Heusser's Guide to Promotion Boards

About Promotion Boards:

Promotions are a complex process. At various dates in cadet’s careers, there is a lot to verify: PT scores - Attendance - Participation - Moral Leadership Participation - Leadership Tests - Aerospace Tests - Essays - Speeches (Armstrong/Eaker) - Encampment - AE Mentoring - AE Instruction - Staff Duty Analysis. It’s enough to bring headaches to any one individual.

So don’t let it work that way. The idea behind the promotion board is to distribute the work. Instead of one commander making a decision to promote based on a great deal of research, the commander delegates the research to a promotion board. The board checks the files, conducts an interview, and makes a recommendation to the commander.

At Boulle-Norman, the board consists of two seniors and a cadet; always the Cadet Commander, Squadron Deputy, and Leadership Officer, unless the Squadron Commander designates otherwise. (For reasons such as absence.) In the past, in the event of an overwhelming number of candidates, the Squadron Commander has trained and convened a second board for junior-grade cadets.

The board meets, uses an evaluation form created by the cadet commander, interviews the candidate, and votes on the promotion through a simple majority. The Cadet Commander staples all appropriate documentation (PT Tests, leadership tests, Essays, etc.) to the promotion board form, and hands it to the squadron commander. The form serves as a recommendation to the commander, and at that time the squadron commander makes the final decision to promote or not.

Why a promotion board?

Contrary to common belief, the promotion board does not exist as some final test to find out if a cadet knows the leadership or aerospace text books. By passing the written tests, cadets have already demonstrated that they know the book. In addition to a lesser charge of getting and checking all documentation, the board attempts to measure the intangibles:

• Has this cadet learned about his/her current grade before being promoted?

• Does this cadet understand his current job well, and the job he is being promoted to?

• Does this cadet have the skills, experience, maturity, and attitude to succeed?

The board can make its recommendation to the commander based on these things. Because cadets take promotion boards very seriously, the are also apt to pay attention and think hard about the questions asked. Under the right conditions, promotion boards can make for ideal counseling sessions: To drive home a point about what is expected, or what can and should be.

Recommended Reading for Board Members

CAPR 52-16 sets out CAP’s requirements for promotion. It also includes a list of related CAP publications. Obtaining a deep understanding of 52-16 is a good place to start for seniors who desire to become more involved in the promotion cycle.

What are the regulations?

Humans naturally tend toward control and power. In Civil Air Patrol, it is very possible that well-intentioned members use the promotion board to add requirements that shouldn’t be there, and tend to create unlawful control and power. At the same time, the very cover of CAPR 52-16 states that:

“This regulation provides guidance and procedures for those who conduct the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) cadet program. Supplements are not authorized, except as specifically noted, or when approved by HQ CAP/CP”