Army Puts New NCOER On Hold Till 2016
Army News Service
June 24, 2015
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The debut of the new noncommissioned officer evaluation report, or NCOER, expected as a cure for rating inflation, has been pushed to the new year.
During an Army birthday town hall meeting with Soldiers on June 4, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel A. Dailey said the new NCOER, which was originally slated for release in October, would instead be pushed to 2016. The additional time will allow for a fine-tuning of the process and procedures for tracking rater profiles to ensure Soldiers have a fair chance at promotions and prevent rating inflation.
During a town hall meeting at Fort Meade, Md., Dailey answered questions from more than 100 Soldiers. He also answered questions, which came via social media and pre-recorded video message, from Soldiers throughout the world.
In terms of training military human resources specialists on how the new NCOER will work — that training has been completed, Dailey said. Those human resources Soldiers will in turn train their units on how to use the new NCOER web system and forms.
One of the biggest changes to the new NCOER, Dailey said, is that it introduces rater accountability as a way to address the issue of rating inflation. The NCOER was both “out of date” with Army doctrine and subject to rating inflation, he said.
“We have to get at that,” Dailey said. “We have to make sure, that our people we ask to run promotion boards, have the full capability to understand and know who is best for promotion. This new NCOER is going to help do that.”
The sergeant major of the Army said that for years, those who have rated Army officers have been held accountable for how many they rate as being “the best.” The new NCOER introduces a similar concept for enlisted Soldiers.
Under the current NCOER, he said, “Everybody in the Army had the potential to get a number 1 block. In most cases, that’s what happened.”
When every Soldier is rated as the best, Dailey said, it makes it difficult to decide who gets promoted.
“With a rater profile, your rater is going to be limited on the total number ‘1 blocks’ they can give out,” he said.
The new standard for Soldiers, Dailey said, will be “fully qualified.” Only those exceeding the standard will be marked higher. He told Soldiers that those who rate “fully qualified” will still be getting promoted.
“We are designing the system so that you can get promoted; you will get promoted if the rest of your records are consistent with the good order and discipline of the U.S. Army,” he said.
Addressing a related question regarding promotions, Dailey told Soldiers that one thing they should be doing each month— something many Soldiers fail to do, and pay a price for by not getting promoted — is ensure that their personnel records are maintained and accurate.
Dailey also said that there are some daily activities Soldiers can do to get a leg up on promotion: physical training and education.
“Challenge yourself every day,” he said. “It starts at 6 a.m. You can make a difference as early as tomorrow morning. You can add points to your promotion standing just by doing better at PT. One more push-up is one more point. One more sit-up is one more point. And study hard, do your structured self-development.”
The sergeant major of the Army acknowledged that as the Army draws down, there will be fewer promotions, because there will be fewer Soldiers. But he said the Army still needs to promote Soldiers to have the right leaders in the right positions. He said Soldiers will still get promoted in the same percentage in order to ensure the Army structure is maintained.
“As Soldiers transition and the need arises, the Army will continue to promote in accordance with these needs,” he said.