The Air Force has been changing many items that seemed solidified in the core of what makes the AF organization great. Some changes revolving around the Enlisted Professional Military Education courses that are mandatory for members during certain periods in their military career. One major change that was announced by senior AF leaders was the removal of the Weighted Airman Promotion testing requirement for active duty promotions to the grades of E-7 through E-9.

AF senior leadership signed a memo on 31 January 2019 that removed the testing requirements and instituted a board only evaluation of promotion eligible members. This would give promotion boards the ability to identify the best qualified Airmen to promote into the senior noncommissioned officer corps.

Prior to this recent change, the AF had a two-phase approach to the promotion testing process for the senior phase approach consisted of phase one focused on the Promotion Fitness Exam (PFE) and Specialty Knowledge Test (SKT), while phase two consisted of the central evaluation board. These two phases consolidated into a combined score that selected individuals based on their overall combined score noncommissioned officer. The two-phase approach consisted of phase one focused on the Promotion Fitness Exam (PFE) and Specialty Knowledge Test (SKT), while phase two consisted of the central evaluation board. These two phases consolidated into a combined score which selected individuals based on their overall combined score.

The AF plans on rolling this new process into the 2019 E-9 promotion cycle.

According to www.af.mil, the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel, and services, Lt. Gen Kelly, stated “We continue to transform talent management across the Air Force, this adjustment focuses on performance is the driving factor we consider when selecting our senior noncommissioned officers. It also continues our work towards increasing transparency and making our process simple.”

The new enlisted promotions process will closely resemble that which is currently being utilized by the commissioned officers. The promotions board will continue to score records utilizing the current scoring process as well as reviewing the last five enlisted performance reports, and all awards and decorations. Decoration point have been removed since the board will be utilizing the decoration information during the overall scoring process.

The AF plans on rolling this new process into the 2019 E-9 promotion cycle. Feelings of uncertainty with the new process echoes throughout the enlisted corps. However one thing is certain…the Air Force will continue to produce the best Airmen, an educated force, and the strongest air power in the world, while the Alamo Chapter AFA will continue to educate, advocate, and support the total Air Force family and promote aerospace education.

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