Originally Posted by Hueypilot

So in addition to the political backstabbing nature that is now our promotion system, we've got these other factors working for us too. As the military shrinks and staying in gets tougher, the politics behind promoting will get worse. We have LTs now trying to get masters degrees because soon it'll be possible to get passed over at the O-3 level for only having a bachelor's degree. Last couple promotion cycles have seen people up for O-4 getting passed over and separated because they were not masters complete, or had been an exec somewhere in their career. The days of flying as your primary duty are over. No one cares if you can fly an airplane well, they just want to see that you got an advanced degree, worked with Habitat for Humanity, and won CGO of the year for organizing the last commander's Change of Command ceremony.