Posted on Dec 31, 2013

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

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As long as your rater/senior rater agree with it (by digitally signing it), why do some feel it's 'taboo' to write your own evaluation? Here's some (hypothetical) reasoning: Rater takes criticism personally - When we sit down to discuss my evaluation, I point out misspellings or grammatical inaccuracies; I don't want this held against me during a promotion board, but my senior rater takes this personally and gets upset. It's worked this far, why change it? - I've been promoted on a previous centralized promotion board (or two) and I've read all the promotion board AARs to keep myself current on what's being looked at as higher importance. Too Busy - My rater is too busy or I don't want to be a burden.  I think it's my career and I feel a certain obligation to 'write it up' for my senior rater for review it and provide all necessary documentation to justify the quantifiable ratings. Not an articulate writer - I'm a much better writer than my senior rater.  I have a degree in English and my senior rater doesn't have a degree.  I'm not looking to use fancy words, just words that appear on an educated level greater than high school.

Posted in these groups: 1efa5058

NCOER

OER

Military Career

Posted 12 y ago

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Responses: 63

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PO1 (Join to see)

Posted >1 y ago

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.

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PO1 (Join to see)

>1 y

I also like to have my junior Sailors sumbit their inputs to me for awards. It's good practice for when they will need to recommend someone for an award. It doesn't happen all the time, and their are many instances where we don't want the member to know they are getting awarded.

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SSG (Join to see)

Posted >1 y ago

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.

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SSG (Join to see)

>1 y

True, but if you write you own NCOER and its too good. The CSM will call in the individual who was suppose to write the NCOER and ask them why did you write NCOER like he was perfect. I have personally witnessed that before.

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SSG Rafael Rodriguez

Posted >1 y ago

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.

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SPC Charles Brown

Posted >1 y ago

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.

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1SG Jeffery Bertram

Posted >1 y ago

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.

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SSG (Join to see)

>1 y

1SG,

I have to disagree with you on your statement, "people are busting their ass to keep their head above water and so many NCOERs 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." As leaders we are suppose to lead, as I stated on a earlier post, "you wouldn't make an E-4 or below write their own monthly counseling." And if the subordinate writes his/her own NCOER, then I feel the Rater should honor it and not tell the subordinate to change a few things to downgrade their own NCOER that they created. I have always lived by, you can delegate authority but not responsibility. The rater should do what they are responsible for and do their subordinates NCOER in a timely manner. If not and we continue to let subordinates write their own NCOERs, then we are leaving room for new standards to be set in place without authorization and goes against the responsibilities of the individual who is suppose to be rating their subordinate. Also, the main reason this should not be happening is because integrity. You compromise your integrity when you tell your supervisor I'm working on so and so's NCO, when your supervisor ask you about that Soldiers NCOER.

Responsibility is a unique concept. It can only reside and inhere in a single individual. You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. Even if you do not recognize it or admit its presence, you cannot escape it. If responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion, or ignorance, or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else.

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SSG Dave Rogers

Posted >1 y ago

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 have not always liked everything my rater has put in my NCOER, maybe I felt that it was a little lacking in some ways, but it is not the raters fault, it is the system. A few leaders I had in my time were ahead of the game, they would write my NCOER, and also have me write one, they would compare them, than talk about them. They would ask me why I felt I deserved a certain rating or did not deserve something else. This was not only for me to get a true sense of what I or they thought of my work, but to help me learn the process for when I started giving NCOER's to others.

But I will say this, if your NCOER is lacking it may not be the rater, you just may not be that high speed, if you want to insure you get a good eval do a great job. Dont just do what is asked of you, find ways to make the unit better, help the unit get good inspections, talk to your leader about ways you can improve as a soldier and a leader, take courses, improve your education, keep your area neat and organized.. in other words set the example for others to follow, and believe me if your rater is lacking someone in your command will notice.

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SSG(P) (Join to see)

Posted >1 y ago

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.

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SFC (Join to see)

Posted >1 y ago

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.

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SSG (Join to see)

Posted >1 y ago

MSG (P) Quick,

I beg to differ, that is why they created the

NCOER counseling and support form. You input
what you want to see on your NCOER. Now does this form actually get used, not really.
I see it more on the officer side where they use their support fort, APFT Card
to evaluate their APFT score and height and weight. Then sometimes they will
ask for a Military Biography and/or most recent NCOER to see what kind of NCOER
they are. I feel that using an old NCOER to evaluate an NCO is wrong, because
what’s to say the old rater hate this particular NCO or they were buddies and
chalked him up to be the best NCO in the army. As a Rater I feel you should
know your Soldier and be able to talk about him as if he was your brother. Now
in the reserves it’s hard, because sometimes you see this Soldier once a month
and that’s it.

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SSG (Join to see)

Edited >1 y ago

Posted >1 y ago

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.

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MSgt (Join to see)

Posted 12 y ago

When you are in a toxic leadership environment, you would be lucky to write your own - so as to have something worthwhile possibly make it through.

Most of the time I was in the service, my EPR's would be done way past their due date each year and there were no quarterly reviews being done on me either (so I never knew what to expect each year on my EPR - I could think everything was good and have something crazy on the yearly EPR).

I never got my 2012 EPR or a final EPR for 2013 before I retired - but at least I always made sure my personnel I supervisved got their quarterly reviews and EPR's on time each year.

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SSG (Join to see)

Posted 12 y ago

I don’t think you should write your own NCOER. This is a
review of how you are doing. How can you effectively gage how your leaders
think you are doing? Your senior rater and reviewer have to look at it as well
so there is little chance you will try to take credit for things you have not
done. It is your rater’s responsibility to write your NCOER and if they need
help with the wording, they can use the resources out there. I also believe that you can get practice
without doing your own report. Senior NCOs are there to mentor junior NCOs. I
would not have my soldiers counseling themselves.

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CW2 Joseph Evans

12 y

Funny story.

Company supply SGT had a squared away SPC he was responsible for counseling. Counselings were always on time, professional and neat looking. 1SG calls his supply NCO in for his quarterly and comments about his leadership skills and the professionalism of his counselling forms.

Said NCO says, "1SG, she counsels herself, I just sign them when she hands them to me."

Young Soldier was fast tracked.

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SSG (Join to see)

12 y

There are definately soldiers that are completely capable of writing counselings as well as performing the other duties charged to their leaders and those soldiers should be recognized. I think that it is best for the person in the leadership position to be the one putting time in to counselings and other aspects of training soldiers.

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