Air Force Will Now Consider Advanced Academic Degrees in Some Promotions

Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
..."The Air Force Research Laboratory said in a press release this past August that the Air Force had reached its lowest rate of advanced degrees in its general officers “in more than 30 years” and added that there was “a 50% fill rate” for STEM billets.

“When you start looking at some of our near=peers like China, China has been pushing a lot of advanced academic degrees,” Col. Daniel Gallton, chief of the science and engineering division at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, said in the August release. “In the past, there was a big push for Airmen with technical degrees, and [that] hasn’t gone by the wayside, but maybe that emphasis has decreased a little bit.”

Kendall made clear that he doesn’t want airmen simply padding their resumes with academic achievements to improve promotion chances.

“Officers should not pursue an advanced degree simply to impress a promotion board or to check a perceived box,” Kendall said. “Advanced degrees should be chosen to meet personal and professional goals, with an appreciation of the value … the specific degree has to the Department of the Air Force.”

I take no issue with making this criteria for promotion, however... If they are going to do this, they need to account for those who are unable to attain these degrees through their own means or because of high ops tempo. If a degree or any other professional certification is required or necessary for promotion, then the Air Force needs to facilitate the means in which the Airman can accomplish it within the time allotted before they are in the zone for promotion.

Advanced degrees were masked when I competed for the Promotion recommendation for Major, but only to the promotion board. Commanders who would give that recommendation still had the knowledge as to whether the Airman had started or completed an advanced degree. Some would use that information to sway their final recommendations. In my case I had started my Master's degree but because of 9/11 and the subsequent deployment I underwent, I was not able to complete that degree until I returned. This delayed me enough to only have it stated in my record that I had 18+ hours accomplished toward my masters, but that I had not yet completed it. Those who did not deploy or were sent to non-combat zones in many cases were actually able to get theirs done faster due to the separation from many of the life factors which tend to mix with job, family, social, and education priorities.

Combat zones are not the only things which make pursuing a degree more difficult. Command, high demand in specific jobs, etc... This is not to make excuses, but I truly feel that like PME, if the AF wants us to do it, help us create the opportunities to do so. Ultimately, I made Major easily, but not with the "Definitely Promote" recommendation (a commander only gets so many for the officers under their charge). Mine had 2 DPs to give among 6 Captains up for the Major Board. Three of us were Communications Officers and two were Logistics, so he initially decided to give one to each type. I did not get the DP (just the P) and when the three of us comm officers compared records, we noted the only difference was that the one who got it had completed his masters. I even had the highest stratification too (#1 of 8 Captains within my division).

I also think if advanced degrees are considered for promotion, why not also look at professional certifications as well? In Cyber alone, I tend to be more interested in the certifications one has successfully earned vs a master's degree. These aimed at management within the profession, such as a CISSP, CISM, or a CCISO can be just as good and sometimes even better for a cyber operations officer vs a masters in IT/IS, CSCI, or even cybersecurity.

Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Jack....I went up for Major in 2000...two years prior they removed the requirement then I just so happened to be enrolled in my masters program and got labeled Masters in Work when they started right back almost immediately before my board. Then two years later after the second gulf war they started up people were deploying at record rates and didn't have the time to get an advanced degree so they dropped it again. And now it is back. Although it has never been a requirement to have one to get promoted you normally, with all things being equal, didn't get the rack and stack because you didn't have the one thing the other guy did, a graduate degree...by luck or chance didn't matter...it was the discriminator and I see that being the case here as well.