explore personal experiences, perceptions, descriptions, motivations, and opinions (be consistent; you discuss experience, perceptions and opinions in other areas, remove descriptions and motivations) of retired Airmen in the United States (Ohio, Texas, and California) to determine how the EPS can be revised to reflect an accurate representation of the leadership skills for enlisted Airmen.

Introduction
The military promotion system has been one of the most disputed and controversial conversations among Airmen in the Armed Forces that has plagued recruiting and retention efforts (Grisales, 2018). Often referred to as the Enlisted Promotion System (EPS), some retired Airmen feel that the promotion system is a wonderful system that the Air Force has put into place to ensure only the Air Force’s brightest Airmen are recognized and promoted, while other retired members believe that the EPS is very flawed and overlooks the Airmen that exhibit the major characteristics that it takes to be a leader; and in the end promoting those who are lacking in leadership ability (Leighton, 2019). (Leighton is an opinion site; he did not conduct research on the AF EPS, his example relates to a college professor and a Colonel in the AF; he does not mention the EPS at all. You should remove the comment about the EPS being very flawed and revise the statement by Leighton to reflect what he did say in his article; please support your statements with peer reviewed journal articles or government documents that are peer reviewed, not by someone’s opinion) In Chapter 1, the background of the problem, the problem and purpose of the study, followed by the populations and sample size used, significance and nature of the study, and the assumptions, limitations, and delimitations; to name a few sections will be presented.
Background of the Problem
Although there have been recent changes to the regulation AFI 26-2502 which cover Air Force Enlisted promotions, Airmen in the ranks of E-4 and E-5 remain using the Weighted Airman Promotion System (WAPS) and the Specialty knowledge test (SKT). Airmen the grade E-7 and E-8 will be elevated from the study (Air Force Instruction 36-2502, 2021).
Every year Congress passes the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to the Armed Forces which stipulates how many people can be on active duty (Powers, 2019). In the United States Air Force in particular, when a vacancy is available and assuming the individual is eligible for promotion, the next step in being promoted in the is determined by three components which are the individuals personnel file, and two different computer based written tests such as the Weighted Airman Promotion System (WAPS) and the specialty knowledge test (SKT) (cite). WAPS testing is what the USAF uses to identify Airmen who possess potential for promotion as a leader (Promotion Weighted Airman Promotion System, 2019). Airmen with the highest scores computed and scored by machines will be promoted (cite). Airmen who possess leadership and mentorship skills, along with other qualities that define a great leader and who mentor, train, and lead junior Airmen may get overlooked for promotion and sometimes even forced out of the military. (Corindia, 2018).
In support of the existence of a problem in this Air Force’s promotion system when making promotion decisions, Bigman (2018) stated that the use of machines by the USAF to calculate promotion skills lacks the ability to accurately select a leader by way of test scores. Bigman (2018) further explained because the lack of the ability to have authentic emotion, a computer’s computational capacities should be used for its intended purpose, which is to compute numbers (para. 5). Myers (2014) noted besides testing, using personnel data and documents can further guide imperfect leaders to discriminate based only the documented career events made available. Despite the changes in the size of Air Force personnel and operational requirements, the current promotion system has remained largely unchanged since it was developed more than 40 years ago which leads researchers to assess the current promotion system. According to Cohen (2021), there are some recent changes in the career development and promotion processes among the enlisted Airmen from the year 2022 which focuses on rewarding both experience and critical thinking. Additionally, these updates are also meant to offer more flexibility for Airmen who want to gain given jobs skills or even live in certain areas (Cohen, 2021). As indicated under the Airforce Personnel Center (2022), there are two supplemental promotion processes of enlisted Airmen including; in-system supplemental and senor non-commissioned officer supplemental board. The latter is applicable to staff sergeants (E-5) to senor master sergeants (E-8). On the other hand, SNCO supplemental board applies to members promotion-eligible to E-7, E-8 and E-9 (Airforce Personnel Center, 2022). On the other hand, Hadley (2021) suggests emphasized that the new suggested changes to promotion systems will primarily impact senor Airmen and staff sergeants and will begin with the 22E6 promotion cycle.
Problem Statement
The problem is the Enlisted Promotion System (EPS) is not always perceived by retired enlisted Airmen as an accurate representation of factors such as leadership skills, experience or critical thinking (Cohen, 2021). A limited number of ways to be promoted to the next higher enlisted rank in the USAF exists. Depending on the number of vacancies, Airmen can stay in the top five enlisted ranks for the remainder of a 20-year enlistment(cite). Smith (2019) explained that Congress determines the size of the active-duty force for each branch of the service and the percentage of the enlisted force that are allowed to serve in each pay grade, above the grade of E-4. What this means is for someone to move up to the next rank, someone must separate from the service, retire, or is removed by other means.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study is to explore personal experiences, perceptions, descriptions, motivations, and opinions (be consistent; you discuss experience, perceptions and opinions in other areas, remove descriptions and motivations) of retired Airmen in the United States (Ohio, Texas, and California) to determine how the EPS can be revised to reflect an accurate representation of the leadership skills for enlisted Airmen.