National Guard Officer promotion boards are conducted in accordance with 32 U.S.C subsection 307 and appropriate Army (AR 135-155) and Air Force regulations. The vacancy promotion process, however, is not transparent and is not clearly defined in law or in Army/ Air Force Regulation. Vacancy promotions are becoming exponentially delayed. There are officers who are waiting for more than a year for the federal recognition of there state appointment. During this wait they are performing duties in positions of higher responsibility and accountability, but not being able to wear the rank or be compensated for their duty. Transparency needs to exist in this process. National Guard officers must wait for months and in some cases well over a year without any ability to clearly track their promotion along the process. Furthermore, no time-lines exist that spell out this process which leads to no accountability for those that run it. Transparency of the process, nor reasonable time-lines can be established through any unit chain of command. This issue can only be resolved with a top-down approach that could be accomplished through GAO and Congressional involvement. The vacancy promotion process is slow, and is not understood by individuals or by commands, and needs to be brought up-to-date to reflect modern changes in the function and capability of the National Guard as an equal partner in today's "One Army" paradigm. Furthermore, changes are needed because the chief of the National Guard is now a sitting member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and that fact is not reflected in current law and policy.