10 U.S.C. § 20203 — Original appointments: service credit

(a) In General. Section 533's rules on crediting prior active commissioned service apply when someone gets an original appointment as a Space Force officer^*.

(b) Credit for Prior Service. When setting a new officer's grade^* and rank^* within grade, the Space Force must credit any commissioned service the person had before, as a Space Force officer on active duty^* or in an active status^*, or as a regular or active reserve officer in any uniformed service, though this doesn't include time served as a commissioned warrant officer^*. The Secretary of Defense's regulations under section 533 also apply here, letting the Secretary of the Air Force cap how much of that prior service counts.

Credit for Education, Training, and Experience. Under Air Force regulations, the Secretary must give a new officer "constructive service" credit for advanced education, training, or special experience directly tied to the Space Force's operational needs, in a career field the Secretary designates. The Secretary can grant this credit for each qualifying instance, even overlapping ones, but can't give more than 20 people this credit in any year. The amount of constructive credit can't be more than what's needed to qualify for an original appointment as a colonel. It's added on top of any credit from prior service described above, and applied at the time of appointment. By December 1 each year, the Secretary of the Air Force must report to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees on how much constructive service credit was given the year before.

(c) Authorized Use of Constructive Credit. Credit given for education, training, or experience can only be used to set an officer's starting grade, rank within grade, and time in grade for promotion eligibility.

(d) Exclusion for Graduates of the Service Academies. Someone who graduated from a Service Academy, as defined in section 347, doesn't get service credit under this section for anything before they graduated.

(e) Reserve Officers. A reserve officer, other than a warrant officer, getting an original Space Force appointment keeps their existing grade and date of rank if they were already on an active-duty list^* right before the appointment. If they weren't on an active-duty list, they get the grade and date of rank they would have had if they had been on the active-duty list on the appointment date.

(f) Continuity of Existing Delegation of Presidential Appointment Functions. Unless the President issues a new executive order, Executive Order 13384, which assigns the President's appointment powers under section 531(a), also covers the President's powers under section 20201 of this title.