10 U.S.C. § 631 — Effect of failure of selection for promotion: first lieutenants and lieutenants (junior grade)

(a) Except for a Navy or Marine Corps officer designated for limited duty and covered by section 8146(e) or 8372, each active-duty-list Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Space Force first lieutenant twice not selected for captain, and each active-duty-list Navy lieutenant (junior grade) twice not selected for lieutenant, whose name is not on a list recommending promotion to the next higher grade must—(1) be discharged on the date the officer requests and the Secretary of the military department concerned approves. That date must be no later than the first day of the seventh calendar month beginning after the month in which the Secretary releases the second board’s promotion results to the public; (2) if eligible for retirement under any law, be retired under that law on a date the officer requests and the Secretary approves, also no later than that deadline; or (3) if, on the date of discharge under paragraph (1), the officer is within two years of qualifying for retirement under section 7311, 8323, or 9311, be kept on active duty until qualified and then retired under that section, unless sooner retired or discharged under another law. (b) For purposes of every other law, an officer’s retirement or discharge under this section is an involuntary retirement or discharge. (c) An officer subject to discharge under subsection (a)(1) is not eligible for further consideration for promotion. (d) For this chapter, an Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Space Force first lieutenant, or a Navy lieutenant (junior grade), is treated as having failed selection for promotion if the Secretary of the military department concerned determines both that the officer would be eligible for consideration for promotion to the next higher grade by a selection board convened under section 611(a) if such a board were convened, and that the officer is not fully qualified for promotion when the board recommends promotion under section 624(a)(3) for all fully qualified officers of that officer’s armed force and grade who would be eligible for such consideration.