Page maintained by the Director of Professional Development,     Viewed  Since 1 April 2004
Texas Wing, Civil Air Patrol. Updated: 5 November 2004.

Exceptions to the Normal Rank Progression

There continues to be a huge amount of confusion on this part of the CAP promotion policies as it applies to special, professional, and mission related skills appointments, both for initial and subsequent promotions. Examples are given here, but the final authority is CAPR 35-5. Reference to paragraph and section below are from that regulation unless otherwise specified.

1. Special and mission related skills promotion usually apply to initial promotions only - to be promoted beyond the initial grade, the member must complete the normal progression for duty performance promotions, just as all other members without special qualification must do. The one catch is that they must complete the entire program from square one (not as daunting as it may first sound).

Mission Related Skills Appointment Example

Captain Smith was initially promoted to the grade of Captain after completing Level I because he is a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI). Great - but to be promoted to Major, Captain Smith must complete Level II training (normally required to become a Captain) and Level III training. You cannot skip directly to Level III.

However, if 2Lt Johnson was appointed to that grade after completing Level I due to his Private pilot license, he may be reappointed as a 1Lt upon obtaining his instrument rating or commercial license, just as an initial appointment would have been done, without completing the other requirements for duty performance.

Mission related skills appointments include those based FAA pilot, FAA A&P, FAA Ground Instructor ratings, and FCC GROL qualifications.

Special Appointment Example

The same applies to Major Jones, who is a retired army Major, and who may be appointed directly to the CAP grade of Major after completing Level I and CPPT. For her to be promoted to Lt Col, she must continue on to complete Levels II, III, and IV to be duty performance promoted to Lt Col.

Two exceptions apply to this general policy:

Special appointments include those based on military commissioned officer or warrant officer rank, prior cadet officer rank, former member rank reinstatement, commander or liaison appointments, and special qualifications.

·  Former Member Reinstatement - may be reinstated to same grade IF meets current requirements. Will receive a new date of rank, but prior time can count for next promotion Time In Grade (TIG) requirement (cite in remarks of CAPF2), IAW para 18.

·  Commander/Liaison Appointments IAW para 13 & 14.

·  Special Qualifications - IAW para 19 and 8(e), a waiver may be requested for those not otherwise qualified for promotion in exceptional circumstances. A CAPF2 plus a DETAILED letter of justification is required.

2. Professional appointments are a totally different proposition and confuse many more officers. The affect the entire CAP career of the officer, not just the initial appointment. I have spent more time and effort trying to correct the slow, missed, and delayed promotions of these officers than any others. Please take this information to heart and deal with these officers fairly and correctly.

Professional appointment officers are similar to the direct commission officers in the military - they serve in the specialized, professionally trained areas needed by the CAP. These include chaplain, moral leadership, health services, legal, and aerospace education officers. A new category, Financial Officers, based on CMA/CPA certifications and education, was approved by the Aug 03 National Board (NB) vote, but the CAPR 35-5 has not been amended to include them yet - watch for the change.

All professional appointment officers must complete the Level I training before initial promotion.

The one professional appointment treated the same as a special appointment is the moral leadership officer. Once initially appointed as a 2Lt, they must complete the normal progression like everyone else to get promoted.

Chaplains are appointed in the grade of Capt and have a special training path of CAPP 221 specialty track course 221 to be promoted to Maj and 221A to be promoted to Lt Col. Unless otherwise specified in the initial appointment criteria, they must serve the normal time-in-grade periods but do not have to complete the normal progression requirements for promotion.

All other professional appointment officers (health services, legal, and aerospace education) do not have to complete any of the normal progression beyond Level I in order to be promoted. Unless otherwise specified in the initial appointment criteria, they must serve the normal time-in-grade periods, but there are no other requirements other than satisfactory participation in the CAP.

NOTE - Health Services Officer promotions and policies changed significantly on 6 May 2002 - check CAPR 35-5 (C1) and CAPR 160-1 (rewritten in its entirety). In short, the CAP Health Services Program expanded greatly and many health professionals not previously eligible for professional appointment are now eligible.

One caution about Aerospace Education Officers - for section E to apply, the officer must be appointed as an aerospace education officer IAW CAPR 35-5 para 23 e, not just merely track in AE. Any CAP officer may track in AE, but this section only applies to those professional educators who are appointed as AE officers.

Professional Appointment Examples

As an example, Dr. Brown, a chiropractor (DC), after completing Level I, is appointed as a CAP medical officer with the rank of Capt, and is eligible in 1 year for promotion to Maj, the only other requirement being satisfactory participation in the CAP program. Four years later, he is eligible for promotion to Lt Col, again the only requirement being continued satisfactory participation in the CAP program.

2Lt White, a licensed EMT, after completing Level I and CPPT, is appointed as a CAP health services officer with the rank of 2Lt, and is eligible in 1 year for promotion to 1Lt, the only other requirement being satisfactory participation in the CAP program. 18 months later, she is eligible for promotion to Capt, again the only requirement being continued satisfactory participation in the CAP program, and so on, up through Lt Col.

All professional appointment officers are encouraged to attend any CAP training and may earn the regular senior member awards along with everyone else, but their promotions do not depend on these awards even if they do endeavor to complete them. In fact, there are modified requirements for the Loening and Garber Awards for chaplain and legal officers, found in CAPR 50-17 Chapter 9.

Those officers who fall under this category who have had their promotions delayed or denied due to these misunderstandings are certainly invited to contact the Director of Professional Development to endeavor to have their dates of rank corrected and proper promotions made. I have had a good success rate getting these ironed out in most cases.

3. Noncommissioned officer grades, while a rarity in CAP, are possible, but only for current or former military NCO's who may be appointed in their NCO (E5 or above) grade. This is only a local appointment by the unit commander, no CAPF2 is completed, and national records and ID cards do not reflect these grades.

Regardless of which military service granted the member his rank, USAF insignia will be worn.

There is only one provision for promotion as a CAP NCO - if the grade is based on current military membership and the member is promoted in the military, they are also promoted in the CAP to the matching rank.

Noncommissioned Officer Example

CPO Black is a Chief Petty Officer (E7) in the Coast Guard as well as a CAP senior member. After completing Level I and CPPT, he may have his CAPF45 annotated upon showing proof of this grade to his unit commander and wear USAF MSG (E7) chevrons, along with CAP collar devices, as a CAP rank. When he is later promoted to Senior CPO (E8) in the USCG, he may be promoted to CAP SMS (E8) upon showing proof of this promotion to his unit commander.

Senior members may opt at anytime to accept senior officer grade, but do not regain time served as a CAP NCO or SM toward higher officer rank. As in the above example, if SMS Black decide after 3 years in CAP to switch to officer status, he may be immediately promoted to 2Lt, as he has served 6 months as a senior member and has completed Level I. He still must serve 1 more year to be eligible for 1Lt, even if he already has his tech level required for 1Lt promotion.