A new round of force reductions boards will meet in September to consider certain active component captains of the Army Competitive Category and Army Medical Department for involuntary separation or early retirement, as appropriate.
A similar series of Officer Separation Boards and Enhanced Selective Early Retirement Boards that met in 2014 cut short the careers of 1,188 captains and 550 majors.
The Army also culled the senior field-grade ranks of the active component in 2013, which resulted in pink slips and early retirement for 103 colonels and 136 lieutenant colonels.
The new round of boards will meet Sept. 22-25 for year group 2009 captains of the Army Competitive Category, and Sept. 15-18 for Nurse Corps (AOC 66H) and Medical Service Corps (AOCs 67A and 67J) captains in year groups 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Captains who are on a selection list for promotion to major will not be considered by these boards.
Officers who are selected for release will be involuntarily separated if they have fewer than 18 years of service and at least one year in grade as an O-3.
Under a special law in effect for the drawdown, most officers who are selected for separation, and who have 15 to 18 years of service will qualify for a modified pension under the Temporary Early Retirement Authority.
Officers with at least six, but fewer than 15 years of service, generally qualify for involuntary separation pay.
Officers with 18 to 20 years of service generally are allowed to stay on active duty until they qualify for regular retirement at 20 years of service.
The processing of OSB and E-SERB selection lists usually takes several months, which means the affected officers will not have to leave service until 2016.
Approval of the selection-out lists by the secretary of the Army is final.
Officers cannot appeal, and the Army will not conduct relook or standby boards.
However, if an officer believes his or her selection was caused by a material error in their personnel file, they can file a claim with the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records.
These special boards are drawdown tools designed to help bring Army personnel strength within limits mandated by Congress.
Today's service strength stands at about 496,000, some 6,000 shy of this year's goal of 490,000. Strength will further be reduced to 475,000 next year, and is slated to hit 450,000 or more by 2019.
