Air Force pulls 135 promotions after grading mistake [View all]

Source: USA Today

July 8, 2026, 7:51 p.m. ET


More than 100 U.S. Air Force airmen who thought they'd been promoted are now being told they didn't make the cut after the service uncovered a scoring error on a key advancement exam, forcing officials to revoke 135 promotions and award 135 others. An outdated answer key threw off the results of a Security Forces promotion exam, prompting the Air Force to rescore more than 2,200 tests.

The review found that 135 airmen were wrongly told they had earned promotions, while another 135 who should have been selected were left off the list. "We owe it to those affected to address it immediately," Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force David R. Wolfe said in a statement on July 7. "This is going to be hard for everyone impacted."

The Air Force said the error affected only security forces personnel competing for promotion to technical sergeant and no other career fields were impacted. Officials stressed that the mistake was caused by human error and not by artificial intelligence. The service called it an "isolated and highly unprecedented anomaly."

To correct the issue, the Air Force rescored every eligible Security Forces exam using a validated answer key. Of the 586 airmen selected for promotion in the career field, 451 will keep their promotions, while 135 will lose their line numbers and 135 newly identified airmen will be added to the list. The total number of promotions remains unchanged.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/07/08/air-force-promotions-revoked-scoring-error-135-airmen/90855816007/