Okay. . .I said I'd explain how the Air Force promotion process works, and rather than edit the previous post (in the thoughts that nobody will see it anyway), I'll just put a separate explanation over here.

Basically, everyone that's selected for promotion to TSgt (or any other Air Force enlisted rank) is given what's called a "line number."  The line numbers are largely based on time in service, with the folks that have been in longer having lower numbers and those with less time in having higher ones.  According to the statistics that were released, 7,724 E-5's were selected for promotion to E-6 (out of 37,172).  Each of those people have a line number from 1 to 7,724.

(That's a promotion rate of 20.78%, which is a higher rate than the 18.5% that were promoted in 2008).

Starting on 1 July, the Air Force will start promoting those 7,724 people a little bit at a time.  In theory, they'd promote an equal number of people each month.  If it came to be exactly equal, they'd promote approximately 644 people a month for the next 12 months.  So, in July, the people with line numbers from 1 to 644 would get promoted.  In August, the people with line numbers from 645 to 1,288 would get promoted, and so forth until everyone with a line number moved from E-5 to E-6.  The number does tend to fluctuate a little bit from month to month for various reasons, however.

My line number is 4,164, which is pretty much right in the middle of the pack.  So, depending on the different fluctuations, I'll start wearing my new rank of TSgt on either 1 January or 1 February.  My squadron commander told me yesterday at the party the base had for the selectees that he would anticipate February, but we'll see what happens.

So yeah, there's the explanation for that.  I think I pretty much covered everything. . .and if I didn't, I'm sure some of our resident Air Force veterans will have no problem chiming in with details.

I'll hopefully get something else knocked out later on tonight for everyone's reading pleasure.  If I don't get it out there tonight, it will definitely be out tomorrow.  So, stay tuned for that, and keep enjoying your Friday!