[HenryLeeII]

I was talking with two people - one a very senior Army Chief Warrant Officer in the counter-intell field, and the other a recently-retired NSA guy. The CWO had a run-in with her several years ago at A.P. Hill in Virginia, when she tried blaming his CI unit of not giving her unit proper training in the handling of prisoners during a field exercise. Fortunately, he had all the necessary documentation to disprove her. The "frocked" rank is the same as a battlefield promotion as I understand it, but I'm not a military vet so you'll have to pardon my lack of knowing the exact military terminology. I think she got her star under Clinton, or at least the paperwork was started under them. Either way it doesn't really matter - the Army Reserve gets pressure from Congress and others to make sure there is "equality" in the ranks.

[leadpenny]

When the BG promotion list comes out, those on it are to be promoted sequentiality. That's how date-of-rank comes into play. Frocking is done when someone is put into a job that calls for a specific rank. Her date of rank would still fall in line with the sequence of the promotion list.

[HenryLeeII]

Okay, I spoke with my source - a very senior chief warrant officer I'm very familiar with and trust implicity, who has had direct dealings with Karpinski, and what he said is that being "frocked" is passing a promotions board and being considered "promotable" but not yet being given the rank officially. Also, depending on the circumstances, the frocked officer can wear the insignia of the higher rank and be referred to such, for a given period of time. So, she is technically a "colonel (P)" - "colonel promotable." This is similar to the "battlefield promotions" you hear about when someone shoots from major to colonel to general in a matter of weeks or months, and then comes back down to a lower rank after the war or campaign ends.