Writing your own evaluation (NCOER/OER)? Is it really THAT bad?

I personally feel that if I have to write my own evaluation then the rater is derelict in their duties. 90% of the time the rater and senior rater are officers who are supposed to be educated and therefore should be able to write a grammatically correct eval. In the off chance that they are not then yes, I feel it's my duty to assist in that area. If they forgot to mention key events that would improve the rating then I should also assist, but that also shows me that they failed to track my performance.
Nothing is more irritating to me than to hear a rater ask someone " what have you done"? It is our duty to track things, rough copy or draft, make notes so that come eval time we have the meat and potatoes.
How many NCO's have signed a falsified document? You know the NCOER with BS quarterly counseling dates that were never performed? That alone goes to the integrity of both rater and rated and puts the reviewer in question also for failing to verify as they are supposed to do.
Perhaps my desire to do things by the book and not be a "yes man" has prevented me from moving up as fast as others but in the end I will still have my integrity and I'm good with that.

What? Never... I hated it, because I would never give myself due credit...

MSgt Quick,

I see you are currently stationed at Ft Bliss Tx. That was my last duty station before leaving the Army in Jan 2001. I was assigned to D Battery, 2-43, 108th BDE, HQ Plt. Worked as a 63B in the motorpool.

You know, in my personal experience as an enlisted leader, Army and Air Force, enlisted evaluation reports are a pain to complete no matter how well in advance you have started or how well you may feel you have written them. Whether the evaluation is yours or your subordinates there are people within your chain that are involved in reviewing them that will feel compelled to make some kind of recommendation before the evaluation is finally put to bed.

I don't recall if the Army was this way so please correct me if I wrong, however, in the Air Force it was against regulations to write your own EPR. It was however, a "rule of thumb" that you do and for the very reasons you stated. Busy, busy, busy. So, who better to efficiently write about all the outstanding things you have done for God and country.

In the Air FOrce, you could "contribute" and shoot your list of "at a boys"/bullets but the odds of everyone in your chain having the same writing style as you are slim to none and would for the most part ensue a back and forth match between raters until everyone but the supervisor it seemed we re happy with the outcome. :) Of course, I am speaking about my experience. Some other folks may have had the fortunate experience to only have to resubmit once due to some grammar error if that. Thoughts?

In a word, NO. But, if it is not going to happen, and or if your rater cannot spell or put together one coherent sentence, you will be better off writing your own. Remember, he or she is your rater, not the other way around. Otherwise, you could give them a needs improvement on "Competence".

Yep, doesn't everybody? No I get you point SFC Matthew B. and yes it is unfortunate but there are plenty of reasons and excuses. I worked in a very specialized field and while I worked with my fellow CTs I may have been the only CTO so who better to know exactly what I do. How could my CTA (Admin) really write my MSA for 21 years of service when he had only been with me the last 3 years before I retired, of course I had to put the meat in it but I think you have a very valid point that leaders should be more aware of what their troops do and have the Administrative Skills to present it well on Paper.

I have been actively involved with my NCOER since becoming an NCO. I didn't do much other than provide information in what I had accomplished In the past year. I help with formatting and it's been a joint effort between my rater, and myself. But I have also drafted a rough working copy and provided it to my rater to help then recall what had transpired throughout the year. I will admit that if support forms were used like they should be, and quarterly counselings were done like they should be, this wouldn't be necessary.

I refuse to write my own awards. I don't feel right about it. I've been told to several times, but never have. Might explain why I don't have bookoos of awards.... But the ones I have mean a lot because the person who submitted them felt I was deserving.

More times than I can count.

Yes for the E4 Eval and NCOER, and surprisingly for my entire 9 years of service I've never been recommended for an award either. Majority of the NCOs I ever had were beyond lazy and never even bothered to write up supporting documentation in order to supplement to get one. I try and keep track of all the over the top stuff I do, but every time I bring it up to my section leader, he just blows it off. Being your own advocate on this stuff doesn't always seem to work, even if you do the work for them. And since I am on permanent profile for a severe injury, I can't get points in PT for promotion. And I would rather see if I can supplement some points with awards in order to be able to compete with everyone else. So far my career is stagnant due to the above issues.

I wrote every single NCOER and gave them to my rater for input. &nbsp;There was some back and forth but basically my words were the ones that created the base. &nbsp;You should be actively involved in your NCOER, it's your career after-all. &nbsp;You should also provide suggested senior rater comments in the email. &nbsp;<div><br></div><div>As far as awards - no. &nbsp;</div>

Sorry... what is NCOER?

I've had to write the citation for my award once the recommendation was approved.  Also have had to write my evaluations many-a-time.

I have a problem with it because first and foremost, you wouldn't ask a Soldier, E4 and below to write their own monthly counseling.  If any one who does that is just a lazy leader in my book.  And the second reason I have a problem with it is, every time the NCOER is viewed by CSM, he wants explanations on why you deserve what you get and the individual who is suppose to do the NCOER can't give that CSM the reason correctly, only the writer can with detailed explanation.

Just to recap my previous comment, i do agree that senior raters are supposed to write your NCOER but true, they "may miss something" so there is your time to bring up counseling forms, awards and other documentation that supports those bullets. For Gods sake, use bullets that are original, not those generic ones. I sometimes though that we were told to make our own NCOERs because we were being "trained" to do so, sort of a NCODP. Set your Soldiers for success, not for failure, they are a reflection of you, the senior NCO.

I don't believe that writing your own NCOER would be fair. I can understand checking it over for mistakes in grammar, punctuation, and missing credentials, but writing your own would allow some to make themselves sound better than they may actually be. No offense intended, but this could actually happen, and probably would in some cases. This is my opinion and may not agree with others and for that I apologize.

In a perfect world all raters would diligently do their jobs on time and without prejudice or bias, but we don't live in a perfect world. We live in a world where there are few ethical and honest leaders. The reality is that we have cut staffing to the bone and put more and more responsibility on the few that remain. People are busting their ass to keep their heads above water so many NCOER s don't get done on time and if you care about your own career you are going to write a shell and present it to your rater to complete it. That's just how it gets done these days, although I do still write NCOERs for my Soldiers I know many others who don't.

If your rater is too busy, too easily angered that you find a mistake in the form, or feels it is a burden than they should not be a leader. 

I remember being a brand new "buck" and ahead of my first annual being told by my first line, "Write me your NCOER, I want it by next week."  I had no idea where to even start.  I didn't have the opportunity to ask for clarification due to field time, so I just filled in the admin data and asked what else I could do, on the day he wanted it.  I listened to 10 minutes of grousing about how it was my career, and I needed to take control of it.  After asking for help, I felt it was given grudgingly.  I don't know what else I could have done four evaluations ago...I've wised up since then, and am much better at writing them, but I still feel like I'm being cheated of an honest assessment when I do it.

I dont know about all of you but I do write me NCOERs. Everything I do writes my NCOER. Every Soldier I take care of writes my NCOERs. The more I take care of my Soldiers the more they take care of me and my NCOERs reflect.

I believe that writing your own NCOER would make it bias, and what happens if one is terrible at writing an NCOER but a great Soldier vs a terrible soldier that can write a great NCOER. I know that it always boils down to the raters agreeing on what has made it to the document, but if you write your own you may not realize your own deficiencies or choose to omit them.