this:
“If you are above zone, you need to send a letter to the promotion board so that they know you are still trying to promote. Otherwise they won’t pick you.”
Now that they no longer stamp officer records with “AZ” (above zone) and they look exactly the same as those records that are in zone, do you still need to write a letter to the board? Has the standard advice changed?
Reasons to Send a Letter to a Promotion Board
I addressed this in a post from a few years ago entitled “Should You Send a Letter to the Promotion Board?” I still agree with just about everything in that post, except for this:
“…you should always send a letter to demonstrate interest in getting promoted when you are above zone.”
In my opinion, you no longer need to send a letter just because you are above zone. If you have another reason to send a letter, then please do. If you are just sending one because you think you have to, I think that is no longer necessary.
The FY18 O6 board convening order states on page 2:
“…in determining which officers are best and fully qualified for promotion, you are required to equally consider both above-zone and in-zone officers.”
What if You’re Not Sure?
As you might imagine, I get asked a lot whether someone should send a letter to the promotion board. This is my standard response…
Pretend that you did not send a letter to the board, the board is over, and you were not selected for promotion. Are you going to be kicking yourself for not sending the letter? If the answer is yes or maybe, then send the letter. As long as you keep it short and sweet, there is no real downside.
Frankly, I think that when officers send letters to promotion boards they are often just making themselves feel better, and there is nothing wrong with that. You want to make sure that when the promotion board results come out, no matter what happened, you feel like you did everything you could to get promoted.
The Bottom Line
If you are above zone and want to send the letter just so there is no regret, feel free, but it is definitely not required to be considered for promotion.
New Addition to the Promo Prep – Check Your Security Clearance
During the last Specialty Leader Business Meeting, the Detailing Update mentioned that there were about 10 cases of officers who lost their promotion due to a security clearance issue. As a result, I added a new section to the Promo Prep document. In it you can find out how to check your security clearance. Here’s what I added:
Step 8 – Check Your Security Clearance
If your security clearance is expired, you won’t promote. To check on its status, go to blocks 92 and 93 of your Officer Data Card (ODC). Here is what mine says:
Block 92 – VV1015
Block 93 – 1115
What does this mean? The letters and dates in order are the level of clearance you are eligible for, the level of clearance you have, the date your investigation was initiated (MMYY format), and in block 93 the date your clearance was granted (MMYY format).
My first “V” means I am eligible for a “Top Secret – SCI Eligible” clearance. The second “V” means I actually have one. Here is a list of the various codes you might see:
The second date in block 93, “1115” in my case, is the important one. A Top Secret clearance is good for 6 years, so I should be good until NOV 2021. A Secret clearance, which is what most of you will have, is good for 10 years.
If your security clearance will expire within the next year or you have any questions about this, you should go to your security manager to renew it. Don’t let a promotion slip by because you had an expired clearance. It happens more than you would think.
How to Be Considered for Promotion if You’ve Been on Active Duty for Less Than 1 Year
The FY19 promotion board NAVADMIN was recently 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 #5 from the NAVADMIN, which says:
5. In-zone and above-zone eligible officers in the grades of 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 a signed written letter, emailed to: NPC_Officer_SELBD_Elig_Waivers.fct (at) navy.mil or mailed to:
Commander, Navy Personnel Command (PERS-802)
5720 Integrity Drive
Millington, TN 38055-0000
The request must be received by PERS-80 not later than 30 days prior to the convening date of the board.
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 a PhD.
If you believe you are in this position, here is what I’d do:
- Confirm you are in-zone or above-zone. How can you do this? The easiest way is to either read the Promo Prep or get the FY19 lineal list. Or you can use this document from PERS.
- If you wish to be considered for promotion to LCDR, CDR, or CAPT, so what it says above. Send the letter simply requesting this. You can find templates or letters to the board here or here. It can probably be a very short letter. There is no need to be verbose.
- Finally, contact PERS-802: Selection Board Eligibility Branch because I know people who did only #2 (sent a letter) and were not considered. Here’s what their website says:
If you have questions concerning promotion boards, eligibility for promotion boards, please contact the MyNavy Career Center at (833) 330-MNCC or askmncc@navy.mil.
PERS-802, Branch Head, (901) 874-4537
Officer Active and Reserve Eligibility Section
Section Supervisor (901) 874-3324
Also, here is a great article on this topic from the August 2018 Medical Corps Newsletter:
NAVADMIN 297/17 – Notice of Convening of FY-19 Navy Active-Duty Promotion Selection Boards
This NAVADMIN formally announces the promotion boards and sets the zones. My post a few days ago, though, is points you to the lineal list, which is the easiest way to figure out where you are in relation to the zones.
The promotion boards of note are:
- 6 FEB 2018 – Staff Corps Captain
- 27 MAR 2018 – Staff Corps Commander
- 15 MAY 2018 – Staff Corps Lieutenant Commander
It also contains the instructions for communicating with the promotion boards, and all communication is now due 10 days before the boards start.
Early Separation Policy NAVADMIN Cancellations
The NAVADMIN is below and here if you want to read it, but what is the short story? The Navy is growing, and they’re not going to let you out early anymore. In other words, if you want to RETIRE (not resign) as a CDR or CAPT, you are going to have to serve your full 3 years in that rank before they’ll let you out. You can read more details in this post.
UNCLASSIFIED ROUTINE R 131504Z DEC 17 FM CNO WASHINGTON DC TO NAVADMIN INFO CNO WASHINGTON DC BT UNCLAS PASS TO OFFICE CODES: FM CNO WASHINGTON DC//N1// INFO CNO WASHINGTON DC//N1// NAVADMIN 288/17 MSGID/GENADMIN/CNO WASHINGTON DC/N1/DEC// SUBJ/EARLY SEPARATION POLICY NAVADMIN CANCELLATIONS// REF/A/MSG/CNO WASHINGTON DC/N1/081628ZMAY14// REF/B/MSG/CNO WASHINGTON DC/N1/171732ZAUG16// REF/C/DOC/COMNAVPERSCOM/23AUG06// NARR/REF A IS NAVADMIN 103/14, ENLISTED EARLY TRANSITION PROGRAM. REF B IS NAVADMIN 182/16, TIME-IN-GRADE AND NEXT-LOWER-GRADE WAIVERS. REF C IS MILPERSMAN 1300-500, REASSIGNMENT FOR HUMANITARIAN REASONS (HUMS).// RMKS/1. References (a) and (b) are cancelled. 2. We are in a growing Navy. This requires more people, at a time when we are still working our way back to desired sea duty manning levels, and when the competition for talent is especially keen. We will certainly recruit and train many more Sailors to help meet these demands, but that will not be enough. 3. Retention of every capable Sailor will be critical to the operational readiness of the Navy. Therefore all early out programs and minimum service requirement waiver programs are cancelled. Service commitments such as enlistment contracts, service obligations for accepting promotions, bonuses, education, etc., are expected to be fulfilled. 4. Service members experiencing difficulty in fulfilling obligated service requirements are encouraged to work with their chains of command and detailers to examine available alternatives to complete their obligation, to include reassignments to other duties for humanitarian reasons, in line with reference (c). 5. It has been decades since the last period of major personnel growth in our Navy. You will see many additional policy changes in the coming weeks and months to set us on the right course. However, the most important tool we have is deckplate leadership and its ability to influence retention. The Navy is counting on each of you. 6. Released by VADM R. P. Burke, N1.// BT #0001 NNNN UNCLASSIFIED//
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 