The Air Force canceled promotions for 135 service members this week after officials discovered they had received incorrect scores on a security forces specialty knowledge test and been falsely notified of their advancement.
An outdated scoring key caused the miscalculations, according to a press release issued Tuesday. The error marked what senior leaders called a rare occurrence in the promotion system, which typically processes thousands of candidates with precision.
All 2,285 airmen and women who took the exam will be rescored. The original 135 who got the wrong results will be removed from the promotion list and replaced by 135 other qualified candidates. The total quota of 586 available promotions to technical sergeant for eligible security forces airmen remains the same.
David Wolfe, the Air Force's chief master sergeant, acknowledged the impact on those affected. "This is going to be hard for everyone impacted," Wolfe said in a statement, adding that the service was acting swiftly to correct the mistake.
Officials attributed the foul-up to human error in the scoring process. The Air Force emphasized that no artificial intelligence products were involved in generating the incorrect promotion cycle.
The snafu arrives as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faces growing criticism over his involvement in military promotions. He recently removed nine candidates from a Navy promotion list, including women and Black officers. In March, he reportedly blocked two women and two Black men from becoming Army one-star generals.
Hegseth has been a vocal critic of diversity initiatives in the armed forces, characterizing them as "woke." The Pentagon has repeatedly maintained that all promotion decisions rest on merit alone. "The department will never consider the color of a service member's skin or their gender as a factor in promotions," Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said last month.
The Air Force did not specify how its internal review could have missed the outdated scoring key for so long. Wolfe said he convened a call with wing command chiefs to discuss the failure and that the Air Education and Training Command and Air Force Personnel Center had "strengthened their internal processes." No details on those improvements were provided.
Those whose promotions were canceled have been notified and given access to a hotline to contact Air Force leadership with questions. Wolfe pledged to prevent similar errors going forward. "We owe it to our airmen to own the mistake and to take the necessary actions to not only make it right today, but to prevent future issues," he said.
Author James Rodriguez: "A clerical mistake on this scale raises real questions about how the Air Force validates promotions for thousands of personnel each year, and the timing only adds fuel to the broader fire about promotion integrity under Hegseth's watch."
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