Policy Changes for Airmen in AOR

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Policy Changes for Airmen in AOR
Air Force Print News | SSgt. Monique Randolph | January 18, 2008

WASHINGTON - Changes are on the horizon for Airmen serving in the Central Command area of responsibility. In an effort to standardize policies among those assigned and those deployed to the CENTCOM AOR, Air Force officials will implement several changes beginning as soon as February 2008.

"There are several reasons for these changes," said Lt. Col. Scott Brady, chief of Air Force promotions and evaluations policy at the Pentagon. "We have Airmen on 365-day deployments and Airmen who are permanent party sitting side by side, for the same amount of time, but some policies affect them differently. So, in those policy areas where it made sense to make a change, and where we could make a change, we did."

The first major change is that enlisted Airmen will no longer test for promotion in the AOR. Currently, permanent party Airmen, those who are in permanent-change-of-station status, test for promotion while those Airmen on 365-day deployments do not. Once implemented, the policy change will cease all Weighted Airman Promotion System testing in the AOR regardless of duty status.

"(Testing Airmen in the AOR) reduces mission focus and increases our footprint because it requires secure testing facilities, test proctors and test control officers," Colonel Brady said. "We also had to consider that many Airmen have to travel to the test site, putting more Airmen on the road and in harm's way."

Instead, eligible Airmen will test before deploying if the testing cycle is ongoing, and if they are deployed during the testing cycle, they will have 60 days to study upon their return to home station. If selected for promotion, they will receive back-pay and benefits based on their original date of rank, Colonel Brady said.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,160393,00.html