Posted on Aug 27, 2015
SSgt Geospatial Intelligence
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Col Costin is about to be promoted from Colonel to 2-star General & placed as the chief of chaplains at AFHQ in the Pentagon. Have you ever heard of another promotion like this? I'm sure it has occurred, but this is the only one I can think of currently.

Congrats, sir!
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COL Strategic Plans Chief
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This makes me seriously question what was wrong with the 1 star Chaplains available. Don't know the force structure for the air force chaplains are though. Perhaps there aren't any 1 star chaplains. Don't know. In general...this is not a good idea. The transition to general officer is a big one. Jumping above other 1 stars for a 2 star billet is bad news in multiple ways...but there may not have been an option.
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MSgt Niclas Svensson
MSgt Niclas Svensson
9 y
What I read was the 1 star was too close to retirement to take it.
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COL Strategic Plans Chief
COL (Join to see)
9 y
Well, there you go. Replacing both at the same time give or take then. Probably going to maintain the 1 star long enough for continuity, but that's a heck of a move. Bad on the airforce for letting that sort of thing happen, but sometimes it's uncontrolable.
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Capt Chaplain
Capt (Join to see)
9 y
So, here's the scoop on that situation.
First off, for each service's Chaplain Corps there are only two AD General Officers--the 2-star Chief of Chaplains and the 1-star Deputy.
Next, in this case, both the Chief (Ch Stendahl) and the deputy (Ch Page) were at the mandatory retirement age. So Ch Page was not eligible for the second star.
This is similar to what happened with the Army's Chief of Chaplains earlier this year. He too got a double promotion.
I'm not sure, but I had been told that the retirement age for General Officers was lowered this year as a force-shaping measure. If that's the case, it would explain why Ch Page had been allowed to serve as deputy, even though he ended up "aging out" before he could become Chief.
This is unusual in recent history for the AF, but not unheard of. Before the outgoing Chief, there was a previous Deputy who retired as a 1-star.
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COL Strategic Plans Chief
COL (Join to see)
9 y
Well...there you go.
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LCDR Vice President
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Mike Borda was promoted from a one star to a three star one day. I got in trouble for asking him about it.
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MCPO Roger Collins
MCPO Roger Collins
>1 y
Can't imagine that. :)
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LCDR Sales & Proposals Manager Gas Turbine Products
LCDR (Join to see)
>1 y
Ha ha...I saw what you did there.
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LCDR Vice President
LCDR (Join to see)
>1 y
MCPO Roger Collins - Me getting in trouble or me being dumb enough to ask about it Master Chief? At the time I was only an E-5.
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MCPO Roger Collins
MCPO Roger Collins
>1 y
LCDR (Join to see) - Either would be applicable.
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PO1 Tony Holland
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Edited >1 y ago
Admiral Zumwalt went from O-6 to O-8 prior to becoming the youngest CNO ever to serve. He was the epitome of the Sailors' Admiral - much hated by the rest of the brass, though.
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LCDR Vice President
LCDR (Join to see)
>1 y
Funny sounds just like Adm Boorda's story and Zumwalt publicly came to his aid when they were criticizing him over hes combat "V"s
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MCPO Roger Collins
MCPO Roger Collins
>1 y
And many career sailors. He turned the Navy into a permissive organization. See what we have today? A bit off topic, but not a fan of zoomie. As for the topic, it seems that it is unusual, but not uncommon.
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