A battlefield promotion, or field promotion, is an advancement in military rank that occurs while a service member is deployed in combat.
Battlefield promotions recognize exceptional leadership or courage under fire and bypass the usual procedures for advancement. The most consequential form is the battlefield commission, which raises an enlisted soldier to commissioned-officer rank, a path otherwise closed to regular advancement. The practice has roots in the medieval custom of knighting or ennobling common soldiers for heroism in battle.
In the United States, more than 31,000 service members received battlefield commissions between 1917 and 1973, across the two World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam; Audie Murphy, promoted from staff sergeant to second lieutenant in World War II, is among the best known. The US Army discontinued the practice after Vietnam and reinstated a limited form in 2009, and such promotions remain rare and tightly regulated. Outside the military, the phrase is used figuratively for rapid advancement earned by performing under pressure.