SSRB and Promotion Boards
The Army has adopted a new pre-board screening process and developed a new SSRB process for post-board adverse information. Under the new process, adverse information must be presented to promotion selection, special selection, and federal recognition boards that consider officers for promotion.
The new screening process means is that any adverse information that it is your restricted folder will be provided to the board. Additionally, pre-board checks of other Service records for adverse information will be done as well. The pre-board check will include records from the Department of the Army Inspector General (DAIG), the Criminal Investigation Command (CID), and the Office of The Judge Advocate General (OTJAG).
If adverse information is found, you will receive notification of it through a summary report. You will also be given an opportunity to comment on the adverse summary information through a letter for the President of the Promotion Board. Any letter to the board must arrive no later than the published date within your MILPER message.
In addition to the pre-board screening requirements, the Army will also conduct a post-board screening to identify officers who have adverse information that is identified after they were selected for promotion. In most cases, this will mean the officer adverse or derogatory information happens after being selected for promotion, but before being promoted.
Officers selected for promotion, who subsequently have adverse information identified, will be separated from the promotion scroll and referred to a Special Selection Review Board (SSRB). As with adverse information found in a pre-board screening, you will be given an opportunity to comment on the adverse summary information through a letter to the President of the Promotion Board.
Your SSRB will be reviewed in conjunction with a board that is in session and which fits the criteria for your SSRB. It is recommended that there is no mention of SSRB in the header on the communication to the board. Also, letters of support should not mention the SSRB in the header and be undated. The SSRB should not be able to determine which officer is being reviewed for the SSRB.
An SSRB is a competitive board process and your file will be considered along with a sample of files from officers in your original selection board population. An equal number of comparison files will be of those officers selected for promotion and of those non-select for promotion (typically 5 and 5 with at least one of the non-selects having adverse information in their file). The SSRB will establish an order of merit (OML) ranking of the files. Your file must be ranked higher over the comparison non-selected files in order to be recommended for promotion.
Once the SSRB’s recommendation report is returned it will be packaged and forwarded to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G1 in the Pentagon for staffing up to the SECARMY for the final decision. You will receive an email status update when your SSRB is sent for this final step in processing, which from the date your SSRB is sent to the Pentagon will usually take 4 to 6 months. Once the SSRB office receives the SECARMY’s final decision, your SSRB will be completely closed out.