Air Force Revokes 135 Technical Sergeant Promotions After Exam Scoring Error

The U.S. Air Force revoked 135 promotions to technical sergeant after discovering that an outdated answer key had been used to score the Specialty Knowledge Test for security forces airmen, nypost.com reported. The service announced the error on Tuesday and said all 2,285 eligible exams were rescored.

After rescoring, 451 of the original 586 selectees retained their promotions. The remaining 135 no longer met the cutoff score. Another 135 airmen who had initially been passed over now qualify and will be promoted instead.

The total number of promotions stayed the same. Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force David R. Wolfe said the service owed it to those affected to address the issue immediately. “This is going to be hard for everyone impacted,” he said.

Lt. Gen. Jefferson O’Donnell, the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services, said promotions are based on merit established in federal law and policy. “Who we are as an Air Force, defined by our core values, demands integrity in the meritocratic promotion system,” he said.

The Air Force Personnel Center will announce the 135 newly selected technical sergeants in a supplemental promotion release during the week of July 13. The new selectees will receive adjusted line numbers that will not delay their promotions. Officials described the error as an isolated case of human error limited to the security forces career field and said it was not caused by AI.

Leaders are notifying affected airmen directly and have set up a hotline for questions while reviewing procedures.