U.S. CODE

U.S. Code

§ 42. Number and distribution of commissioned officers

(a) The total number of commissioned officers, excluding commissioned warrant officers, on active duty in the Coast Guard shall not exceed 6,700 in each fiscal year 2004, 2005, and 2006.

(b) The commissioned officers on the active duty promotion list shall be distributed in grade in the following percentages, respectively: rear admiral 0.375; rear admiral (lower half) 0.375; captain 6.0; commander 15.0; lieutenant commander 22.0. The Secretary shall prescribe the percentages applicable to the grades of lieutenant, lieutenant (junior grade), and ensign. The Secretary may, as the needs of the Coast Guard require, reduce the percentage applicable to any grade above lieutenant commander, and in order to compensate for such reduction increase correspondingly the percentage applicable to any lower grade.

(c) The Secretary shall, at least once each year, make a computation to determine the number of officers on the active duty promotion list authorized to be serving in each grade. The number in each grade shall be computed by applying the applicable percentage to the total number of such officers serving on active duty on the date the computation is made. In making computations under this section the nearest whole number shall be regarded as the authorized number in any case where there is a fraction in the final result.

(d) The numbers resulting from such computations shall be for all purposes the authorized number in each grade, except that the authorized number for a grade is temporarily increased during the period between one computation and the next by the number of officers originally appointed in that grade during that period and the number of officers of that grade for whom vacancies exist in the next higher grade but whose promotion has been delayed for any reason.

(e) Officers who are not included on the active duty promotion list, officers serving as extra numbers in grade under sections 432 and 433 ^[1] of this title, and officers serving with other departments or agencies on a reimbursable basis or excluded under the provisions of section 324 (d) of title 49, shall not be counted in determining authorized strengths under subsection (c) and shall not count against those strengths. The number of officers authorized to be serving on active duty in each grade of the permanent commissioned teaching staff of the Coast Guard Academy and of the Reserve serving in connection with organizing, administering, recruiting, instructing, or training the reserve components shall be prescribed by the Secretary.

[1] See References in Text note below.

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