• Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?

    Go here:

    Edit Account Details and Profile

Lineal Control Number

gtxc2001

See what the monkey eats, then eat the monkey
pilot
Contributor
I was looking at the July '06 blue book, and noticed that a trend I started watching last year hasn't changed. I realize that lineal standing won't (from what I've been told) make a differance until its time for selection to Captain, but I want to make sure this isn't an issue I need to start working on now.

Since I graduated last year, I have been listed seperately (with the same date of rank, though) from the rest of my classmates. They are listed at the top of the list of those commissioned in May 2005, in order of standing at the time of graduation. I, on the other hand, am listed alphabeticaly with a lineal number considerably farther down the list. I didn't think it was an issue, becasue my understanding was that we would have new lineal numbers assigned based on performance at TBS, but six months later, the blue book says the same thing.

I'd hate to think that a clerical error could delay advancement, but my instinct is to sit tight and wait a bit longer before poking deeper into this. I was just curious if any of you that have been around longer than me could clarify if/when the lineal numbers will be adjusted for TBS and whether this is something I should attempt to have corrected.

edit: Having re-read the cover letter, I'm guessing that although I've passed the time on active service requirement for assignment of a new number, they haven't assigned any new numbers to personnel with commissioning dates of May '05 or later.
 

Banjo33

AV-8 Type
pilot
Lineal standing (from TBS) didn't appear to play that big of a role in my promotion to 0-3 (that I'm aware of). Most of the Marines from my TBS company promoted before me, even though I was top third upon completion. Matter of fact, I was near the bottom of the selection list. What I think does matter though, is commissioning date. I was commissioned at the end of August, where most of my peers were commissioned May-July. Curious as to others experiences as well.
 

gtxc2001

See what the monkey eats, then eat the monkey
pilot
Contributor
That's interesting. I guess date of rank trumps other considerations in determining lineal numbers, but that really seams to negate the point of using TBS standing. I'm under the impression that if a Delta company Lt and a Fox company Lt had the same date of rank, the Delta Co. Lt would have a higher lineal number than the Fox Co. Lt, regardless of class standing. On the other hand, if number 245 out of the company commissioned in MArch, and number one comissioned in April, number 245 would promote to Captain ahead of the honor guy. Seeing as how TBS is really the starting point (some guys were over 6 months out of OCS before starting TBS) for the career, it seems sort of odd that you could be at the same point in your career but considerably farther down the lineal list than someone in your company that you outperformed at TBS if they commissioned ahead of you.
 

squeeze

Retired Harrier Dude
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
Stop trying to use reason and logic to figure out Marine Corps decisions. You will fail 99 times out of 100.
 

phrogdriver

More humble than you would understand
pilot
Super Moderator
Realize first that a lineal number and its surly cousin, date of rank, play virtually no role in WHETHER you get promoted, just WHEN you get promoted. Only in the sense that you might be bumped forward or back into a more competitive year for promotions will these make a difference in promotability.

Date of rank is a bigger deal than lineal number. Notice that when a promotion board message comes out it will say something like, "Senior officer in zone: Maj Jack Hoff DOR 1 Jan 99; Junior officer in zone Maj Heywood Jamblome 1 Jun 2001." The determine whether you were in zone for promotion, you would first check your date of rank against these guys, then if your DOR was the same as the senior or junior man, it would determine whether or not you got in that board.

The board won't really care what the lineal number is once they have their list of candidates for promotion. They make their selections as they choose, then the most senior guys by DOR and THEN lineal number get promoted first, then the next junior guys, and so on. The most junior guy on one board will only beat the senior guy on the next year's to promotion by a month or so.

The only way to really shake things up is for some guys to fail selection to the next higher rank and others to get deep selected "below zone." That drags guys into different DORs than they would ordinarily have, and hence changes lineal standings. Getting selected "below zone" is very rare. When it happens it means there are enough qualified guys in the zone for promotion. Officers dont generally fail to start making promotion until LtCol, which shakes a fair number out.

Long story short, there probably isn't an error, but if you think it is jacked up, don't be afraid to ask. The whole bit about TBS determining your promotions for the rest of your life was really oversold in retrospect. By being a little ahead of some guys with the same DOR, it got me promoted one month earlier than them, since I beat them to that year's promotion board. They were the most senior on the next years, so pinned on right after me. Good for me, maybe, but not of earth-shattering importance.
 
Top