The Air Force is now giving squadron commanders, senior raters and the senior raters’ assistants the list of enlisted airmen selected for promotion a week before they are publicly announced.
In a Wednesday release, the Air Force Personnel Center said the extended notification period is designed to give commanders time to plan ways to recognize and celebrate promotion selectees for their achievement.
The Air Force stopped giving commanders advance notification in 2007, but reversed course last year and began giving commanders three or four days’ advance notice, beginning with the staff sergeant promotions in August 2016.
“”The change to a full week‘s advance notification creates consistency across the force, so all squadron commanders will have the opportunity to plan and recognize their airmen during promotion milestones,” said AFPC commander Maj. Gen. Brian Kelly in the release.
Kelly said commanders generally should not notify airmen of their promotions more than one day ahead of the public announcement. But in special circumstances, such as deployment departures or hospitalizations, commanders can use their discretion to notify airmen earlier.
The technical sergeant promotion announcement in July was the first to give commanders a week’s notice, according to AFPC.
The change was prompted by input collected as part of the squadron revitalization effort, which has been a top priority of Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein.
“One of the issues squadron commanders have repeatedly brought up is their desire to make promotion notifications to airmen in their squadrons with sufficient planning time to recognize them appropriately,” said Brig. Gen. Stephen Davis, who is in charge of the squadron revitalization team, in the release. ”Squadron commanders at our most recent site visits are calling this a win.”
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
