Air Force changes deployment history standard
By Geoff Ziezulewicz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, February 15, 2009

Deployment history will no longer be included in duty qualification briefs for Air Force officers or evaluation briefs for senior noncommissioned officers, according to a policy change announced this month.

The change goes into effect beginning with February’s senior master sergeant promotion board, according to a Feb. 5 Air Force Personnel Center release. The change affects all active-duty, Reserve and Guard personnel.

Junior enlisted airmen won’t be affected because they don’t go before a physical board when being considered for promotion, according to Capt. Michael Andrews, a spokesman for the current operations division of the Secretary of the Air Force’s office.

While a senior enlisted or officer’s deployment history won’t be included in their evaluation or duty qualification briefs, their deployment history will still be documented elsewhere when an airman is up for promotion, via decoration citations, annual reviews and other records, Andrews said.

The change was made to "better capture our airmen’s performance," Andrews said in an e-mail.

These days, some airmen don’t spend the 45 consecutive days deployed that are required for documentation, or they may deploy "in place," he said, citing career fields such as space and missile or unmanned aircraft operators.

The policy change will work to ensure, for example, that airmen in Nevada directing Predator drones in Afghanistan, while technically not deployed downrange but working the same long hours as those who are, won’t have the absence of that deployment data counted against them, according to Andrews.

Many airmen today also do not deploy for 45 consecutive days, but may amass that many deployment days cumulatively in a year, according to the Air Force release.

The policy change will help level the promotion playing field for those with unconventional deployments, Andrews said. All are valid and important deployments," he said.

Ellie