14 U.S.C. § 2113 — Eligibility of officers for consideration for promotion

(a) An active-duty promotion-list officer becomes eligible for promotion to the next grade at the start of the promotion year in which the officer completes, measured from the date of rank, two years as lieutenant junior grade, three as lieutenant, four as lieutenant commander, four as commander, or three as captain. (b) Qualifying service in the grade or a higher grade counts, under temporary or permanent appointment. Temporary service under section 2125 counts only as service in the grade the officer would have held without that appointment. (c) An officer cannot become eligible until every more-senior officer in the same grade is eligible. (d) Unless on a selectee list, an eligible officer remains eligible while on active duty and not promoted to that grade. (e) An officer whose involuntary retirement or separation is deferred under section 2156 is ineligible during the deferral. (f) The Secretary^* may waive subsection (a) as needed to give such officers at least two below-zone promotion opportunities. (g)(1) Despite subsection (a), the Commandant^* may, at an officer’s request and with approval, exclude the officer from a section 2106 selection board. (2) Approval requires that the request allow completion of a broadening assignment, advanced education, another valuable Coast Guard assignment, a delayed career-progression requirement, or a qualifying personal or professional circumstance; that exclusion be in the Coast Guard’s best interest; and that the officer has not previously failed selection for the requested grade.