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Battlefield-promotion pilot program now policy

The Army has made permanent the practice of giving battlefield promotions to staff sergeant and below after a yearlong pilot program to promote soldiers who demonstrate extraordinary job performance while serving in combat or under combat conditions.

During the pilot program, 912 active and Reserve soldiers received battlefield promotions while deployed to the Southwest Asia combat theater.

While battlefield promotions were common during World War II and some later conflicts, sources say the pilot program, which started in April 2008, is the first time such promotions have been authorized since the Army centralized the management of promotions after the Vietnam War.

The program specifically targets Regular Army, National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as Kuwait-based soldiers who routinely conduct missions in those operational areas.

As under the pilot program, the permanent policy gives commanders a special tool to recognize enlisted soldiers for extraordinary job performance under combat conditions.

“This is a great program that has been well received by leaders around the Army,” said Gerald Purcell, a policy integrator in the directorate of military personnel management, Office of the G1.

As under the pilot program, the new policy authorizes unit commanders to recommend soldiers for battlefield promotion. There is no cap on numbers of soldiers commanders can select, but they must justify their recommendations to the senior Army component commander in theater.

Final approval authority for such advancements is now the commander of U.S. Army Central Command, a three-star general.

Previously, approval authority for battlefield promotions was the commander of Multi-National Corps Iraq and the commander of Combined Joint Task Force-82 Afghanistan.

To qualify for battlefield promotion, soldiers must be serving in a position coded for the rank to which they are being promoted.

For example, a private first class recommended for promotion must be assigned to a specialist or corporal position. They must also have demonstrated to their commanders that they have the leadership and technical skills to serve in that position. Selection boards do not play a role in this program.

In fact, implementing instructions for the pilot program stated that “under no circumstances will soldiers recommended for battlefield promotion to sergeant and staff sergeant be boarded at the unit level.”

Permanent language authorizing battlefield promotions will be included in an upcoming change to the Army’s enlisted promotions regulation, AR 600-8-19.

Soldiers recommended for promotion must meet basic eligibility criteria in the Army’s enlisted promotions regulation, such as weight and physical fitness standards. The Army does authorize some significant waivers to the regulation, including minimum time-in-service and time-in-grade requirements for promotion for some ranks and military education requirements.

The Army’s guidelines for the program include:

• Soldiers are eligible for only one battlefield promotion to an NCO rank. For example, soldiers who receive a battlefield promotion to sergeant are not eligible for a battlefield promotion to staff sergeant.

• Posthumous promotions. A battlefield promotion recommendation must be approved before the date of the soldier’s death to qualify for implementation.

• Promotions under this program will not be used as rewards in lieu of personal commendations or awards.