CAP Form 2A Personnel Action Request: Promotions and Transfers

CAP Form 2A is Civil Air Patrol’s “Request for and Approval of Personnel Actions,” and it covers more than most members expect: promotions, duty assignment or status changes, service ribbon awards, unit transfers, and retirement all run through the same form. The current version is dated October 2008 and is available from the CAP National Headquarters forms library under the Publications tab at gocivilairpatrol.com.¹ To submit it correctly, you need to know which section applies to your action, meet the eligibility rules in the governing regulation, and route the form through the right approval level.

What the Form Handles

Form 2A is divided into five numbered action sections. Pick the one that matches what you are requesting:²

Section II — Duty Assignment or Status Change, under CAPR 35-1. Also used for promotions, which have no dedicated checkbox.
Section III — Award of Activity and Service Ribbons, including the Command Service Ribbon, Find Ribbon, Disaster Relief Ribbon, Encampment Ribbon, and others listed on the form.
Section IV — Transfer between units, under CAPM 39-2.
Section V — Retirement, under CAPR 39-1.
Section VI — Remarks, for explanations, attachments, and the Transfer of Duties certification when it applies.

Promotions are the most common reason members fill out this form, and because there is no promotion box, they are recorded as status changes in Section II with the eligibility rules of CAPR 35-5 applied.

Section I: Personal Data

Every Form 2A opens with the same identifying block. The fields have to match your eServices record exactly, or the form will bounce:³

Last name, first name, middle initial as they appear in your membership record.
CAPSN, the six-digit serial number assigned at enrollment (what most members call their CAPID).⁴
Current grade.
Charter number of your assigned unit. Get this wrong and your paperwork routes to the wrong squadron.
Current duty assignment.
Wing designation and unit name.

Cross-check every entry against your eServices profile before you sign.

Requesting a Promotion

Officer and NCO appointments and promotions are governed by CAPR 35-5, and you must meet its requirements before your form can be approved.⁵

Duty Performance Track

The standard path combines a professional development level with time in grade:⁵

Second Lieutenant: Level I and Part 1 of Level II, plus six months as a CAP member.
First Lieutenant: Level II, plus 18 months as a Second Lieutenant or Technical Flight Officer.
Captain: Level III, plus 30 months as a First Lieutenant or Senior Flight Officer.
Major: Level IV, plus four years as a Captain.
Lieutenant Colonel: Level V, plus five years as a Major.

Colonel promotions are handled separately. They are temporary and contingent on satisfactory completion of a specific assignment, and the member’s commander recommends the promotion to the National Commander.⁵

Time-in-grade cannot be rounded. Sixteen months as a Second Lieutenant is not 18, and the form will come back. Confirm your date of grade in eServices first.

Special and Professional Appointments

Outside the duty performance track, CAPR 35-5 provides for special appointments (commanders, former cadets, former military officers and NCOs, and officers of the Public Health Service or NOAA Commissioned Corps) and professional appointments (chaplains, legal officers, health services personnel, aerospace education officers, and finance officers).⁶

Special appointment candidates must be at least 21, be a high school graduate, complete Level I and Part 1 of Level II, and be recommended by their immediate superior and unit commander.⁵

Professional appointees also start with Level I and Part 1 of Level II. After that, the paths differ: health services personnel and professional educators serving as aerospace education officers are exempt from further training requirements for promotion; chaplains and legal officers follow criteria specific to their fields in CAPR 35-5; finance officers meet the standard duty performance requirements for later promotions.⁵ Health services members must provide current, unrestricted licensure or certification to their commander.⁷

NCO Grades

Duty performance promotions do not apply to NCO grades.⁵ CAP officer members with prior military NCO service transition using a conversion chart that cross-references their highest former military grade (E-4 through E-8), CAP time, professional development level, and current CAP officer grade. That process uses a CAP Form 2 through the chain of command and does not require a promotion board.⁸

Attachments for a Promotion

Send the packet in one piece. Attach proof of your professional development completions, any required licensure or certification, and evidence of time in grade. Missing documentation is the most common reason approvers return promotion requests.

Requesting a Transfer

Section IV moves you from one unit to another by charter number. One detail catches people out: the gaining unit commander initiates the form, not the member and not the losing unit. Enter the losing unit’s charter number in the FROM field and the gaining unit’s in the TO field.³

Once the transfer appears on the Monthly Membership Listing, the losing unit commander has 60 days to notify HQ CAP/DP if they disapprove. An objection within that window voids the transfer and returns you to your original unit.³ Coordinate with both units before the form goes in.

Requesting Retirement

Section V records eligibility and service dates under CAPR 39-1. Enter the start and end dates of your CAP service. If your service was not continuous, the form requires you to explain the gap in the Remarks section.⁹

Duty Assignment Changes and the Reverse Side

When Section II is used for a duty assignment change, you also have to complete the Transfer of Duties and Responsibilities block on the reverse side. Both the outgoing and incoming officer sign, print name and grade, and date the block, certifying that all CAP property, assets, and records tied to the duty are properly accounted for.³ Leaving the reverse blank when it applies is a routine reason forms come back.

For standard duty assignments, the Tennessee Wing notes that the Duty Assignment module in eServices is often faster than paper, because it grants the member immediate access to the eServices applications tied to the new duty. A paper form sent to National Headquarters delays those permissions.¹⁰

The Approval Chain

Every Form 2A carries a certification statement and signature from the requester, plus typed name, grade, and unit charter number. From there, the form has signature blocks for Flight or Squadron Commander, Group Commander, Wing Commander, and Region Commander. Not every action needs all four.² For promotions, the approving authority depends on grade:⁵

Second Lieutenant and First Lieutenant: Squadron Commander.
Captain: Group Commander, or Wing Commander if the wing has no group structure.
Major: Wing Commander.
Lieutenant Colonel: Region Commander.
Colonel: Senior Advisory Group for promotions not tied to a specific duty assignment; otherwise the National Commander.
Brigadier General and Major General: Board of Governors.

One override worth knowing: the Wing Commander is the approving authority for all professional appointment promotions and all group and squadron commander promotions, regardless of grade.⁵ A chaplain being appointed as a Captain routes to the Wing Commander even though a duty performance Captain would stop at Group.

How to Submit

You have two options. The first is digital, through the eServices portal at capnhq.gov, where you upload the completed form and any attachments and can track the request as it moves through each approval level.¹¹

The second is a completed PDF or printed form handed to your unit’s personnel officer or squadron commander. If you go this route, capture all required signatures, keep a dated copy for yourself, and let your local commander forward the form up to the required approval level.

Mistakes That Get the Form Returned

Using an outdated version. The footer of the current form reads “CAP FORM 2A, OCT 08 — PREVIOUS EDITION WILL NOT BE USED.” Anything older is rejected outright.³
Personal data that does not match eServices. Even a middle initial mismatch causes delays.
Wrong charter number, which routes the form to the wrong unit.
Blank reverse side on a duty assignment change.
Submitting a promotion request before meeting time-in-grade or professional development requirements.
A transfer initiated by the member or the losing unit rather than the gaining commander.
Retirement service gaps left unexplained in the Remarks section.

Pull the current form from the CAP publications page, check your eligibility against CAPR 35-5 for promotions or the relevant regulation for whatever action you are requesting, and verify every field against eServices before you sign.¹ The paperwork itself is short; the work is in qualifying and routing it correctly.

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Civil Air Patrol. Forms
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Civil Air Patrol. Civil Air Patrol Form 2A
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Civil Air Patrol. Request for and Approval of Personnel Actions (CAP Form 2A)
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Civil Air Patrol. Help for New Cadets
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Civil Air Patrol. CAP Officer and NCO Appointments and Promotions
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Tennessee Wing Civil Air Patrol. Processing Promotions
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Civil Air Patrol. Health Services Program Officer Qualifications
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Civil Air Patrol. Office of the National Commander Civil Air Patrol
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Civil Air Patrol. Request and Approval of Personnel Actions
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Tennessee Wing Civil Air Patrol. Common Personnel Actions
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Civil Air Patrol. eServices