West Virginia Code of State Rules › Agency 141 - Adjutant General › Title 141 - LEGISLATIVE RULE ADJUTANT GENERAL › Series 141-31 - Introduction To Officer Personnel Management System (OPMS) › Chapter 6 - OPMS CAREER PLANNING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT › Section 141-31-6-12 - MANDATORY CONSIDERATION FOR PROMOTION

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 28, July 12, 2024
a. An understanding of the provisions of the
				  Reserve Officer Personnel Act of 1954 is essential to WVARNG officers in
				  developing and pursuing their career plans. The provisions of ROPA assure that
				  officers of the WVARNG and the USAR who meet the qualifications for higher
				  grades are able to advance at a prescribed rate. It requires mandatory
				  consideration for promotion to the next higher grade by the DA after accruing a
				  specified number of years of total commissioned service and time in
				  grade.
b. Many officers have the
				  impression that successful completion of the minimum military educational
				  requirements (requirements for unit promotion) will result in their automatic
				  selection when they are considered by mandatory selection boards. Selection
				  boards operate under the fully-qualified method of selection rather than the
				  best qualified method. However, even under the fully-qualified method,
				  completion of the appropriate military educational level is just one of several
				  factors that are considered by the selection boards. As important as military
				  education is, it cannot compensate for any recent period in the officer's
				  service in which his/her manner of performance, will be viewed by the members
				  of the selection board along with their other records.
c. There are two particular elements of ROPA
				  that should be of special concern to all WVARNG officers as they seek to
				  establish a career program. They are "total years of commissioned service", and
				  "years of promotion service" (time in grade). These elements are defined as
				  follows:
(1) Total years of Commissioned
				  Service is the number of years that an officer holds a commission in any of the
				  Armed Forces (regular or reserve). However, officers initially commissioned
				  after age 25 will, for the purposes of ROPA, accrue years of commissioned
				  service from their 25th birthday. For example, an individual who was
				  commissioned at age 27 counts years of commissioned service from his/her 25th
				  birthday and has on the day that he/she accepted their commissioned
				  appointment, a credit of two (2) years service. Further constructive credit is
				  applied under certain circumstances for medical officers, dentists, and other
				  professionals.
(2) Years of
				  Promotion Service (or time in grade) is the number of years that an officer has
				  served in his/her permanent grade. ROPA establishes a minimum number of years
				  that an officer must serve prior to being promoted as well as the maximum
				  number of years he/she may remain in any one grade before being mandatorily
				  considered for promotion to the next higher grade. These minimum and maximum
				  periods for mandatory consideration are:
TO
:
PROMOTION SERVICE
:
YEARS OF SERVICE
:
1LT
3 Years in Grade of 2LT
None
CPT
4 Years in Grade of 1LT
6 Years
MAJ
7 Years in Grade of CPT
12 Years
LTC
7 Years in Grade of MAJ
17 Years