Commissioned officers: physical examination for promotion

§ 3309. Commissioned officers: physical examination for promotion (a) The President may prescribe a system of physical examination for all commissioned officers of the Regular Army in grades below brigadier general to determine their fitness for promotion in the regular Army. Each examination shall be given before the right to promotion accrues. (b) If the needs of the Army require that an officer entitled to promotion upon physical examination under subsection (a) be absent from a place where an examining board can be convened, the officer may be promoted subject to examination as soon as practicable. However, if he is thereafter examined and found physically disqualified for that promotion, and if the proceedings are approved by the Secretary of the Army, he shall be treated as if he had been examined before promotion and had failed. (c) If a commissioned officer fails to pass the physical examination and is reported unfit for promotion, the officer next below him on a recommended list for promotion who has passed the examination and is otherwise qualified snail be promoted.