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 combat medics that actually separate your Soldier from the stack, you need numbers, outcomes, and a clear link to the unit mission.
Why 68W NCOER Bullets Are Different
A 68W does not hand you a vehicle readiness rate or a range score the way a combat arms NCO might. Medics work in readiness, training, and care delivery, so raters tend to fall back on vague phrases like "provided outstanding medical support." Reviewers see that language on every packet. What stands out is the scale of what the Soldier touched: how many patients, how many Soldiers trained, how many dollars of equipment, and what changed because of it.
Under AR 623-3, bullets sit under the Character, Presence, Intellect, Leads, Develops, and Achieves attributes on the DA Form 2166-9 series. For medics, the best material usually lands in Achieves, Develops, and Leads. Start there, then back-fill the rest.
Where to Find Measurable Facts for a Medic
Before you write a single bullet, pull the numbers. Your Soldier's work leaves a trail if you know where to look. Ask for the data, then pick the strongest few items instead of listing everything.
- Medical readiness: percentage of the company Green in MEDPROS, and how much that moved during the rating period.
- Training: number of Soldiers certified in Combat Lifesaver (CLS), Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC), or Basic Life Support, plus pass rates.
- Equipment and supply: total value of Class VIII sets, aid bags, and medical equipment inventoried or maintained with zero losses.
- Field and range support: number of training events covered, casualties treated, and evacuations coordinated.
NCOER Bullet Example for a 68W Combat Medic
Use a simple pattern: strong action verb, what the Soldier did with a number, and the result for the unit. Here is an Achieves bullet and a Develops bullet written for a Sergeant 68W in a battalion aid station.
DEVELOPS: Taught 6-day CLS course to 42 Soldiers across 3 companies; 95% first-time pass rate raised battalion CLS-certified strength from 61% to 88% before the NTC rotation.
Both bullets work because they pair a measurable task with a unit-level outcome. The reader can see the size of the job, the standard met, and why it mattered to the battalion. Notice there is no filler like "responsible for" or "assisted with." The Soldier owned the work, and the bullet says so.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
The first mistake is describing duties instead of results. "Provides medical care to Soldiers" is a job description, not a bullet. Tell the reader how many Soldiers, how fast, and what improved. The second is stacking too many numbers in one line until the point gets buried; keep two or three strong metrics and cut the rest. The third is putting everything under Achieves. Leadership and training deserve their own bullets under Leads and Develops, especially for a senior sergeant who supervises junior medics.
Also watch your verbs. "Helped" and "assisted" signal that someone else did the work. Use "managed," "trained," "led," "reduced," and "coordinated" when they are true, and keep every claim defensible if a board member asks about it.
Final Thoughts
Good 68W bullets come down to collecting the right facts and framing them as results. If you would rather not start from a blank page, NCO Kit's free NCOER bullet builder can help generate strong, properly formatted bullets in seconds. Give it a try at NCO Kit, then tweak the output with your own numbers so it sounds like your Soldier.