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?