The Army has announced a one-year pilot program making Active Army, Guard and Reserve Soldiers in the grades of E-1 through E-5 eligible for battlefield promotions.
The battlefield promotion program is to recognize and promote Soldiers for extraordinary performance of duties while serving in combat or under combat conditions.
To qualify for a battlefield promotion, Soldiers must be serving within Iraq or Afghanistan in operations Iraqi Freedom or Enduring Freedom.
The program waives time-in-service and time-in-grade requirements for corporals or specialists being promoted to sergeant. It also postpones minimum military education requirements and waives promotion boards for sergeants being promoted to staff sergeant.
A Soldier given a battlefield promotion to staff sergeant has 270 days from redeployment to graduate from the Warrior Leader Course. Returning Soldiers will be given priority for the course.
Only one battlefield promotion is allowed, so a Soldier who gets a battlefield promotion to sergeant must achieve staff sergeant by the normal route.
The pilot program ends April 9, 2009, unless extended by the Army.
