CPT Michael Moyers  on 05-Jul-2012
Sir-I think the effects of this change will be vastly different for MSC officers depending on their duty position. As a C Company commander, I pretty much have no interaction with my SR whatsoever. While the combatant commanders are able to engage him on gunnery, EIB and various force on force exercises, there is next to zero emphasis placed on any of the BSB training. All too often our training is cancelled a week out in order to support whatever great idea has come out of the BDE3 shop. The issue sir is that we do not have significant training events which enable us to engage our SR in our own environment. This affects our block because the SR has very little idea of what we actually do. I see this creating a disparity between MSC officers on the line and our peers in medical units. Their SR is generally more in tune with what their training and day to day operations entail and therefore is more able to accurately assess their position. Having never worked under anyone with a medical background(6 yrs in BCTs, 1 yr as a maneuver OC/T)I have basically never had an MSC mentor. I've had to provide my own development through self-study and I know I am not the only MSC in this position. Based on these concerns sir, I think that those of us in this position are going to be rightly apprehensive about how accurately our SR block and comments represent us against peers in medical units. It is very demoralizing to constantly take the hard jobs and do your best while constantly fearing for your position in the Army because you haven't gotten the benefit of experiencing TDA assignments.

BG Doyle, Dennis  on 29-Jun-2012
I very much appreciate everyone’s input and interest in the subject of the OER block check for officers. Your comments confirm my concerns about ensuring everyone in the rating chain understands the mentoring process for writing, communicating and receiving an OER. At the end of the day, everyone in the process undergoes some level of accountability. I believe the more the rater (R) and senior rater (SR) are transparent in the area of expectation management throughout the rating period, the less confusion and stress on all parties. It has been my experience that officers of all ranks can deal with the inevitability of receiving the COM but expect feedback to better understand why they received it directly from the SR. As pointed out by a respondent, the numbers may simply not support the ACOM but a strong write-up in the SR block may mitigate the “block check.” A COM report is not the end of the world or ones career, it is a normal occurrence and quite frankly, you’ll find a number of them in my file. I would like to emphasize the point made about marketing and or selling your officers to the SR throughout the rating period. I believe a strategic leader builds a marketing plan for his/her officer population and captures every opportunity for their rated officers to receive quality exposure time with the senior rater. Lastly, I advise a degree of caution if one chooses to “confront their SR” if they feel the rating doesn’t meet their expectation. This is not meant to be a negotiated process, but more of a contract of expectation over the rating period with the understanding that the SR has the ultimate final word/decision. That said, every officer has a right as I see it to engage their SR about their OER.

COL Mike Heimall  on 24-Jun-2012
Sir,

My last rater was an infantry officer who advised his brigade-level commanders to carefully review the people they rate and make honest recommendations. He pointed out that not all battalion commanders should go on to command brigades, even if they have successful battalion commands. I think this is a solid observation across all ranks. Not every Captain should be selected for Major, Every LTC should not command a battalion. Not every COL should get to command either. We too often forget that the SR profile is a powerful tool to distinguish, in the mind of selection board members, who should and should not receive those opportunities.

A second challenge with the new system is LTC and COL profiles will soon become even more restrictive when phase 2 of the new system goes into effect. LTC ACOMs will be limited to 33% and COL ACOMs to 25%. This will be a real blow to morale when COLs and LTCs who are used to being in the top 50% of a profile are suddenly center of mass. And it is a topic we should be counseling those folks on now, before they see it on an OER at signature time and wonder why.

CPT Jennifer Wilson  on 21-Jun-2012
Sir, I am actually preparing a LPD on the board process, ORB and OER for all of the junior MSCs in my BDE. I think that the more Company grade officers understand the process and the more SR and Raters are proactive in counseling their junior officers the better the block check and profile management will be integrated. It will definitely help visualize the “best qualified” for promotions and selection for command positions. (1) SR interaction/relationship with and appraisals of their Company grade officers? I think this will increase the interaction between company grade officers and their senior raters; which in most cases is absolutely a positive thing. This forces both the SR/Rater to go much more in depth with their OER counseling sessions to make sure that they cover the verbiage, the block check and what that means to the officer being rated. This also forces the rated officer to be more proactive and understand the ins and outs of the OER. He/she needs to understand what makes the SR comments what they are. That officer also needs to confront their SR if they think that they deserve something that is not annotated either in the verbiage or block check. (2) Future MSC officer promotion and command selection rates? / (3) Company grade officers' morale and career satisfaction levels? If company grade officers are suddenly surprised because they are receiving a COM rating, either they did not understand what was being written on their OERs before, or their SR was not clear in spelling out his/her expectations and what is required to be an ACOM officer. I think some people are in store for significant emotional events, but that this can all be avoided with thorough counseling and clear explanations of expectations. Company grade officers that work hard will continue to be satisfied with their ratings. Officers that are somewhere in the middle will be forced to make a choice; they have to improve to maintain a “heart beat” or except that they will not be selected for promotions or commands above others.

LTC Chris Gellasch  on 20-Jun-2012
Sir, this topic was recently covered on Milspace (the website that includes the Company Command and Platoon Leader sites). The OER discussion was started by a MSC officer that was confused by the SR block check process. Several officers provided excellent advice and I encourage everyone to check it out at https://milspace.army.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=228197&lang=en-US (AKO login required). If you are a company grade officer looking for advice or a more senior officer that wants to mentor junior officers this is a great site.

How do block checks influence junior officer morale and potential for command/promotion? First, I think it is flawed logic to try and spread around ACOMs in order to try and make everyone feel good. If a CPT is performing below his peers then the rater and SR need to be honest with that officer, give him a COM and then mentor him on what needs to be improved if he wants to earn an ACOM next time. We need to set the conditions for officers to earn the ACOM but the top performers should be rewarded accordingly. In my experience we have a lot of great MSC officers out there but not all of them can be in the top half (or top third). If almost all officers will get ACOM ratings before a promotion board but mostly COM ratings the rest of the time it defeats the purpose of the system and does not help the board. The SR narrative is still very important but the block check should have impact.

With promotion rates falling back to normal (or maybe lower) in the future, it is up to raters and SRs to identify officers that are the best choices for promotion and command. It may hurt the morale of some officers and they may consider leaving the Army, but not every CPT can become a LTC (nor should they). The alternative is the risk of top performing officers leaving due to an egalitarian rating distribution that does not recognize talent and performance.

What about the morale of junior officers that have been given enough ACOMs to believe they are going to serve 20 years and be able to retire but find out after investing 10+ years of their lives in the Army that they are not competitive and will have to leave? It is better to be honest at the start so officers can make informed decisions earlier in their careers? That way an officer knows they need to either improve or make other plans if they are not competitive. It then falls back on raters, SRs, and other leaders to teach, coach, and mentor those officers that want to continue in the Army.

The comment about basically writing your own OER with a good support form should have a few clarifications: the accomplishments must be significant and include impact (i.e. the “so what?” factor), the goals should be challenging but realistic, and most importantly the accomplishments need to align with what your chain of command expect of your current position.

CPT Jeffrey M. Howard  on 19-Jun-2012
I believe questions two and three are one in the same--that is, Company Grade Officers' morale will increase the more they speak with their senior rater: their career paths will likely become more defined, especially as they receive direct feedback and "mentorship" from senior leaders/raters. Nothing says one should change fields like a below center mass rating. I truly believe the best thing about the new rating system is those who should not be in command will not be in command.

CPT Steve Johnson  on 19-Jun-2012
Sir,

Some challenges here on both sides. I think the Senior Rater block check is/will become a 'significant emotional event' for many Officers. Some will be pleased; others not so much. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Statistics come in play, the simple fact being not everyone can get a top block. This opportunity decreases with less ratees in the same grade (i.e., Senior Rater rates 3 officers in the same grade).

I don't have a problem getting 'Center Mass' if I'm rated among some great Officers and great Americans. If this were the case, I would let my narrative paint the picture.

V/R CPT Johnson

LTC Soo Lee Davis  on 19-Jun-2012
Sir, I think it's important to emphasize the rater's role and responsibility in influencing the senior rater's assessment of their Company Grade Officers. First, I think it was a strategic mistake to ever remove the enumeration from the OER system. I've not sat a board, but just in interviewing for Company Commanders, it is almost impossible to differentiate great performance/potential from good performance/potential because nearly every evaluation sounds the same in words and there was no forcing function to striate that subjective evaluation. Second, my rater, which is the senior rater to my Company Commanders, expects me to make recommendations to him as to who deserves the ACOM and why and my answer better not be, "they all deserve an ACOM." I'm expected to rack and stack them and I'm also expected to be very transparent and candid with them about how I've assessed them and how they stack up to their peers. That was an absolute valuable lesson for me to learn. I have in-turn, set that same expectation up for my Company Commanders; they need to be prepared to make a recommendation for a block check for their officers that I senior rate and demonstrate how they stand out from their peers. When I do my senior rater counseling with them, we openly discuss their rater's assessment of them. The raters know I operate very transparently, which makes them do so as well. It gets a little trickier when there's only 1 officer that rater is responsible for, so I extrapolate that same technique across their NCO's as well. Also as raters, we owe it to our ratees to "market/sell" or find opportunties for them to get face-time with their senior rater. Geographical separation can pose a challenge. Raters need to figure out what your officer's senior rater values and how they like information presented to them and ensure you "market" your high performers accordingly.

LTC Rod White  on 18-Jun-2012
Sir, The senior rater profile should be public. The profile does not highlight or discriminate any senior-rated officers, but does reveal the senior-raters performance towards managing this very critical aspect of promotion opportunity. I agree that rated officer should draft their rater and senior rater comments. Neither rater or senior are obligated to use any of the material, but it does provide comments foundation and reveal the officer's career focus. It could also bolster the rated officers executive development, forcing them to reflect honestly on the rated period, and to think and write like their executive raters.

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