View all text of Part A [§ 202 - § 237a]
§ 211. Promotion of commissioned officers
(a) Permanent or temporary promotions; examination
(b) Promotion to certain grades only to fill vacancies; regulations; “restricted grade” defined
(c) Examinations
(d) Permanent promotions to qualified officers on length of serviceOfficers of the Regular Corps, found pursuant to subsection (c) to be qualified, shall be given permanent promotions based on length of service, as follows:
(1) Officers in the warrant officer (W–1) grade, chief warrant officer (W–2) grade, chief warrant officer (W–3) grade, chief warrant officer (W–4) grade, and junior assistant grade shall be promoted at such times as may be prescribed in regulations of the President.
(2) Officers with permanent rank in the assistant grade, the senior assistant grade, and the full grade shall (except as provided in regulations under subsection (b)) be promoted after completion of three, ten, and seventeen years, respectively, of service in grades above the junior assistant grade; and such promotions, when made, shall be effective, for purposes of pay and seniority in grade, as of the day following the completion of such years of service. An officer with permanent rank in the assistant, senior assistant, or full grade who has not completed such years of service shall be promoted at the same time, and his promotion shall be effective as of the same day, as any officer junior to him in the same grade in the same professional category who is promoted under this paragraph.
(e) Promotion of professional category officers to fill certain vacancies
(f) Reexamination upon failure of promotion; effective date of promotion
(g) Separation from service upon failure of promotionIf, for reasons other than physical disability, an officer of the Regular Corps in the warrant officer (W–1) grade or junior assistant grade is found pursuant to subsection (c) not to be qualified for promotion he shall be separated from the Service. If, for reasons other than physical disability, an officer of the Regular Corps in the chief warrant officer (W–2), chief warrant officer (W–3), assistant, senior assistant, or full grade, after having been twice examined for promotion (other than promotion to a restricted grade), fails to be promoted—
(1) if in the chief warrant officer (W–2) or assistant grade he shall be separated from the Service and paid six months’ basic pay and allowances;
(2) if in the chief warrant officer (W–3) or senior assistant grade he shall be separated from the Service and paid one year’s basic pay and allowances;
(3) if in the full grade he shall be considered as not in line for promotion and shall, at such time thereafter as the Surgeon General may determine, be retired from the Service with retired pay (unless he is entitled to a greater amount by reason of another provision of law)—
(A) in the case of an officer who first became a member of a uniformed service before September 8, 1980, at the rate of 2½ percent of the retired pay base determined under section 1406(h) of title 10 for each year, not in excess of 30, of his active commissioned service in the Service; or
(B) in the case of an officer who first became a member of a uniformed service on or after September 8, 1980, at the rate determined by multiplying—
(i) the retired pay base determined under section 1407 of title 10; by
(ii) the retired pay multiplier determined under section 1409 of such title for the number of years of his active commissioned service in the Service.
(h) Separation from service upon refusal to stand examination
(i) Review of record; separation from service
(j) Determination of order of seniority
(1) The order of seniority of officers in a grade in the Regular Corps shall be determined, subject to the provisions of paragraph (2) of this subsection, by the relative length of time spent in active service after the effective date of each such officer’s original appointment or permanent promotion to that grade. When permanent promotions of two or more officers to the same grade are effective on the same day, their relative seniority shall be the same as it was in the grade from which promoted. In all other cases of original appointments or permanent promotions (or both) to the same grade effective on the same day, relative seniority shall be determined in accordance with regulations of the President.
(2) In the case of an officer originally appointed in the Regular Corps to the grade of assistant or above, his seniority in the grade to which appointed shall be determined after inclusion, as service in such grade, of any active service in such grade or in any higher grade in the Ready Reserve Corps, but (if the appointment is to the grade of senior assistant or above) only to the extent of whichever of the following is greater: (A) His active service in such grade or any higher grade in the Ready Reserve Corps after the first day on which, under regulations in effect on the date of his appointment to the Regular Corps, he had the training and experience necessary for such appointment, or (B) the excess of his total active service in the Ready Reserve Corps (above the grade of junior assistant) over three years if his appointment in the Regular Corps is to the senior assistant grade, over ten years if the appointment is to the full grade, or over seventeen years if the appointment is to the senior grade.
(k) Temporary promotions; fill vacancy in higher grade; war or national emergency; selection of officers; termination of appointment
(l) Determination of requirements of Service by Secretary; assignment of Reserve Officers to professional categories; temporary promotions; termination of temporary promotions
(m) Acceptance of promotion; oath and affidavit
(July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title II, § 210, 58 Stat. 687; Feb. 28, 1948, ch. 83, § 6(a), 62 Stat. 42; Oct. 12, 1949, ch. 681, title V, § 521(c), 63 Stat. 835; 1953 Reorg. Plan No. 1, §§ 5, 8, eff. Apr. 11, 1953, 18 F.R. 2053, 67 Stat. 631; Apr. 27, 1956, ch. 211, § 4(a), 70 Stat. 117; Pub. L. 86–415, § 5(c), Apr. 8, 1960, 74 Stat. 34; Pub. L. 87–649, § 11(2), Sept. 7, 1962, 76 Stat. 497; Pub. L. 96–76, title III, § 307, Sept. 29, 1979, 93 Stat. 585; Pub. L. 96–342, title VIII, § 813(h)(1), Sept. 8, 1980, 94 Stat. 1110; Pub. L. 99–348, title II, § 207(a), July 1, 1986, 100 Stat. 701; Pub. L. 112–166, § 2(ff)(2), Aug. 10, 2012, 126 Stat. 1290; Pub. L. 116–136, div. A, title III, § 3214(e)(3), Mar. 27, 2020, 134 Stat. 373.)