Battlefield Promotion

I was promoted to Staff Sergeant today.  I was selected for one of a handful of coveted Battlefield Promotions. 

Battlefield promotions are given out only in the combat theater and are given out to soldiers who have shown exceptional merit and leadership.  Basically, you have to already be promotable, be operating at/or in a higher paygrade, and have shown competence in that job.  The leadership of your unit puts you in for the promotion and everyone all they way up through the chain of command has to agree on it.  Any officer in the chain of command can deny it.

Per the Army MILPER Message:

4.  BATTLEFIELD PROMOTION ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA.  THE FOLLOWING IDENTIFIES ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR ENLISTED BATTLEFIELD PROMOTION:

A.  ENLISTED SOLDIERS (REGULAR ARMY (RA), UNITED STATES ARMY RESERVE (USAR), AND ARMY NATIONAL GUARD OF THE UNITED STATES (ARNGUS)) ASSIGNED OR ATTACHED TO A UNIT PARTICIPATING IN OIF WITHIN THE GEOGRAPHIC BOUNDARY OF IRAQ OR AFGHANISTAN.  PROMOTIONS UNDER THIS AUTHORITY ARE BASED ON EXTRAORDINARY PERFORMANCE OF DUTIES WHILE SERVING IN COMBAT OR UNDER COMBAT CONDITIONS.

B.  SOLDIER MUST BE IN A PROMOTABLE STATUS ON THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF PROMOTION (IAW PARAGRAPH 1-10, REF 1B).

C.  FOR PROMOTION TO SERGEANT (SGT) AND STAFF SERGEANT (SSG):

(1)  SOLDIER MUST BE ASSIGNED AND UTILIZED IN A POSITION OF INCREASED RESPONSIBILITY (E.G., SGT’S RECOMMENDED FOR PROMOTION TO SSG MUST BE ASSIGNED TO A POSITION THAT IS BILLETED AT THE SSG LEVEL AND THE SOLDIER MUST BE SERVING IN THAT POSITION AS THE BASIS FOR PROMOTION).

I am feeling pretty good about myself I guess.  Its certainly a great award, but beyond that its some validation that I am doing a good job in my position here, and not just as a flight medic.  It also means that I am being observed, however.  Basically this is a fast track promotion that came to me in the secondary zone, two years ahead of entering my primary zone.  I have been told a bit about what the future holds for me in my current unit over the next couple of years, and I am looking forward to it, although its something new to me and I have a bit of a learning curve.

In the end, I am really happy that I was selected for the promotion, albeit a bit surprised.  It also means I don’t have to worry about making points, and all that usually goes with decentralized promotions.  From here on out, its all centralized DA Selection, and a new set of political problems. 

Lastly, the promotion order had the following in it, which is a mandatory entry, but sounds really cool anyway:

“THIS PROMOTION IS A RESULT OF EXTRAORDINARY PERFORMANCE OF DUTIES WHILE SERVING IN COMBAT OR UNDER COMBAT CONDITIONS.”

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