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What's in your record?
Posted 5/25/2012 Updated 5/25/2012
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by Lt. Col. Beena Maharaj
Air Force Reserve Command
5/25/2012 - Citizen Airman/June 2012 -- Each year the Air Force Reserve Selection Board Secretariat conducts about seven Reserve officer promotion boards. Governed by law and Air Force policy, boards are directed by the secretary of the Air Force to recommend the best-qualified Air Force officers for promotion.
With so much riding on the outcome of these boards, it's vitally important for all officers to make sure their selection records are complete and up to date.
First of all, what's in an officer selection record? A record consists of officer performance reports, training reports (Air Force Forms 475), and awards and decorations. When a record goes before a promotion board, the officer selection brief and promotion recommendation form are added.
"The OSB is a one-page summary of an officer's career," said Col. Nancy C. Zbyszinski, director of personnel in the Office of the Air Force Reserve at the Pentagon.
All officers receive a pre-selection brief when they are eligible to meet a promotion board. This is the opportunity in the promotion process when officers need to ensure the information the promotion board is going to see is accurate and up to date. Any errors left uncorrected could have a negative effect on promotion opportunity. Each pre-selection brief includes detailed instructions on how to correct the various aspects of the brief and includes the relevant points of contact, contact numbers, etc.
Many people are confused by the numerous changes that have been made over the last two decades and may not yet be clear on what is visible and what is not visible in the officer selection brief, Zbyszinski said. To help clear up this confusion, the accompanying chart summarizes changes made to the officer selection brief since 1995.
While many view the officer selection brief as a "to-do" list for the officer corps, it is by no means a "promotion indicator." Service in the Air Force Reserve comes with many variations, and standardization across the board is not always feasible. For example, officers may not be able to deploy due to limitations in their career fields. In addition, many Citizen Airmen have civilian employment commitments that preclude them from deploying.
Further, while cultural awareness and better communication in a global environment is important, the identification of foreign language proficiency alone doesn't determine an officer's capacity to serve at a higher grade.
"What officers should focus on is performing their jobs to the best of their abilities," said Maj. Gen Mark A. Kyle, Fourth Air Force commander at March Air Reserve Base, Calif. "Every Citizen Airmen should seek opportunities to learn and grow. Pursue developmental education and leadership training. Tomorrow's leaders must be proficient, highly educated, strategic thinkers able to adapt to increasingly complex global conditions."
Officer performance reports reflect who an officer is on a piece of paper. With only 10 lines to document a person's annual performance, they must convey aggressive performance, mission impact, stratification, developmental education and position recommendations. These reports form the basis for an officer's awards and decorations. Closing the loop is the promotion recommendation form, which summarizes an officer's entire career in just nine lines.
To request a copy of your officer selection record, call the Air Reserve Personnel Center's customer contact center at 1-800-525-0102. Or, logon to the virtual Personnel Center-Guard and Reserve at https://gum-crm.csd.disa.mil/app/login and submit the request.
"Officers are promoted based on their potential to serve the Air Force in the next higher grade," said Lt. Gen. Charles E. Stenner Jr., Air Force Reserve Command commander. "Selection boards apply the whole-person concept to assess all factors in an officer's record."
While job performance remains the most important factor, professional qualities, leadership, depth and breadth of experience, job responsibility, and advanced academic and developmental education are all factors that impact an officer's promotion potential.
(Maharaj is chief of the Force Management and Development Branch in the Office of Air Force Reserve at the Pentagon.) |
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