Except as otherwise provided by law, a Reserve officer shall only be promoted pursuant to the recommendation of a selection board.

The Secretary shall convene selection boards from time to time to recommend Reserve officers for promotion to the next higher grade. A board may be convened to consider officers in one or more grades.

A selection board shall, from among the names of those eligible Reserve officers submitted to it, recommend for promotion to the next higher grade:

(1) those officers serving in the grade of lieutenant (junior grade) or above whom it considers to be best qualified; and

(2) those officers serving in the grade of ensign whom it considers to be fully qualified.

In order to make the determination under subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall determine the following:

(1) Before convening a selection board to recommend Reserve officers for promotion, the Secretary shall establish a promotion zone for officers serving in each grade to be considered by the board. The Secretary shall determine the number of officers in the promotion zone for officers serving in any grade from among officers who are eligible for promotion in that grade.

In order to make the determination under subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall determine the following:

(A) Before convening a selection board to recommend Reserve officers for promotion to a grade (other than the grade of lieutenant (junior grade)), the Secretary shall determine the maximum number of officers in that grade that the board may recommend for promotion.

(B) The Secretary shall make the determination under subparagraph (A) of the maximum number that may be recommended with a view to having in an active status a sufficient number of Reserve officers in each grade to meet the needs of the Coast Guard for Reserve officers in an active status.

(C) In order to make the determination under subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall determine the following: (i) The number of positions needed to accomplish mission objectives that require officers in the grade to which the board will recommend officers for promotion. (ii) The estimated number of officers needed to fill vacancies in such positions during the period in which it is anticipated that officers selected for promotion will be promoted. (iii) The number of officers authorized by the Secretary to serve in an active status in the grade under consideration. (iv) Any statutory limitation on the number of officers in any grade authorized to be in an active status.

The Secretary may, when the needs of the Coast Guard require, authorize the consideration of officers in a grade above lieutenant (junior grade) for promotion to the next higher grade from below the promotion zone.

(A) The Secretary may, when the needs of the Coast Guard require, authorize the consideration of officers in a grade above lieutenant (junior grade) for promotion to the next higher grade from below the promotion zone.

(B) When selection from below the promotion zone is authorized, the Secretary shall establish the number of officers that may be recommended for promotion from below the promotion zone. That number may not exceed the number equal to 10 percent of the maximum number of officers that the board is authorized to recommend for promotion, except that the Secretary may authorize a greater number, not to exceed 15 percent of the total number of officers that the board is authorized to recommend for promotion, if the Secretary determines that the needs of the Coast Guard so require. If the maximum number determined under this subparagraph is less than one, the board may recommend one officer for promotion from below the promotion zone.

(C) The number of officers recommended for promotion from below the promotion zone does not increase the maximum number of officers that the board is authorized to recommend for promotion under paragraph (2).

The law and regulations relating to the selection for promotion of a commissioned officer of the Regular Coast Guard to the grades of rear admiral (lower half) and rear admiral apply to a Reserve officer, except that to be eligible for consideration for promotion to the grade of rear admiral (lower half) an officer shall have completed at least ten years commissioned service, of which the last five years shall have been served in the Coast Guard Reserve.

The provisions of section 2117 of this title apply to boards convened under this section. The Secretary shall determine the procedure to be used by a selection board.

The report of a selection board shall be submitted to the Secretary for review and transmission to the President for approval. When an officer recommended by a board for promotion is not acceptable to the President, the President may remove the name of that officer from the report of the board.

The recommendations of a selection board, as approved by the President, constitute a list of selectees from which the promotions of Reserve officers shall be made. An officer on a list of selectees remains thereon until promoted unless removed by the President under section 3749 of this title. If an existing list of selectees has not been exhausted by the time a later list has been approved, all officers remaining on the older list shall be tendered appointments prior to those on the later list.

A Reserve officer whose name is on a list of selectees for promotion shall, unless that officer’s promotion is lawfully withheld, be tendered an appointment in the next higher grade on the date a vacancy occurs, or as soon thereafter as practicable in the grade to which the officer was selected for promotion or, if promotion was determined in accordance with a running mate system, at the same time, or as soon thereafter as practicable, as that officer’s running mate is tendered a similar appointment.

(Added Pub. L. 96–322, § 1, Aug. 4, 1980, 94 Stat. 1010, § 729; amended Pub. L. 97–417, § 2(13), Jan. 4, 1983, 96 Stat. 2086; Pub. L. 99–145, title V, § 514(c)(1), Nov. 8, 1985, 99 Stat. 629; Pub. L. 106–398, § 1 [[div. A], title V, § 502(a)], Oct. 30, 2000, 114 Stat. 1654, 1654A–99; Pub. L. 107–295, title IV, § 411(a), Nov. 25, 2002, 116 Stat. 2118; renumbered § 3740 and amended Pub. L. 115–282, title I, §§ 118(b), 123(b)(2), Dec. 4, 2018, 132 Stat. 4233, 4240.)