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Title 10 — Armed ForcesRelease 119-73

§625 Authority to vacate promotions to grades of brigadier general and rear admiral (lower half)

Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle A— - General Military Law › Part PART II— - PERSONNEL › Chapter CHAPTER 36— - PROMOTION, SEPARATION, AND INVOLUNTARY RETIREMENT OF OFFICERS ON THE ACTIVE-DUTY LIST › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - PROMOTIONS › § 625

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The President can cancel an officer’s promotion to brigadier general or rear admiral (lower half) if the officer has served in that rank for less than 18 months. If that happens, Army, Air Force, and Marine officers go back to colonel; Navy officers go back to captain, and their active-duty slot becomes what it would have been if they had never been promoted.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §625

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The President may vacate the promotion to the grade of brigadier general or rear admiral (lower half) of an officer who has served less than 18 months in that grade after promotion to that grade under this chapter.
(b)An officer of the Army, Air Force, or Marine Corps whose promotion is vacated under this section holds the regular grade of colonel, if he is a regular officer, or the reserve grade of colonel, if he is a reserve officer. An officer of the Navy whose promotion is vacated under this section holds the regular grade of captain, if he is a regular officer, or the reserve grade of captain, if he is a reserve officer.
(c)The position on the active-duty list of an officer whose promotion is vacated under this section is the position he would have held had he not been promoted to the grade of brigadier general or rear admiral (lower half).

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2023—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 118–31 substituted “or Marine Corps” for “Marine Corps, or Space Force”. 2021—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 116–283 substituted “Marine Corps, or Space Force” for “or Marine Corps”. 1985—Pub. L. 99–145 substituted “rear admiral (lower half)” for “commodore” in section catchline and subsecs. (a) and (c). 1981—Pub. L. 97–86 substituted “commodore” for “commodore admiral” in section catchline and subsecs. (a) and (c).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1981 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 97–86 effective Sept. 15, 1981, see section 405(f) of Pub. L. 97–86, set out as a note under section 101 of this title.

Effective Date

Section effective Sept. 15, 1981, but the authority to prescribe

Regulations

under this section effective on Dec. 12, 1980, see section 701 of Pub. L. 96–513, set out as an

Effective Date

of 1980 Amendment note under section 101 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 625

Title 10 — Armed Forces

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73