More than 100 Air Force staff sergeants who were initially told they had earned promotions to technical sergeant will no longer advance after the service discovered a scoring error on a key promotion exam.
The Air Force announced Tuesday that 135 security forces staff sergeants will be removed from the 2026 technical sergeant promotion list after officials found an outdated answer key had been used to score the Specialty Knowledge Test, one of the components used to determine promotions.
Following the review, the Air Force determined that a different group of 135 staff sergeants had earned the promotions. Those airmen are expected to be notified next week.
"We owe it to those affected to address it immediately," Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force David R. Wolfe said in a statement. "This is going to be hard for everyone impacted."
The Air Force emphasized that artificial intelligence played no role in the error, attributing the mistake solely to human error.
The Air Force said both the Air Education and Training Command and the Air Force Personnel Center have strengthened internal procedures to help prevent similar mistakes. A formal review of the incident is also underway.
"We owe it to our airmen to own the mistake and to take the necessary actions to not only make it right today, but to prevent future issues," Wolfe said.
Security forces personnel serve as the Air Force's military police. Recognizable by their dark blue berets, they are responsible for law enforcement, base defense and protecting critical military assets, including aircraft and nuclear weapons.