Guides, examples, and tips for NCOs and leaders — from the team at NCO Kit
You know you need to counsel your Soldiers every month, but between training schedules, motor pool, and the never-ending suspense list, the DA 4856 gets pushed to Friday afternoon and written in ten m…
Read Article →You know your medics are squared away, but when NCOER season hits, "Sergeant Smith is a great medic" is about all that comes out. If you are trying to figure out how to write NCOER bullets for 68W com…
Read Article →It's the week before your Soldier PCSes and the AAM packet is still sitting in your inbox. You have a DA Form 638, a blank citation block, and a first sergeant asking where it is. Knowing how to write…
Read Article →It's 1700 on a Friday, your Soldier just missed the third formation this month, and you know you need a counseling statement on file. You open a blank DA Form 4856 and stare at the boxes. If you've ev…
Read Article →You just spent two hours staring at a blank DA Form 2166-9 block for your best medic, and everything you typed reads like a job description. "Treated patients" does not help a promotion board separate…
Read Article →You know the Soldier earned the award. You watched them carry the section through a field problem or a brutal inspection. Then you open the DA Form 638, stare at the achievements block, and type "Sold…
Read Article →You've got three days until the OER is due, a captain staring at you for feedback, and a senior rater block that still says "meets standard" language when it should be screaming top block. Writing a s…
Read Article →PCS season means one thing on top of the packing lists and out-processing checklists: somebody on your team is leaving, and they need an Army Achievement Medal citation on your desk yesterday. If you'…
Read Article →You just finished the rated officer's block on a DA Form 67-10-1 and now you're staring at the senior rater narrative field, trying to compress an entire year of leadership into a handful of lines. Ge…
Read Article →New team leader in the arms room? New team leader in the motor pool? Doesn't matter — if you just pinned on a Soldier or picked up a new subordinate, you owe them a DA 4856 initial counseling in their…
Read Article →It's evaluation season, you've got a stack of 11B Infantrymen to rate, and the cursor is blinking on an empty NCOER bullet field. You know your Soldier ran the range OIC, led a squad through a brutal …
Read Article →Your senior NCO is retiring in six weeks and battalion just told you the MSM packet is due Friday. You pull up the last citation you wrote and realize it was for a completely different scenario &mdash…
Read Article →You've got a captain or major who's clearly outperforming their peers, and the board only has seconds to decide if they belong below the zone. If your senior rater narrative reads like every other "re…
Read Article →You just finished a field problem, a command inspection, and a memorial ceremony in the same week, and now your rater wants your OER support form input by Friday. Writing strong OER bullets for a comp…
Read Article →A Soldier fails the ACFT, and now you're staring at a blank DA 4856 trying to figure out how to document it without sounding like you're just filling in boxes. Event-driven counseling gets skipped or …
Read Article →Writing an Army Commendation Medal citation shouldn't take an hour of staring at a blank screen. Yet that's where most NCOs end up — knowing the Soldier deserves the award but not sure how to frame it…
Read Article →If you're a team leader or squad leader, monthly counseling is one of those tasks that sneaks up on you — and when it does, most leaders stare at a blank DA 4856 with no idea what to actually write. H…
Read Article →Your specialist rolls into formation eight minutes late for the third time this month. You've talked to them twice already, informally, and nothing's changed. Now it's time to put it on paper. If you…
Read Article →HR NCOs write dozens of NCOERs every evaluation cycle — but when it's time to write their own bullets, many go blank. The work of a 42A is real and mission-critical, but translating personnel actions,…
Read Article →Writing a senior rater narrative that actually does something for an officer's career is harder than it looks. Most evaluators default to vague praise and buzzwords — and those evaluations blend into …
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