The U.S. Air Force announced the promotion of more than 6,500 staff sergeants to technical sergeant in the 2026 promotion cycle, a boost in the past five years’ selection rate.
The service selected 6,668 staff sergeants to become technical sergeant out of 25,080 eligible airmen, according to a Monday Air Force Personnel Center statement, for a selection rate of 26.56%.
Senior officials were set to receive access to the select lists through the Virtual Enlisted Promotion Release application Tuesday. The 26E6 promotion list will be made publicly available Thursday morning on the Personnel Center’s website.
The 2026 promotion cycle demonstrates an over 1% increase from last year when officials selected 7,884 staff sergeants to promote out of 30,776 eligible, for a rate of 25.62% in 2025.
Previously, the highest number of airmen selected for this promotion was in 2019, when 9,467 staff sergeants were selected, and the number eligible was 29,328. The number chosen dropped by over 1,200 airmen in 2020 before it increased again to 9,422 in 2021.
Although the number of airmen selected reached its peak in 2019 with a selection rate of 32.28%, the 2026 promotion cycle marks the highest rate since 2021’s 26.94%.
Over the past five years, the promotion’s selection rate ranged from as low as 14.5% in 2023 to an increase to 25.62% in 2025. This year’s rate is the highest by over 1%.
The news of E-6’s promotions follows the designation of some active-duty officers to majors, technical sergeants to master sergeants and active-duty majors to lieutenant colonel.
To be eligible for technical sergeant, airmen must serve for a minimum of five years in active duty, have held the rank of staff sergeant for 23 months and achieve a 7-skill level, which is a craftsman designation.
Generally, higher retention rates lower promotion rates since it boosts competition as more service members choose to stay in their current roles.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, recruitment numbers dwindled, but after the pandemic, services across the military saw a large increase due to economic uncertainty and unemployment rates.
In a May 2024 letter to U.S. lawmakers, Lt. Gen. Caroline M. Miller, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services, said that officer and enlisted personnel retention rates were declining. She emphasized that it was normal and merely a return to pre-COVID “historic average rates.”
Recently, the Air Force has propelled its efforts to retain airmen with critical skills through monetary incentives and select programs, but it also cut the number of fields eligible for reenlistment bonuses for fiscal 2026.
Cristina Stassis is a reporter covering stories surrounding the defense industry, national security, military/veteran affairs and more. She previously worked as an editorial fellow for Defense News in 2024 where she assisted the newsroom in breaking news across Sightline Media Group.
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