[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.

[Positive]

Hi - You caused me to google "frocked," I found slight differences in what your friend told you.

According to what I found, when a Colonel is nominated by the President for promotion to Brigadier General or Generals are nominated for additional stars and passed by the Congress, they are called Brigadier General Select or Brigadier General Frocked. They are given a "line number" which specifies when the promotion will take effect. Often until that date they are pinned with their star(s) and addressed as General but they continue to receive Colonel pay and officially their rank is Colonel(P).

I was in the military and this is completely different from a "field promotion." In fact I don't believe there have been any field promotions since WWII. Those are given as implied in the field and usually only when the manpower resources are being depleted.