Surplus of reserve colonels prompts logjam

[unhappycamper]

Surplus of reserve colonels prompts logjam
By Seamus O’Connor - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Mar 24, 2008 8:18:08 EDT

Because there are too many colonels in the Air Force Reserve, captains, majors and lieutenant colonels will wait longer to get promoted.

New fixes to the “inventory problem” — as one official put it — will mean Reserve O-3s, O-4s and O-5s will have to serve more time in grade before they can be considered for promotion. Also, colonels will be able to retire sooner, if they wish, to open up O-6 billets for rising talent.

The 1996 Reserve Officer Personnel Management Act brought reserve promotion models more in line with active-duty ones. There were more authorizations for majors and lieutenant colonels, resulting in “very generous” promotion opportunities, according to Air Force briefing materials.

But colonel policy was relatively unchanged, resulting in a sort of O-6 logjam.

A Reserve lieutenant colonel must be in a colonel’s billet before he can pin on as an O-6. But with so many O-5s coming up, there weren’t enough billets to go around, and many colonel-selects were left in limbo, losing time in grade at the higher rank.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/03/airforce_reserve_officers_032408w/