Air Force Will Now Consider Advanced Academic Degrees in Some Promotions - Yahoo News

An airman's precocious world degrees volition present beryllium considered arsenic portion of promotion to the ranks of large and lieutenant colonel, reversing a 2014 argumentation that kept that accusation hidden. The alteration is designed to assistance the work capable immoderate jobs wherever it has faced a deficiency of qualified work members.

The caller policy, which went into effect Jan. 1, is aimed astatine highlighting the world prowess of applicants arsenic tensions with China and Russia grow, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said successful a Dec. 30 property release.

"To vie with China, Russia, oregon different imaginable threats, the Air and Space Forces indispensable incorporated caller exertion much rapidly and efficaciously than our competitors," Kendall said successful the release. "To bash this effectively, we request leaders and supporting unit passim the [Department of the Air Force ] astatine each levels who person heavy expertise successful emerging technologies and their applications to subject operations."

Read Next: 'Chaos' for Service Members and Spouses After Pentagon Misses Deadline for Parental Leave Policy

The work said the caller argumentation means those precocious world degrees "will beryllium considered but volition not beryllium a request for, oregon a guarantor of, promotion."

The Air Force began hiding an airman's precocious world grade during promotion boards successful 2014 arsenic an inaugural to item occupation show and situation long-standing norms that those degrees were indispensable to get promoted.

"We recognize our Airmen are challenged each time to execute the ngo with constricted time, manpower and resources," then-Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III said erstwhile releasing the policy. "By eliminating these perceived expectations, we anticipation to punctual our officers that occupation show is what we worth astir and that we privation them to person a beingness distant from work."

The alteration comes arsenic the Air Force has struggled to capable billets that necessitate precocious world degrees for science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- different known arsenic STEM.

The Air Force Research Laboratory said successful a property merchandise this past August that the Air Force had reached its lowest complaint of precocious degrees successful its wide officers "in much than 30 years" and added that determination was "a 50% capable rate" for STEM billets.

"When you commencement looking astatine immoderate of our near=peers similar China, China has been pushing a batch of precocious world degrees," Col. Daniel Gallton, main of the subject and engineering part astatine the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, said successful the August release. "In the past, determination was a large propulsion for Airmen with method degrees, and [that] hasn't gone by the wayside, but possibly that accent has decreased a small bit."

Kendall made wide that helium doesn't privation airmen simply padding their resumes with world achievements to amended promotion chances.

"Officers should not prosecute an precocious grade simply to impressment a promotion committee oregon to cheque a perceived box," Kendall said. "Advanced degrees should beryllium chosen to conscionable idiosyncratic and nonrecreational goals, with an appreciation of the worth … the circumstantial grade has to the Department of the Air Force."

-- Thomas Novelly tin beryllium reached astatine thomas.novelly@military.com. Follow him connected Twitter @TomNovelly.

Related: Military Grounds Some F-35s Following Crash successful Texas