quote:
Since my counseling packet also includes the fact that my quarterly counseling was all completed the week prior to the due date of my ncoer. Since I didn't back date as they insisted can this and also 4856's which have not been followed up on serve as evidence that my leadership failed me
Not having accurate counseling dates on your DA 2166-8 does not either a) invalidate your NCOER or b) does not mean the NCOER can be appealed. Additionally, there is no requirement to have counseling dates marked on the 2166-8, the only requirement is if there are no counseling dates, the Senior Rater must address the lack of counseling in their comments.
There is a requirement in the same DA PAM stating that monthly counseling must be completed on a DA 2166-8-1 and be kept until the NCOER hits HRC, however your CoC CAN (and likely will) do the following if you bring this up: a) state that you were counseled previous times on a DA 4856 through the rating period, and b) your SR Rater can just state that counseling was done on a separate form and s/he noted and reviewed those counseling (this works, I have had to do it in the past).
ref: DA PAM 623-3, Ch 3-5, table 3-3 (bold by me):
NCOER part III: block f—Counseling Dates
Action required: Enter the actual dates of counseling as documented on DA Form 2166–8–1 (YYYYMMDD).
When counseling dates are omitted, the senior rater will enter a statement in part V, block e explaining why counseling was not accomplished. The absence of counseling will not be used as the sole basis for an appeal. However, the lack of counseling may be used to help support other claims made in an appeal.quote:
...my leadership failed me
No offense, and many others here have already hit this on the head as well, but you are a Non-Commissioned Officer and the whole "My leadership failed me" excuse won’t fly, especially when you sated yourself that you have been counseled on the issues in the past. If no one spoke to you about your behavior, and no one counseled you, then you MIGHT be able to get away with it... but even that is a lame excuse because you should know better. I have had plenty of instance where my leadership has been shitty, that doesn’t give me (or my Soldiers) an excuse to half-ass anything.
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Keep in mind that I have a 1.5 hour drive home on a good day because of city traffic and even getting to work sometimes it is very unpredictable
Lastly, why do you live so far away from work? I know there are tons of mitigating factors for this, depending on where your station is, what school districts are around, blah blah blah, but I can see almost NO reason to live so far from my place of duty... Even if you made the CHOICE to live that far away, you cannot use it as an excuse, simply because it was YOUR CHOICE. IM not telling you to move closer, or to uproot your family, I'm just saying that using your own poor decision making as a crutch is not the best way to go about it. If there is a work related reason on why you live so far then I will retract my statement.
Lastly, if you were doing nothing wrong then there is no way they could stomp you down or retaliate... If you were to keep your nose clean then there would be nothing they could do to you. Learn for the future that if you are the one to rock the boat, you need to have the best balance (i.e. if you want to call others out on their issues, ensure you don’t have any yourself).
When it comes to your complaint there isn't much that can be done. If you were in fact late and got permission from your leadership you can show that to your CoC when asking for leniency. If you were given permission to show up late then this will be easy to fight. When bringing up items of mitigation use your late nights and early mornings as a factor as to why you felt that you could take an hour or so to do personal things. You main items of mitigation are the fact that you have been working late hours, and that you informed your CoC who at the time had no issues... DONT use your drive time or your NCOER counseling dates, those can be refuted easily by a halfway competent NCO.
NCO's Lead The Way!
SFC Nick Martinez
B Co, 3rd MI BN (AE)
Camp Humphreys, KOR
“I am the punishment of God... If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.” ― Genghis Khan