Evaluation Week 2 Wrap-Up & Quiz

It's been a long week. Let's review and take the quiz! As always, italics added for our emphasis, and […] indicates we cut out stuff we thought was fluff. And, as always: you’re smarter reading the reg yourself to be exactly sure.

The major takeaways:

Myths Dispelled:

• Intermediate Raters: Are only authorized for specialty branches (chaplains, JAGs and medical officers). Basically, an intermediate rater provides “technical supervision.” There is no other authorized use of an intermediate rater, barring special permission from HQDA. (Paragraph 2-6)

• Newly commissioned and appointed officers and warrant officers do not get OERs until after completing BOLC/WOBC. However, their first evaluation is backdated to a start on the date of their commissioning.

• Mobilizing: Unless a Soldier needs an eval normally, a unit mobilization does not generate new evaluations. So, If a Soldier’s last annual was in January and the battalion mobilizes in June and the Soldier remains in the same position, there is no need for an evaluation until the following January (barring an event that would normally generate one, like a change of rater).

Rules & Obscurities:

• “Acting as both Rater & Senior Rater”: This checkbox on evaluation forms causes a lot of confusion and has been looked to when cleaning up backlogged evaluations because one of the two is not available (deployed, ETS’d, resigned, etc). BLUF: It’s only rarely applicable. AR 623-3, paragraph 2-20 spells it out. In most cases, you have to be a general officer to act as both.

• Enclosures: Are generally prohibited, per AR 623-3, paragraph 3-36. Some exceptions:

  • Supplementary reviewer comments

  • Referral letters and related documents for referred OERs

  • Relief for cause letters

• Modifications after submission to HQDA: Paragraph 3-37c basically rules out changes to evaluations that have been accepted by HQDA. But, 3-37e holds out exceptions for when information that was unknown or unverified when the evaluation report was prepared is brought to light or verified and this information is so significant that it would have resulted in a different evaluation of the rated Soldier. If the rating would improve, the Soldier needs to file an appeal. If it would be downgraded, the rater files an addendum IAW DA PAM 623-3.

The Rating Right Rubric:

• Bullet comments are required for NCOERs, but prohibited for OERs (use sentences).

• Banned: Brief, unqualified superlatives or phrases, particularly if they may be considered trite, are banned.

• Also banned: Too brief comments, excessive use of technical acronyms, or phrases not commonly recognized.

• Grammar and punctuation techniques like:

  • Underlining.

  • Excessive use of capital letters.

  • Unnecessary quotation marks.

  • Repeated use of exclamation points.

  • Wide spacing between selected words

  • Exaggerated margins

• The use of any remarks or comments that draw attention to differences relating to race, color, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, or national origin is prohibited.

• Article 15 UCMJ actions that are locally filed cannot be mentioned in evaluations. However, the underlying misconduct can be. (You can mention “missed movement for NTC rotation”. You cannot say he received UCMJ for it).

• Comments about unproven allegations of misconduct.

• Negative comments about Soldiers making protected communications (e.g. IG reports, letter to a member of Congress, court martial testimony, etc).

• No comments about actions or events before or after the rating period. With these exceptions:

  • APFT Scores that were within 12 months of the “thru date” (AR 623-3 offers no guidance on ACFT scores)

  • Relief for cause reports & EO/SHARP complaints substantiated by an AR 15-6 investigation.

• No comments about periods of non-rated time covered by the evaluation (e.g. a 15-month extended annual with 3 months non-rated can have no reference to something that happened in that three-month period).

• Comments about a Soldier’s marital status or spouse or spouse’s activities (e.g. FRG participation). Narrow exceptions may follow these guidelines:

  • Permitted: “CPT Doe continued his outstanding, selfless service, despite significant family health issues”.

  • Prohibited “CPT Doe continued his outstanding, selfless service despite his wife’s severe illness.”

Here are the critical annexes to know:

• B. Evaluation of Warrant Officers

• C. Evaluation of U.S. Army Chaplains

• D. Special Considerations for Rating Judge Advocate General’s Corps Officers

• E. Evaluation of U.S. Army Medical Department Officers

• G. Managing U.S. Army Reserve Evaluation Reports

• H. Managing Army National Guard Evaluations

• Internal Control Evaluation (information on how HRC evaluates ERS staff)

The Weekly Quiz:

We’ve thrown a lot at you this week. Let’s see how you do on the DDOD Weekly Quiz: QUIZ 4 – Evals Part 2.