Promotion Boards

Department of the Navy
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery

A critical issue in an officer's career is the opportunity for promotion. The mystique of what promotion boards look for, what information they look at, and how the process works has generated numerous concerns among eligible officers.

Board membership must comply with SECNAVINST 1401.3, consisting of a board president and several other representative senior officers from various backgrounds. Additional representation is required from the unrestricted line community, as well as gender and minority arenas. Refer to SECNAVINST 1401.3 for further details.

All promotion boards are statutory in nature. That means that the authority for the Secretary of the Navy to convene the boards is derived from law, Title 10, United States Code (10 USC). Each promotion board is directed to convene by its precept. The precept is a letter from the Secretary of the Navy addressed to the president of the board and provides several important factors:

• board membership

• time and place of convening

• promotion opportunity-stated in percentage (i.e., 95 percent, 80 percent, etc.)

• specific guidance for the board to consider in determining the best-qualified officers

• Promotion board members review a digitialized form of the officer’s official record for each eligible officer. This record is maintained at the Navy Personnel Command in Millington, Tennessee. Within each eligible officer’s digitized record, the board members review the officer’s photograph, fitness reports, the Officer Summary Record (OSR), the Performance Summary Report (PSR), and personal awards starting from the Navy Achievement Medal and higher. Education, promotion history, and board certification are some of the other areas of interest during the promotion board selection process.

• Additionally, the board members are provided any Privileged Information (formerly Fiche 5) on all eligible officers, if applicable. This information may be medical or punitive, such as medical board information or nonjudicial punishment awarded at Article 15 proceedings and courts martial results. Most officers do not have any privileged information in their record.

• As mentioned previously, the board members are provided the OSR and the PSR. These administrative tools are used to track individual performance. Since 1995, the PSR has replaced the OSR as the sole performance-tracking tool. The PSR provides a quick reference of the eligible officer’s education, duty assignments, awards, and fitness report marks, while excluding the narrative section of the fitness report. Each eligible officer is responsible for reviewing and ensuring his/her PSR and OSR are current since these documents represent the contents of the digital record that will be briefed in the voting tank.

• An additional source of information reviewed by the board is correspondence sent by the eligible officer in the form of a letter directly to the president of the board. For further information and guidance, consult SECNAVINST 1420.1A, and visit BUPERS online.

One of the most frequently encountered problems associated with promotions is finding out when an officer is eligible for consideration by a promotion board. Each year, an ALNAV (All Navy) message is released from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy outlining convening dates and promotion zones for the next fiscal year's promotion boards. This message is normally released in early December and is sent to all naval activities. The manpower management or personnel department at your command is your resource for this promotion board information. Also, the zone message is available at BUPERS websites.

How do you prepare your record for promotion?

Officers who are Below Zone or In Zone eligible for promotion consideration should use the following preparation guidelines:

Request a copy of your Performance Summary Report (PSR) and a copy of your official digital officer record. See the Navy Personnel Command References chapter in this manual for guidance on requesting your PSR and digital record. Many times the digital record has blurry images that are hard to read or in some cases impossible to decipher. This is important because if you can't read it, then the board members can’t either.

Letters to the board are a good idea particularly if you review your record and find blurry documents. Keep this letter short. This correspondence is intended to send enclosures that are offered for the completeness of your record and should not detail all of your salient qualities that may or may not be present in your Fitness Reports. The board considers everything in the PSR and the record focusing on education, professionalism, experience and performance, selecting the "best and most fully qualified officers" for promotion. Your performance is viewed from the perspectives as a Naval Officer and a Medical Corps Officer. As you specialize later in your career, this information will also become important.

Plan ahead: this is your career. Ensure that you pursue updating your officer record well in advance of the promotion board.

References

1. SECNAVINST 1420.1A

2. DoD Directive 1320.14 (Defense Officer Program).

1. SECNAVINST 1401.3

1. BUPERSINST 1610.10 Navy Performance Evaluation and Counseling System.

2. http://www.bupers.navy.mil or http://www.persnet.navy.mil

Revised by LT Denis Ashley MC, USNR, 00MC, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Washington, D.C. and LCDR Margo Haley Brown, MSC, USN, Special Assistant for Staff Boards, Navy Personnel Command (PERS-85M), Millington, Tennessee. DSN: 882-4524 COMM: 901-874-4524 FAX: 882-2751 COMM: 901-874-2751 E-MAIL: p85m@bupers.navy.mil HOMEPAGE: http://www.bupers.navy.mil/codes/pers8/p85/p85m/pers-85m.htm (1999).