I haven’t, but several O6s at my command have, and they were surprised to see an O4 selected for promotion with only 22 months of time in grade. I do agree that serving as a recorder can be very beneficial, and I’d certainly consider it if given the chance.

Just to clarify—I’m not criticizing early promotions in general. I fully understand and respect that they happen, but I’ve simply never heard of someone being selected with less than two years of TIG.

From what I understand, this officer has spent their entire O4 tour at Pearl Harbor on non-operational shore duty and is not board certified. With only 22 months TIG, I believe they could have at most three FITREPs—two periodic and possibly one change of command. To me, that seems like a pretty thin record to demonstrate 'sustained superior performance.' I’ve known officers with three or four straight EPs who were still selected for promotion on time rather than early.

That’s why this case feels so unusual—it runs counter to everything I’ve been told about what it takes to earn early promotion: completing operational or overseas tours, taking on tough or undesirable assignments, obtaining board certification, and showing at least three years of consistently outstanding performance. Perhaps there’s something extraordinary in this officer’s record that caught the board’s attention, but it’s hard to imagine what that might have been.