§729. Promotion; recommendations of selection boards
(a) Except as otherwise provided by law, a Reserve officer shall only be promoted pursuant to the recommendation of a selection board.
(b) The Secretary shall convene selection boards from time to time to recommend Reserve officers for promotion to the next higher grade. A board may be convened to consider officers in one or more grades.
(c) A selection board shall, from among the names of those eligible Reserve officers submitted to it, recommend for promotion to the next higher grade:
(1) those officers serving in the grade of lieutenant (junior grade) or above whom it considers to be best qualified; and
(2) those officers serving in the grade of ensign whom it considers to be fully qualified.
(d) Before convening a selection board to recommend Reserve officers for promotion to a grade above lieutenant (junior grade), the Secretary shall determine the total number of Reserve officers to be selected for promotion to that grade. The number to be selected shall normally be equal to the number of vacancies existing in that grade, plus the number of vacancies anticipated over the next twelve months, minus the number of officers on the list of selectees for that grade. The Secretary may, however, prescribe regulations that provide for the establishment of promotion opportunity percentages for each grade to ensure that equitable promotion opportunities exist among successive groups of Reserve officers being considered for promotion. The number so determined may not cause the number of Reserve officers in an active status in a grade to exceed that authorized for the grade concerned.
(e) The law and regulations relating to the selection for promotion of a commissioned officer of the Regular Coast Guard to the grades of rear admiral (lower half) and rear admiral apply to a Reserve officer, except that to be eligible for consideration for promotion to the grade of rear admiral (lower half) an officer shall have completed at least ten years commissioned service, of which the last five years shall have been served in the Coast Guard Reserve.
(f) The provisions of section 260 of this title apply to boards convened under this section. The Secretary shall determine the procedure to be used by a selection board.
(g) The report of a selection board shall be submitted to the Secretary for review and transmission to the President for approval. When an officer recommended by a board for promotion is not acceptable to the President, the President may remove the name of that officer from the report of the board.
(h) The recommendations of a selection board, as approved by the President, constitute a list of selectees from which the promotions of Reserve officers shall be made. An officer on a list of selectees remains thereon until promoted unless removed by the President under section 738 of this title. If an existing list of selectees has not been exhausted by the time a later list has been approved, all officers remaining on the older list shall be tendered appointments prior to those on the later list.
(i) A Reserve officer whose name is on a list of selectees for promotion shall, unless that officer's promotion is lawfully withheld, be tendered an appointment in the next higher grade at the same time, or as soon thereafter as practicable, as that officer's running mate is tendered a similar appointment.
(Added
Prior Provisions
Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in section 780 of this title prior to the complete revision of this chapter by
Amendments
1985-Subsec. (e).
1983-Subsec. (e).
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in section 738 of this title.