Every branch decides the ratio of Flag to Field, Field to Company, Officer to Enlisted.
This shouldn't be a shocker, at least not for the AF. The AF is going through a RIF for O3 below, they are separating O4's who are not selected for O5 with less than 15 yrs., they are also doing a SERB for O5/O6's. That would mean they need to also hit the Flag officers.
An O6 cannot pin on until someone frees up that O7 position. An O5 can't take that O6 job until he is an O7, so on and so forth down the line.
The military is shrinking from a personnel perspective, and to keep a balance every level must be hit, and some must be hit harder than others.
What I found interesting in the article was that the O5 promotion board for O6 really took a hit. 36% compared to 91% of them making O5. That board must have been very cut-throat. Which leads me to wonder, if now the O4 to O5 will have a higher selection rate TY? If you only take @1/3 and force them to leave, that opens up a lot of slots for those behind them to fill.
I am curious to know from the Army posters here if they know what was the promotion rate LY for O4 to O5? Was it in the 60, 70, 80% or at that time was it lower because so many O5's were already on line? Is there an expectation that this yr will be a bumper crop for O5 selection due to the fact that they had a low O6 selection rate?