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Fellas - it may be too late, but this has been passed around recently and there's still some good info here - whether you're writing PRFs, trying to help out those who are, or stuck writing your own in self preservation mode.... Chuck PRF 101 January 2015.pdf

Saw American Sniper last night. Even though I read the book and knew the story, I couldn't speak for a few minutes afterwards. Danged eye irritants... First time I have ever heard silence for a solid 3-4 minutes after a movie and nearly no noise as the crowd departed. Great movie and story told exceedingly well. Nothing grand strategy or ideological; simply a dude who did his job to help protect his bros in uniform. The relief/guilt dilemma of those on the deployment grind and how it screws with the family was perfectly told. Great movie by Eastwood. Great acting by Cooper.

Didn't you hear? We're not doing combat any more. We're out of Afghanistan and Iraq, President Obama said so during the SOTU address.

This is like writing about a stone that got passed 10 years ago. It wasn't any fun then and I don't want to relive it now.

Probably just call it the "Fogle Song" in order to not actually say his name. Then, in the 3rd verse, they realize that they've been saying his name all along. the 4th verse describes the destruction caused by repeating his name and summoning him forward.

Drink much?

//wall of text alert// No. DP allocations for IPZ/APZ and BPZ are different. A DP given IPZ traditionally gives you your 99% chance of getting picked up. A DP given APZ is rare, comes from the SR's allocation of IPZ DPs, and 50+% of the time, gives a guy a 99% chance of getting picked up. A DP given BPZ is also rare, but not as rare as APZ. I'd say they have a >50% success rate. AFPC keeps stats on all boards, and several MAJCOMs (A1) sites will have more specific demographics. Example (very simplified) cohort: The AF has 1378 LAF majors (all zones) eligible for P0515B (promotion board, to O5, CY'15, second officer promotion board of the year). 800 BPZ, 200 APZ, and 378 IPZ. Promotion "opportunity" is 85%. So there are 321 promotions to be had (378x.85=321) A Wing has 70 of the 1378 majors. Of the 70: 40 are 2 or 1 year BPZ 15 are IPZ 15 are APZ (1, 2, 3+ APZ, continued) The Wg/CC is the Senior Rater (SR). For this board only, the DP allocation rate is 25% I/APZ (378x.25=95 DPs) 10% BPZ. (800 x .1=80 DPs). So, our SR can give 3.75 DPs to I/APZ records (15 IPZ x 25% = 3.75) The SR will allocate 3 DPs to the 3 "best" I/APZ records (as he/she decides), and take the .75 DP to the MLR. The SR can award up to 4 DPs (10% of 40=4) to the top BPZ records. At the MLR, all the SRs in the MAJCOM (usually, wing/CCs, staff directors, etc) toss their "leftover" DP fractions together to create whole DPs. Our guy put in .75, all the others put in their leftovers, and after adding them all up, the MLR can award 4 more I/APZ DPs. Now, the SR (typically) shows all the other SRs the DP records he awarded on his own, then competes his next-best record for one of the MLRs DPs. Our guy has good records, so he wins 2 more DPs from the MLR (5 total). After the MLR, our SR's rack-n-stack looks like this: BPZ. IPZ. APZ 1 DP. 1-4 DP. 1 DP 2 DP. 5-14 P. 2-14 P 3 P.* 15 DNP 15 DNP 4-38: P 39-40: DNP** * this guy is eligible for DP, but SR doesn't think the record supports a DP. **(All DNPs are guys with referral OPRs, Art15s, prisoners, etc) Assuming the rest of the AF did it nearly the same way, most SRs lists will look very similar. At the actual board, the 1378 records are randomly assigned to maybe six panels, each panel comprised of 5 LAF Colonels. So each panel scores ~222 records, scoring each one between a 6.0-10.0 scale, in .5 increments. If any 2 or more Colonels scores differ more than 1.5, the record is flagged and the "split" is discussed and resolved. Your record's board score is the sum of the 5 scores from each Colonel. You got a P, and your record got: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 7.5. 7.0. 7.0. 7.5. 8.0 =. 37.0 The best record in the board got a 50.0. The 1378th record got 30.0. The list looks like this: 1 50 2 49.5 3 49.0 4-79: 48.5-46 80-121: 45.5-42 122-176: 42-40 177-289: 39.5-38 290-316: 37.5-36 317-321: 35.5 322-399: 35-34.5 400-1378: 34-30 So, since there are 321 promotions available, everyone who scored 35.5 or more gets put in the initial promotion list. As a quality check, all the records with scores between 35 and 36 are rescored and a final top 321 list is built. Record #322 now gets rescored, if that record is fully qualified for promotion, then the process is complete (#322 does not get promoted, but his being fully qualified ensures everyone who DOES get promoted is fully qualified). In the end, our fake board promoted the full 85% (321), with 275 IPZ, 35 BPZ, and 11 APZ. There were 800 BPZ, 80 BPZ DPs, and 35 promoted. There were 378 IPZ, 83 DPs (22% of the 25% allocation rate), and 275 promoted. There were 200 APZ, 12 DPs (3% of the 25% DP allocation rate), and 11 promoted. Congrats to all my fake Lt Col selects. Your board #s will vary, but this illustration is typical. Check your records (PRDA) , check your SURF (AMS) and DQHB (vMPF) often, and see your CSS to correct errors...and keep your ADP, VRED, and SGLI updated at least annually. And not least: talk to your Sq commanders, talk to your group commanders, find a mentor. Ask questions, ask for frank feedback. And...don't suck. Good luck. ETA: for the purists out there: yes, this is oversimplified, yes, I left out some stuff. This was intended only as "telling-time", not how to build a watch.

Just do all 4.

Champ - I agree with you and I feel your pain. Fellas... The truth of this matter is this - it is still a requirement, though just kicked a little further down the road. In all of my time on active duty thus far, which isn't really all that much in the grand scheme, I have learned several things... Among those: - Policies reverse, and the outcry from the "but, but, but" crowd is always loud. Be prepared. - You NEVER have as much time as you do RIGHT NOW, or, "the higher you go, the more demands will be made of you." Ain't no O-5s out there knocking out their degrees after spending their days as the DO or Chief of Safety... Start it, finish it, get it behind you (though at a much more leisurely pace than I had to deal with). - And finally, in the history of reduced budgets and drawdowns, I cannot think of an instance where "requirements" for commissioned officer promotion became LESS stringent. That's just not how it works. As I have said, our sister services ARE looking at degree completion and PME as discriminatory, and oh by the way, they promote earlier and send their guys to school earlier... (As well as sending more guys to school) So who is going to end up with an advantage in the DoD? Don't forget this is not all about you. The service cares about the aggregate. This is about the USAF, and it's about the service getting educated and successful people into Joint jobs to further the services goal of getting more of an ever shrinking pot of money. Cynical, but true. Keep kicking ass, spend time with your family, fly the jets, do your chores (PME and AAD), and keep things in perspective. Chuck

Side by side comparison of last year's board compared to this years. Roughly the same amount of people in the zone, but far less DPs given out and as already talked about, a 7% decrease in promotion rate.