{"id":35370,"date":"2020-02-25T16:01:41","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T16:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/02\/25\/senior-master-sergeant-promotions-plunge-this-year\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:06:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:06:01","slug":"senior-master-sergeant-promotions-plunge-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2020\/02\/25\/senior-master-sergeant-promotions-plunge-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior master sergeant promotions plunge this year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The number of airmen being promoted to senior master sergeant<\/a>, as well as the selection rate, has dropped sharply in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force Personnel Center said in a release Monday that 1,184 master sergeants, out of 15,544 eligible airmen, have been selected for promotion to E-8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means the E-8 selection rate<\/a> for 2020 is 7.62 percent \u2014 the lowest rate since the worst days of the drawdown in 2014, and significantly lower than the last four years of senior master sergeant promotions. Selection rates hit a recent high of 12.32 percent<\/a> in 2016, then declined to a little less than 12 percent the following two years, and dropped further to 10.77 percent in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an email, AFPC spokesman Mike Dickerson said the lower selection rate is partially because there was a significantly larger pool of eligible airmen this year. The last two years each saw a little more than 13,000 master sergeants eligible for promotion, and in 2017, even fewer airmen were eligible: 11,788.<\/p>\n\n\n\t