When an officer is placed in the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) after leaving the Active Duty or Reserve component in accordance with 10 USC Sec 10144, the individual continues to meet promotion boards. When individuals are 1) seeking appointment into the Air National Guard, 2) are a current or former member of the Air Force Reserve, and 3) are twice passed over for promotion, no waiver is allowed for appointment in accordance with AFI36-2005, Attachment 3. This USAF policy is based on 10 USC Sec 14504, 14505, & 14506, which require officers twice deferred for promotion be removed from the Reserve Active Status List (RASL). Removal from the RASL results in the candidate's ineligibility for position vacancy or mandatory promotion and therefore, they are unsuitable for accession.

As currently written, the law limits the Air National Guard's ability to recruit former Reserve Component officers twice passed over for promotion. These officers may have served honorably, but were passed over while in the IRR. The USAF IRR promotion rate is historically less than 1%. The law is preventing full ANG access to the eligible recruitment pool and negatively impacts readiness. Allowing Adjutants General authority to re-appoint candidates to the RASL for purposes of accession would remedy this inaccessibility. Once authority has been granted, AFI36-2005 revision will be requested.