10 U.S.C. § 14317 — Officers in transition to and from the active-status list or active-duty list

(a) Effect of Transfer to Inactive Status or Retired Status — If a reserve officer on the active-status list is moved to inactive or retired status after being recommended for promotion (or found qualified for federal recognition) but before actually being promoted, the officer is treated as if never considered or recommended. The officer cannot be placed on a promotion list or promoted after returning to active status unless a new board recommends the officer again, or the officer is re-examined for federal recognition. (b) Effect of Placement on Active-Duty List — If a reserve officer is on a promotion list because a mandatory or special selection board recommended the officer, and before promotion the officer moves to the active-duty list in the same armed force and competitive category, the officer must be placed, under Secretary of Defense regulations, on the matching promotion list for officers on the active-duty list. (c) Officers on a Promotion List Removed From Active-Duty List — The reverse situation: an officer on the active-duty list who is on a promotion list from an active-duty selection board, but before promotion is removed from the active-duty list and placed on the reserve active-status list in the same armed force and category (this includes a regular officer who becomes a reserve officer on removal), must be placed on the matching promotion list under this chapter, under Secretary of Defense regulations. (d) Officers Selected for Position Vacancies — (1) Except as (e) provides, if a reserve officer recommended under section 14315 to fill a position vacancy (or found qualified for federal recognition) is then ordered to active duty (other than for training) or full-time National Guard duty (other than training), the officer cannot be promoted while serving that duty — unless the officer is ordered up as part of the unit that has the vacancy, or the officer is serving on active duty supporting a contingency operation. (2) If the officer's name is removed from the promotion list under this rule, the officer is treated as never having been considered or examined. (e) Officers Ordered to Active Duty in Time of War or National Emergency — (1) A reserve officer not on the active-duty list who is ordered to active duty during a war or national emergency may still be considered for promotion — by a mandatory or special selection board, or, if serving in support of a contingency operation, by a vacancy promotion board or by federal-recognition exam. (2) This consideration cannot happen more than two years after the officer was ordered to active duty. (3) It also cannot happen during any period the President has suspended this section under section 123(a). (4) The military department's Secretary sets the regulations for how this consideration works.