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Title 10, Armed ForcesRelease 119-102

§630 Discharge of Commissioned Officers with Less Than Six Years of Active Commissioned Service or Found Not Qualified for Promotion for First Lieutenant or Lieutenant (junior Grade)

Title 10 › Subtitle A — General Military Law › PART II — PERSONNEL › CHAPTER 36 — PROMOTION, SEPARATION, AND INVOLUNTARY RETIREMENT OF OFFICERS ON THE ACTIVE-DUTY LIST › SUBCHAPTER III — FAILURE OF SELECTION FOR PROMOTION AND RETIREMENT FOR YEARS OF SERVICE › § 630

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

Military department Secretaries can discharge active-duty officers who have under six years of commissioned service or who are second lieutenants or ensigns found not qualified for promotion, under Defense Secretary rules. Those officers must be discharged 18 months after they are first found not qualified unless they are promoted.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §630

Armed Forces, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Secretary of the military department concerned, under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense—
(1)may discharge any officer on the active-duty list who—
(A)has less than six years of active commissioned service; or
(B)is serving in the grade of second lieutenant or ensign and has been found not qualified for promotion to the grade of first lieutenant or lieutenant (junior grade); and
(2)shall, unless the officer has been promoted, discharge any officer described in paragraph (1)(B) at the end of the 18-month period beginning on the date on which the officer is first found not qualified for promotion.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2008—Pub. L. 110–181, § 503(a)(2), substituted “six years” for “five years” in section catchline. Par. (1)(A). Pub. L. 110–181, § 503(a)(1), substituted “six years” for “five years”. 2003—Par. (2). Pub. L. 108–136 substituted “paragraph” for “clause”. 2001—Pub. L. 107–107, § 505(d)(4)(A), struck out “regular” before “commissioned officers” in section catchline. Par. (1). Pub. L. 107–107, § 505(d)(2), struck out “regular” before “officer” in introductory provisions and before “grade of first lieutenant” in subpar. (B). 1984—Par. (2). Pub. L. 98–525 substituted “18-month” for “eighteen-month”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

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. § 630

Title 10, Armed Forces

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102