I FINALLY made TSgt this year, and I've been keeping up on the monthly increments to try and figure out when I will be sewing on. It seems that the number promoted each month is less than the month before. Is this typical? Does is it ever pick back back up. Or is it just very unpredictable? My number is 3,260 out of 7,110, and I'm thinking 1 Jan 09 is my magic date. Any insight from anyone? Thanks!
Increments aren't very predictable. AF bases the number selected based on the number of airmen they figure they're going to lose in the next year. Then, they determine each month's increment based on how many they actually lost. So, the increments DO get kind of squirelly sometimes. Often, the last month of the cycle will be an "And all others" increment, to clean out the list. Or, there may be a month or two of hold-overs. After I was selected for Tech, it took me 13 or 14 months for my line number to come up, in an "All remaining" group.
Gotta love being in the last month's increments; it means you were promoted above the AF average.
Congrats on the promotion. I do find it unfair that a lower line number (A) will outrank a very high line number (B). Generally speaking, the (B) outscored A and probably has more upside for future promotions and furthering a career.
Of course this doesn't consider leadership abilities, job skill, but they did get promoted on the same cycle so shouldnt they have equal rank, regardless of the date of sew on?
