A year in the sand...oops I meant 6 months in the mountains

Sorry to hear about not making Chief. Having gone through the process before and working with the board, I understand your frustration. However, being in the war zone now most likely had little to do with your package this year. It will most deffinently help for next year. You are in a great assignment to help make Chief. Since you are in a joint command the one thing that sticks out, are citations, awards or medals from a different branch of service. Funny looking letterhead jumps out at the board members when they review your package. If you get any letters of comidation or citations they should be from a one star or better. Other services do not really understand the Chief Selection Board so they do not always understand that the higher the rank of the person writing the award the more points it carries. Also I am not sure who will write your evaluation while you are over there but most likely you will have a great deal of input. Another thought would be that if you leave before your evaluation cycle, have an evaluation written any way. Nothing says you can not have more than one evaluation a year. A special evaluation would be warranted if you left a war zone to go back stateside even if that is not considered a change of command. And again the other services may not have the highest ranking officer sign the eval. Remember the higher the better.

Good luck and keep your head down.

MMC(SW) retired
Working at DMAX