Today, the Air Force announced that they will release the Colonel promotion list on the 7th of March. On that day I will know with certainty if my career is over or not. If I’m on the list, then I will have a career for a few more years. If I’m not on the list, then I will retire in 2015 (assuming they let me stay that long).
Knowing that a decision is coming makes me look back at my career. I have been in this business for over twenty years now. It has been both a short time and a long time, all depending on what perspective I take. Some jobs flew by and others felt like I was living in amber. In all, I have been in the Air Force since 1987 when I joined ROTC.
I honestly don’t know what my chances are for promotion. They publish a bunch of statistics, but none of them really help me. They tell you how many school attendees get promoted, how many with Joint experience, how many with degrees, and so on. However, they don’t tell you how many people get promoted if they falls in several of the categories. I would like to think that I’m competitive but I really don’t know. I am thankful for AFRL as they owed me nothing, but they did put together a strong recommendation. Each promotion recommendation falls into one of three categories. They are Definite Promote, Promote, and Do Not Promote. I got a Promote. Those with a DP rating have a greater than 95% change for promotion, and for a simple P is is about 30%. However, AFRL didn’t have enough candidates to qualify to have a DP to hand out, so I got a P. But, AFRL also rated me as 1 of 4 candidates, so it was the best recommendation that our commander could do without a DP to hand out. I’m hoping that that will make the difference.
So now I wait. I wait until the 7th to find out what happens. If nothing else, I will at least know. It has been a good career and even if it over, my career has been a good one.
As for staying at Eglin, if I do not get promoted I will likely stay at Eglin. There is the chance that I could get another assignment in a few years, but I’d be more likely to retire instead. If I do get promoted, I will likely move, and potentially move as early as this Summer. It will really depend on how long I have to wait until I actually get promoted and what new job they want me to go to. I’m still hoping to get back into software but I will have to wait and see.
Well, six days to go… and counting.