Townsville on board
The annual promotions rely on volunteers and logistics, as PTE John Wellfare discovered.

By Maria Cavallo

Up to 10 promotion boards run simulaneously each day.

Photo by CPL Simone Liebelt.

THIS year’s promotion boards for airmen and airwomen are underway at RAAF Base Townsville where they are being held until the end of February.

Promotions Airmen (PromA) cell moves to a different base location for about six weeks at this time each year to allow personnel from all regions to have access to the promotion board process.

Squadron Leader Mia Ploughman, Directorate of Personnel - Air Force, said the “paper boards”, which make assessments based on members’ PARs, made this time of year hectic for PromA staff and those who choose to serve on a board.

“They have up to 10 boards running simultaneously each day,” she said. “The entire PromA cell – bar two people who are left here to process late PARs through PMKeyS – all travelled to Townsville and helped with the setup of the boards, the training of the board members and getting the files ready for the board process to start.

“[PromA staff] give advice, when required, to the board members as they run the boards and then check files after the process is finished to confirm promotion eligibility.”

Personnel sitting on a board can come from any mustering or specialisation in the Air Force, but there are some restrictions about which boards a person can serve on.

“The people who sit on a board must be at least a sergeant and cannot be from an aligned specialisation or mustering,” SQNLDR Ploughman said.

“For instance, you wouldn’t ask an administrative officer to consider clerks, because this increases the probability that the board member would know and have personal opinions of the candidates going to board.

“The board process is very structured, and every attempt is made to remove bias and hearsay from the board deliberations – it’s purely by the PARs and supplementary reports presented.”

Heading up the PromA cell in Townsville, Flight Lieutenant Ian Greenacre said because it was a very busy period, it helped make the time go quicker.

“Dislocation for families is the biggest problem. But currently we can’t physically do [the boards] in Canberra because of a variety of reasons, partly to do with office space availability and service accommodation.”

The volunteers who sit on promotion boards tend to learn a lot about the promotion system, FLTLT Greenacre said, which makes them more effective assessors.

“They’re all keen to do it and they all come away with a very positive experience, and most of them are keen to come back and do it again.

“They have a very positive outlook on the promotion system as a result of participating in the promotion boards.

“They realise that it’s a very objective process, which minimises the possibility of anyone being shown any favouritism or bias by the system,” FLTLT Greenacre said.

Late PARs affect career

THE cut-off date for submitting PARs was December 10 last year, but the PromA cell would accept late PARs up to within 10 days before the member’s board sits.

Squadron Leader Mia Ploughman, Directorate of Personnel - Air Force, said a late PAR could have a detrimental affect on a member’s career. “[Late PARs] will still be uploaded into PMKeyS, but they may not be used for promotion purposes for that year,” she said.

“It’s a dual responsibility between the assessor and the person being assessed to make sure the PAR is completed and reaches us on time.”

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