Here is the problem, I do not know when his last oer was, or whether he is in line with negative marks on it, but at the same time supposed defense officials claim he was on the promotion list but he also just decided to retire.
Superior officers have a lot of say in promotion, quite often it is not the secdef or the potus blocking it, but rather the officers superior who are doing the grading. Again I can not say for sure if this happened as I do not know id he had an oer pertaining in the time frame for the promotion board, however even if the oer occurred after, failing for promotion 2 times in a row past a certain rank as officer makes you frozen in your rank, as by that point being passed up for promotion is means you are a screwup.
The oer is different between ranks, an o-1-o3 have a very lenient oer and can usually progress even with negative reviews, o-4 and o-5 are much more critical, and it generally gets more so the higher the rank until you climb high enough up the ladder. A lieutenant can screwup bad and still get promoted after all they are the privates of the officer world, by the time you hit major or lt colonel you are held to much higher standards.
It is very likely despite the claims from supposed un named defense officials that he did not make the promotion list, or that he did and knew even if he made promotion his career was over and that that promotion would be his last and he would spend the rest of his days in a desk position.
