Tell that to the GEO3s in this thread who have been GEO3 since 2014, 2015, 2016. Everybody knows that once you are out of BT-ship, your deployment and workload is almost the same as geo4/5 HOTs. So if GEO3s demonstrate their ability to perform "at the next level" for years and years (which is the usual (non-)answer when you ask RO/SLs "how do I get promoted?"), why does the system retard their progression?