Selection boards-Promotions general.
Section 5
SEC. 5. Selection boards-Promotions general.—(a) Unless expressly provided otherwise by some provision of law, promotion list officers of the Regular Force shall be permanently promoted to and appointed in the grades of lieutenant-colonel, major, captain and first-lieutenant in the Regular Force only when recommended for promotion to those grades by a selection board as provided in this Act. Promotion to the grade of colonel, brigadier-general and major-general or higher grade shall be as prescribed in sections eight and nine of this Act.*** (2) There shall be one selection board of the Air Corps, another for the Naval Patrol, and such number of selection boards as may be necessary to act on all the other regular officers of the Armed Forces: Provided, That selection boards for the promotion of officers to the grades of first-lieutenants and captain shall be separate from those for the promotion of officers to the grades of major and lieutenant-colonels. Selection boards shall be convened from time to time and under such regulations as the Secretary of National Defense may prescribe. Board members shall be appointed by the Secretary of National Defense. There shall be not less than five members on each board. (3) Selection boards shall serve for such length of time as the Secretary of National Defense may prescribe but no one board shall serve longer than one year. No officer shall serve on two consecutive selection boards when the second of such boards considers any of the officers who were considered but not recommended for that grade by the first. Neither the Chief of Staff nor the Deputy Chief of Staff nor the Assistant Chief of Staff for Personnel and Administration, G-l, may become a member of any selection board. (4) Board members must be senior in permanent grade and temporary rank to any officer being considered by their board. They must be Regular Force Officers holding commissions in a grade above that of Captain: Provided, That qualifications for membership in selection boards for the Air Corps and Naval Patrol shall be as the Secretary of National Defense may prescribe. (5) A majority of the total members of any board must agree on each of the officers recommended for promotion by that board.( 6) The President may remove from the list submitted by any selection board the name of any officer recommended for promotion to any grade who, in his opinion, is not qualified for promotion. Any officer whose name is removed from such list by the President shall continue to be eligible for consideration for promotion as though he had not been considered for that grade by the selection board which had recommended him, and the next succeeding selection board may select and recommend the officer concerned for promotion, and when promoted such officer shall take the same date of rank and place on the promotion list he would have had, had he been promoted as the result of his original selection; however, should any officer having once been selected for promotion to any grade under section six or section seven of this Act fail of promotion to such grade by virtue of having his name removed by the President from the list submitted by any selection board, again fail of promotion to the next higher grade either (a) by being considered but not selected by the next succeeding board, or (b) by virtue of having his name removed from such list by the President, he shall be deemed to have twice failed of selection and shall be eliminated from the active list of the Regular Force in accordance with the provisions of section six (f) and section seven (f) of this Act. (7) Officers who had been recommended for promotion to any grade under the provisions of this Act, who, at any time prior to promotion, are found incapacitated for service by reason of physical disability contracted in line of duty, shall be retired in the grade for which they are recommended unless entitled to a higher rank under provision of law. (8) Each member of a selection board provided for in this Act shall swear or affirm that he will, without prejudice or partiality, and having in view both the specific fitness of officers and the efficiency of the Armed Forces, perform the duties imposed upon him as herein provided. (b) In time of emergency declared by the President or the Congress or in time of war, the President is authorized, in his discretion, to suspend the operation of any part or parts of the several provisions of law pertaining to promotions. (c) Any officer eligible for consideration by a selection board shall have the right to forward, through official channels, at any time not later than ten days after the convening of said board, a written communication inviting attention to any matter of record in the Headquarters National Defense Forces, concerning himself which he deems important in the consideration of this case. (d) Hereafter, each officer of the Regular Force shall receive, in addition to his monthly base pay, longevity pay equivalent to ten per centum of the monthly base pay authorized for his grade for each term of five years of faithful and efficient service heretofore or hereafter rendered as an officer in the Regular Force, such additional pay to be compounded every five years: Provided, That the total amount of longevity pay shall not exceed fifty per centum of the officer's monthly base pay as prescribed by law: Provided, further, That nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing the payment of any back longevity pay for any period of service heretofore rendered.