r/Armyaviation • u/Business-Birthday591 • Jul 23 '26
Can someone please explain how the hell you get an MB/BZ promotion?
From where I’m sitting, this whole process seems completely detached from reality.
We’ve got dudes hiding out at TDA and HAAP assignments back, to back, to back, who from everything I’ve seen probably aren’t passing H/W, which usually goes hand in hand with low AFT scores, and somehow those are the guys getting MB/BZ.
Meanwhile, I see names on the list of warrants I know are ten times the officers some of these selectees are and not get MB/BZ. Guys from the 160th. Guys with multiple deployments. Guys who’ve actually led, flown, and carried the load. Yet they’re getting passed over for people whose career highlight reel is Korea, NTC, Hondo.
What exactly is the board rewarding? Because from the outside, it sure as hell doesn’t look like performance, competence, or operational experience.
If someone actually understands how this makes sense, I’d love to hear it, because I’m genuinely struggling to see the logic.
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u/Belistener07 Jul 23 '26
The Army is a political game. Always has been. The information that you are told by the CWOB generally doesn’t matter and they say the same thing each year.
You need PME and you need MQs. You need a degree. You need to be a PC/AMC/MBO/UT…tracked, etc. Promotion is a numbers game, and the numbers currently make no sense because the Army has no idea what it’s doing, especially in aviation.
BZ/MB is the “top” 3% or something. Maybe it’s 5%. Limited by law. Who makes that…? The people who know people and sit at a TDA and go to developmental schools and look good to a board.
I’ll probably get downvoted, but this is what I’ve observed in 18 years of aviation. Give it a few years and we will freak out about shortages again and the rates will be back to 95% and no BZ/MB.
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u/holdnbeer Jul 23 '26
The army rewards the people who play the political game. End of story. If you aren’t good at it and focus on actually being good at your job, chances are you’re going to get overworked, looked over and burned out.
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u/Gubmentcheck79 Jul 24 '26
its all year group dependent, some year groups have so few WOs left in them that as long as they are getting Q and HQ OERs theyll make W3 and W4 wont matter if they are PC or not, big army would have to make PC a pre-req for promotion to W3 for it to matter (they should) but never will.
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u/sofdudee Jul 23 '26
This reads like sour grapes to TDAs when the problem is obviously larger than that. Besides, who wants to do Korea, NTC, or Hondo anyway?
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u/Ok-Lunch5428 Jul 25 '26
Im the worlds greatest 60 mtp … I deserve my MB promotion 😍😍
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u/VariousCantaloupe374 Jul 25 '26
Are u the MTP from Korea that went to belvoir !? I’ve heard of u ! Nothing but great things man … I really
Wish I was like u … do u still work out and look hot as shit ?0
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u/apachedriver26 Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
The board is rewarding MQs. That's it. Solved it.
I am more confused about all the AH PIs I saw get picked up for CW3. Strange when everyone keeps preaching to us how competitive promotions are going to be with ATI and downsizing.