Army still does not have a process to get National Guardsmen backpay after long promotion waits |...

In the active Army many leaders serve for extended periods acting in roles above there pay grade, there is no back pay. Back pay indicates promotion without pay, not level up without pay. While I’ll admit I do not know your particulars, I have seen Officers and NCOs serve for months and in some cases more than a year without pay. I personally was caught in three promotions statuses as selected for the next grade and each time I worked at the next level for two years+ without pay. Duty, Honor, Country, it was my pleasure to lead the Soldiers for whom I served. Thank you for your service.

I think what some people are missing is that this is a flaw in the promotion process, not someone temporarily filling a billet above their grade. The AC and USAR don't deal with this. It's a National Guard specific issue. First off, National Guard officer promotions are tied to positions not a DA Board. We literally can't promote someone until they're assigned to a position with a higher grade than theirs. Then the officer has to go through the state promotion process before they're submitted for federal recognition. At it's worst I've seen it take over a year for federal recognition of promotion to process. Meanwhile, Officers in the USAR promote almost immediately following their selection by the board. I think this a legitimate gripe. I was promotable and assigned to an O3 position in 2013. I didn't promote until 2015. Some of that time is due to other issues outside my control, but over a year of that is waiting for federal recognition.

We all get paid base on rank, not position. I have seen an Officer on my last deployment hold both an O-4 and O-5 positions while being an O-3. Hopefully, this is reflected on the OERs of these Officers.
In the case of backpay, they would need to have a promotion order with a backdate in order to receive any backpay.