New NCOER changes good or bad?

CSM Uhlig, if you use the knife hand when pointing at someone then all fingers and thumb are pointing at the person you are addressing.........LOL

But onto a serious note. I agree that the NCOER needed an upgrade. Is the new system perfect? No. If the rated Soldier and their rater have a 'good ol' boy' relationship versus the raters other Soldiers of same rank then they may more than likely 'stack' that Soldier ahead of the others regardless of performance.

I for one tend to call a spade a spade when I feel it's warranted and this tends to ruffle a few feathers. So I feel like it may hurt leaders like me in the long run that place the mission and Soldier well being ahead of being popular or a 'yes man'. For we all know those leaders that despise those under them that won't go along to get along or spend every free moment smoking and joking with them.

Or this could just be the way I perceive it.

I think the new NCOER, when it debuts next fall, will create a great deal of angst in the NCO Corps, especially for mid-grade and senior NCOs, based primarily on the forced distribution of ratings in the rater and senior rater profile. Simply, no more than 49% of NCOs in a rater or senior rater profile (noting that raters are given 3 blanks to cushion their profile) will get top block reports. Thus, 51% of NCOs in a given senior rater's profile will get less than a top block. I think that is going to be difficult to digest for mid-grade and senior NCOs who for their entire careers could get top marks along with all of their peers. (The key point here is that the math is no more than 49%, not "no more than half" as you state---in your example, though, as a rater you'll get a cushion of 3, so you could give both top blocks to both of your first two ratings, as 2 of 5 is less than 49%...but for your third rating, you'd be forced to give a less than top block, as 3 of 6 is 50%; and then for your next rating, you'd be able to give another top block, for 3/7 is 42%...but then for the next rating, you'd be at 4 of 8 if you gave another top block, so its back to less than a top block). Your case is illustrative, though--down to the E6 level, NCOs will need to understand how to manage their own rating profiles, and to understand that the math will become just as (or more) important as performance.

I also think that the new NCOER will force substantial changes to rating schemes as commands attempt to shield mid-grade and senior NCOs from the forced distribution in the rater and senior rater profiles. Take a normal infantry battalion that has one Operations Sergeant Major. In the past, this OPS SGM would normally be rated by the S3 and probably senior rated by the BN CDR or BN XO, and would get top blocks all across the board (because who really ever gave a senior NCO less than a top block?). Now, if the rating scheme held, the S3 rater could give the OPS SGM top blocks for 2 of 3 rating periods (assuming the S3 and OPS SGM served simultaneous 3 year tours) as the S3 gets 3 blanks in the rating profile. But the senior rater (BN Cdr or BN XO) would only be able to give the OPS SGM a top block once in 3 ratings, as the OPS SGM is the only E-9 in the senior rater's profile (assuming the BN CSM gets senior rated by the Brigade Cdr). That's tough math for a senior NCO serving as an OPS SGM in an infantry battalion---and if the BN CDR has previous ratings for E-9s, an OPS SGM might not get a top block at all in a 3 year tour--simply based on math. So I'd guess enterprising units would try to circumvent the forced distribution by pooling OPS SGMs in a senior rater profile, which would agitate against the basic concept of the new NCOER (which operates off the baseline that the first line supervisor is the rater and that the rater's rater is the senior rater).

The same issue will exist for all NCO ranks---for the first time (ever? in decades?), NCOs will compete against others NCOs for top block NCOERs. Its been this way for officers for years, and at times this means that math is often more important than performance; NCOs should prepare themselves to get used to hearing "well, I'd give you a top block if I could, but I just don't have any room in my profile."

Can always say (without actually saying it) that the nco would have been top block if the rating profile allowed it. Don't you officers do that with some of the OERs? At least NCO s won't have promotion jeapordy.

We do, and the narrative is meaningless. Only the block check matters.

SSG Squires. Myself and the other NCO's in my unit (there's four SSG's and one SFC besides the SGM, S-3, XO and BN CDR in my unit) discussed the new NCOER and it was stated that the bullets on the new NCOER would now be more important to support 'stacking' rated Soldiers.