Should I submit a letter to the President of the Board for an NCOER that says Met Standard and Qualified, but has negative bullet comments?

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 02:14:07 -0400

I received a NCOER with a No GO in character for failing to uphold duty in army values. However the bullet just says failed to uphold values and in my achieves block it say I loss some equipment.

Should I submit a letter to the president of the board informing them my No Go is tied to the loss of that equipment? The eval was still a “Met Standard” and Qualified. I already received another one as well that was Exceeded Standard and HQ.

I know I’ll have to get at least 3 evals to even bounce back from this crappy one and don’t expect to pick up for another two years if at all. Thanks

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 5 at 2024 3:36 AM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 03:36:13 -0400

Response by CSM William Everroad made Aug 5 at 2024 9:46 AM

CSM William Everroad — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 09:46:42 -0400

MSG Private RallyPoint Member, I would not recommend it.
A letter to the president of a centralized promotion board is your opportunity to clarify discrepancies in the record such as missing evaluations, missing awards, incorrect information on the SRB. In most cases, if the missing or discrepancy hurts the record you should fix it prior to the cutoff date.

Letters to the President are not the venue to contest evaluation reports. Evaluations could be the subject of a letter if there is a mismatch between the Duty Title and Duty Description, incorrect height and/or weight (not a justification for being overweight), rating chain errors (although this would only be applicable for a CTR report).

What are all the comments under "Character" (if you want to disclose)? Comments are not mandatory for a rating of "Did Not Meet Standard" (DMS). BUT: "Special care will be taken to ensure specific bullet comments support appropriate “Far Exceeded Standard,” “Exceeded Standard,” “Met Standard,” and “Did Not Meet Standard” ratings in corresponding blocks". You can suggest they "meant" you did not meet the standard for Character specifically for missing equipment, but the justification for the DMS should be in the same block, not under "Achieves".

You can write the letter, but if I was reviewing it, it would be tough to take the assertion at "face value", especially if you signed it and there are other derogatory comments in "Character". If there are no specific derogatory comments under "Character", it probably won't matter to the board anyway. I know I never look at the actual rating, I look at the comments and if the comments don't actually say anything, I kinda dismiss the whole comment. If you failed to "uphold Army Values", I want to know specifically why, otherwise I chalk it up to a lazy rater there is enough room to elucidate IAW regs. This is a detriment, because you need every comment possible to lay out your performance for the year. I would raise my eyebrow at a MSG losing equipment though.

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Aug 5 at 2024 1:07 PM

CAPT Kevin B. — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 13:07:26 -0400

Having sat many boards back in the day, I always advise SMs get the current Board Precepts. It lays out what is fair game, what can and cannot be looked at, points of emphasis, etc. When a reviewer looks at a record, disconnects stick out like a sore thumb. Then some further digging, only in allowed information, ensues. Things like the reporting senior average, their writing, syntax, etc. tends to tell the reviewer what's going on with both the SM and Reporting Senior. Don't expect a great grade on the First Crunch as other reviewers will take a stab on the Second and Third Crunch. CSM Everroad is quite correct in his comments.

I had a disconnect in my Fitrep when up to the O-4 board, which I didn't get selected. I contacted my former reporting senior (O-6), who agreed to redo the Fitrep and added a letter supporting promotion to the next Board. I struck out on that one too given the Second Look ran around 8%. I then put in an appeal to the Board of Correction of Naval Records (BCNR), citing the varied procedural errors. They agreed there were errors and struck the first Fitrep and the Reviewing Senior's letter to the Board. I was up against the mandatory DOPMA toss date from Active, so the BCNR addressed that too. Their determination was given the competitiveness of the specific Promotion Board, the size of the Zone, and number of promotions authorized, I would not likely have been selected. First look percentage was 15%, second look was 8%, so I understood the first part. The rest was essentially the BCNR had to decide whether to convene a Special Board. Their business decision was not to make the effort. I was tossed from AD, immediately picked up in the Reserves, quickly hired back as Civil Service in the same SYSCOM, and retired out eventually as an O-6 and GS-15.

Life takes interesting turns, but I chose to press forward every day. Things happen beyond your control, but you are in charge of how excellent you are on any given day. Thinking back on it, I had several recalls and extended ADSWs in uniform to do things an AD would not be tagged for. That has equated to "things" experienced in Cambodia and East Timor that ADs wouldn't experience and mostly can't relate to. Add to that buying MIL time retirement credit for Civil Service and doing TSP to the hilt, I'm in a better spot than doing 30 Active and something else for 10 years. Bottom line, press forward. It beats the other alternatives.

Response by SSG Carlos Madden made Aug 6 at 2024 2:49 PM

SSG Carlos Madden — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 14:49:31 -0400

SGM Erik Marquez ?