14 U.S.C. § 42 : US Code - Section 42: Number and distribution of commissioned officers

Search 14 U.S.C. § 42 : US Code - Section 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.