More than 100 Air Force airmen had their promotions revoked after a scoring blunder on a required exam upended this year’s process — as officials warned the mistake will be “hard for everyone impacted.”
Air Force officials discovered that an outdated answer key was mistakenly used to score the Specialty Knowledge Test, an exam used in promotion decisions for security forces airmen, the Air Force announced Tuesday.
The branch was forced to rescind 135 promotions that would’ve elevated the service members to Sergeants and award those slots to other troops who qualified under the updated system.
“We owe it to those affected to address it immediately,” Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force David R. Wolfe said. “This is going to be hard for everyone impacted.”
The error came to light after the promotion list had already been released and when an enlisted promotions team member at the Air Force Personnel Center found the wrong scoring key had been used, according to the service.
Officials rescored all 2,285 eligible exams and learned that 135 airmen who had been told they were selected for promotion to technical sergeant no longer met the cutoff score.
Another 135 airmen who were initially passed over will now be promoted instead.
Technical sergeant is a mid-level enlisted rank, and promotions are based on several factors, including performance, time in service and scores on the Specialty Knowledge Test.
After the exams were rescored, 451 of the original 586 selectees kept their promotions. The total number of promotions did not change.
The Air Force described the mix-up as an isolated and unprecedented case of human error that affected only the security forces career field.
Officials said they verified the correct answer key with subject matter experts before rescoring every eligible exam.
“We promote Airmen based on merit, which is established in federal law and policy,” Lt. Gen. Jefferson O’Donnell, the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services, said.
“Who we are as an Air Force, defined by our core values, demands integrity in the meritocratic promotion system.”
The Air Force Personnel Center plans to announce the 135 newly selected technical sergeants in a supplemental promotion release during the week of July 13.
Officials said the new selectees will receive adjusted line numbers that will not delay their promotions.
The service said leaders are notifying affected airmen directly, have set up a hotline to answer questions and are tightening review procedures as they investigate how the mistake happened.
Officials also emphasized that the error was caused by human error — not AI.
The promotion blunder follows other high-profile testing problems in the Air Force.
Last year, the Air Force Academy investigated nearly 100 cadets accused of cheating on a weekly knowledge test.
In 2021, another cheating scandal involved nearly 250 cadets accused of honor code violations, prompting a broader review of the academy’s programs.