More than 23,000 sailors will learn in time for Thanksgiving that they’ll be moving up in rank as the Navy announces fall advancement results for active duty, full-time support and selected reservists for grades E-4 through E-6.
The Navy released the figures Monday. Commands are expected to be notified of names Tuesday with the results of those moving up through the Navy-wide advancement exam being made public Wednesday.
A total 84,639 sailors passed this fall’s exam, making them eligible for at least 17,238 slots through the test’s advancement quota, according to figures provided to Navy Times.
Those numbers show that the opportunity to advance by exam remained on par with the spring exam cycle.
Among active duty sailors, the opportunity to move ahead by exam also remained about the same, or about 19 percent. According to Navy data, 74,971 sailors passed fall exams, competing for 14,119 petty officer slots.
But since announcing in the winter that the service would align the Meritorious Advancement Program with its twice annual exam, the service wants to send the message to sailors that exams are not the full picture and other opportunities exist to move up the career ladder.
Until the recent spring exam cycle, the Navy routinely announced its opportunity figures for active-duty and full-time support reservists based on the percentage of sailors who passed the exam in their rate. It did not previously include MAP quotas or other opportunities for advancement.
“We wanted to show and be more transparent to the fleet and say your total advancement opportunity is really comprised of many factors, more than just an exam,” Capt. Angela Katson — head of enlisted force shaping plans and policies — told Navy Times.
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The Navy’s fall MAP season ran from Sept. 1 through Oct. 31, and active-duty sailors competing for advancement from E-4 through E-6 took their exams in September, Katson and Personnel Specialist Master Chief Anton Fitz said.
In some cases, sailors who learned early that they would be be advanced through MAP might not have had to sit through the test at all.
For the fall cycle, a total 4,131 active duty sailors from E-4 to E-6 were advanced by MAP, according to Navy data.
For the 37,129 sailors eligible to advance to petty officer third class, the total opportunity to move ahead stood at 22 percent when factoring in 5,051 exam quota slots, 1,897 MAP advancements and another 1,200 advancements through other pathways.
Click here to see the entire opportunities by rate.
Among the 51,757 petty officers eligible for second class, the total opportunity was 16 percent. Here is a breakdown by rate.
For those 49,829 sailors eligible for advancement to first class, the opportunity was seven percent. Here is a breakdown by rate.
Full-Time Support
Of 610 full time support sailors looking to advance to petty officer third class, 31 percent had the opportunity to make it. Opportunities dropped to 24 percent for those eligible for second class, and to just five percent among those eligible for first class.
Check here for the full list of opportunities by rate for E-4 through E-6.
Selected Reserve
Reservists looking to advance to petty officer third class for fiscal 2020 had a 93 percent chance of making it, a figure that included 824 exam quota slots, 1 MAP and 146 who were advanced through other paths.
At the second class grade, there was a 38 percent advancement opportunity. Those at the first class level were at 19 percent.
Check here for a full list of opportunities by rate for E-4 through E-6 .
Courtney Mabeus-Brown is the senior reporter at Air Force Times. She is an award-winning journalist who previously covered the military for Navy Times and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., where she first set foot on an aircraft carrier. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy and more.
