Army Promotion to O-4 Back to "Fully Qualified"?

[residentphysician20]

According to the official Army Medical Corps newsletter earlier this year, promotion to O-4 is now back to "fully-qualified", which means essentially back to 100%.

However, this year's O4 board results just came out (board held in March), and again, a lot of people did not get selected for promotion.

Am I missing something? If it is indeed a "fully-qualified" board, shouldn't the selection rate be 100%? Or am I misunderstanding what "fully qualified" means?

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[ForgedByTheShore]

In the Navy, DUIs, other professionalism/disciplinary issues, and failed BCA/PRTs account for most of the non-selections. In-zone selection rate is effectively 100% for any O-3 with an unblemished record and a normal BMI

 

[residentphysician20]

In the Navy, DUIs, other professionalism/disciplinary issues, and failed BCA/PRTs account for most of the non-selections. In-zone selection rate is effectively 100% for any O-3 with an unblemished record and a normal BMI

I have a friend in the army who failed the ACFT once but passed it the next time. He did not have issues promoting. Maybe the navy is different - one fail and you are done?

Regardless, I know several people in the army without any blemishes on their records (all good solid physicians) who did not get promoted for unknown reasons. And it is impossible to get feedback and ask why, which adds to the frustration.

 

[Onefellswoop87]

Hard to get a consistent answer about what is fully qualified and how to be it, but it helps to understand a bit about promotion to put it in perspective.
The promotion percentage is a lot of hand-waving number fun. The 100% refers to those in-zone, not those eligible. So if 50 people are in-zone, 25 are above-zone, then up to a maximum of 50 people will be selected for promotion, not 75.
That overly simplistic math also doesn’t account for the few that are selected below zone that eat away from that 50 max.
And plenty of medical corps are above zone from the start due to FAP that’s counted as “time-served” or prior service, through no fault of their own by not really failing to select previously.
Fully qualified, even as its outline in the Navy Convening Order, is a nebulous term that is not objective.

 

[pathophysiologist]

So at least for the navy, there can only be a fixed number of people who get promoted? My understanding of fully qualified as mentioned by OP is everyone who meets the requirements automatically get promoted, whether that’s 50 people or 200 people.

 

[SirGecko]

Yes there is a limit to the number of O4s and higher. “Control grades”

“CWO5, Lieutenant Commander, Commander and Captain are "control grades" -- the number that the Navy can have in each of these grades is set by law and cannot be exceeded. As such, promotions into these grades are driven solely by requirements -- the fewer vacancies, the fewer promotions. Control grade limitations directly affect flow points, described below in detail.”

Promotion

 

[backrow]

Yes there is a limit to the number of O4s and higher. “Control grades”

“CWO5, Lieutenant Commander, Commander and Captain are "control grades" -- the number that the Navy can have in each of these grades is set by law and cannot be exceeded. As such, promotions into these grades are driven solely by requirements -- the fewer vacancies, the fewer promotions. Control grade limitations directly affect flow points, described below in detail.”

Promotion

Important to remember that DOPMA doesn’t apply to medical corps.

What is DOPMA and Why Should You Care?

DOPMA stands for Defense Officer Personnel Management Act. It has been the guideline for officer personnel management since December 1980. It was designed to help modernize management practices and…

mccareer.org

 

[SirGecko]

Important to remember that DOPMA doesn’t apply to medical corps.

What is DOPMA and Why Should You Care?

DOPMA stands for Defense Officer Personnel Management Act. It has been the guideline for officer personnel management since December 1980. It was designed to help modernize management practices and…

mccareer.org

Good to know, interesting to see that is probably part of the reason why MSC promotions are more difficult than medical corps. (I’m definitely no expert on any of the milpers stuff)