What do you really think about writing your own NCOERs?

Would it make even more of us float above the water instead of just walking on it. I received a NCOER from a Civilian once, He rated me fairly. The Unit SGM rewrote it and maxed me out. He told the Civilian that he was never to write anything about an NCO again without his approval.

I've written my own since I passed the 5 year mark. I had a supervisor on the verge of retirement that gave me the lamest EPR ever, so from that point I started writing my own, even when I wasn't asked. It helped last month when my boss told me "hey, work on your OPR, it's due to the CSS in 3 week." and I had it to him in 15 minutes since I knew when it was due. My goal is to write it so good that he doesn't want to change a thing on it, just sign it and keep it moving up the chain!

From what I've seen and heard from Officers, Warrants and Senior NCOs, "if you have a good NCO the NCOER will write itself". Sounds great and magical, but this does not mean that the NCO should or will write his/her NCOER. As a leader and rater, I believe it's your job to take care of this NCO and this falls righ in it. You should be able to account for the things the NCO has done or not done in that evaluation period, and you owe it to them to be able to write a good and fair evaluation. By all means, I support the idea of asking the NCO for a support form or bullets of things he/she accomplished and would like to reflect on the evaluation, take the input and added to yours and then write the eval. But don't lie to make it sound pretty, or try to "help" the NCO out. It's an evaluation, you as a rater write it, be honest about it and DON'T BE LAZY.

MSG I believe it is the wrong answer! Shows your NCO or rater is lazy.

I hate that we write our own fitness reports, evaluations, awards, etc. I have never had someone that works for me write their own as a result of my feelings on this. Of course I ask for brag sheets for specifics of things they think are important to include, but I write it myself. I also however have written every single one of my own. On one hand, no one knows you better than you, on another I feel that it sends an odd message when we write it ourselves. How can I be given feedback on what I wrote? The only potential room for a conversation are any marks that changed from what I submitted.

As an Infantry PSG my rater is a 2LT or 1LT who has a bunch of Army training under his belt and a 4 year degree but minimal experience with NCOERs. I wouldn't want to deprive him of the opportunity to learn by writing my NCOER; however, you can sure bet that I will have a hand in shaping it. Similarly, when I write an NCOER I like to keep the rated Soldier close to the process so that they can contribute but also so they see how the bullets are transformed from raw data into a presentable final product. I feel that under ideal circumstances it is a leadership failure for a rater to not write the NCOER. I completely understand writing your own NCOER though if you do not work closely with your rater during the rated period or you and your rater have an interpersonal issue that may lead to an unfair rating.

If the NCOER is supposed to be an evaluation and counseling tool how is it effective if you are writing your own? I always wanted the honest feedback so I could become a better Soldier and Leader.

Hard to say. Depends on the Situation. If you are working in an Independent Situation and your Next Up Superior is not from the same Career Field as you and doesn't know the correct terminology, I see nothing wrong with you providing him the wording.

Never did this in the military. But, worked for a company that used that system. I hated it. I am to hard a boss.

But, only on myself!

It is not appropriate, but I can see it being done. My question would be - are the monthly and quarterly counseling being done? If so, it should not be a big deal, if not it is a big leadership failure. My unit required the counseling statements to be attached to the NCOER when being sent forward to the Senior Rater and the Reviewer. This is also what was done when service award recommendations were sent forward. One thing that came out of this process was another avenue for our leadership to assist in the NCO education process.