On 24 August 2015, AFI 36-2406, Officer and Enlisted Evaluation Systems, was published, incorporating through Interim Change 2, which provided guidance for numerous changes affecting the AF Form 911 and specifically on the use of promotion statements within the revised AF Form 911 (paragraph 1.12.2.3). Following publication, we realized the need to clarify these restrictions and the intent of who can provide a written promotion recommendation on the AF Form 911. The following provides additional clarification, with regards to written promotion recommendations, which are codified in the Corrective Actions to AFI 36-2406 (IC2) applied on 9 September 2015:
- Written promotion recommendations are now only allowed on the enlisted evaluation (AF Form 911) when a SNCO is time-in-grade/time-in-service promotion eligible, may only be made by the final evaluator, and may only be captured in Section IX., Final Evaluator's Comments.
- Written promotion recommendation statements are prohibited when: a SNCO is not promotion eligible; by anyone other than the final evaluator; or in any other section of the AF Form 911; i.e., written promotion statements made by the unit commander/military or civilian director/other authorized reviewer, additional rater, or rater, are prohibited.
Exception: When the EPR Rater qualifies as a single evaluator and the Ratee is promotion eligible, the Rater may include a written promotion recommendation in the optional bullet in Section IX., Final Evaluator's Comments (AF Form 911) (see AFI 36-2406 paragraph 1.11.4).
As a reminder, Senior Rater Endorsement is restricted to the top 10% of promotion eligible MSgts and to the top 20% of promotion eligible SMSgts. The Senior Rater (SR) may also add a stratification statement using the pool of Air Force promotion eligible SNCOs (by grade), however, no one else at any level below the SR is authorized to add written stratifications.
This policy change provides written promotion recommendation standardization, maximizes the opportunity to document performance in evaluations, and reserves written promotion recommendations for those highest in the evaluation rating chain with the greatest overall purview of performance. This keeps us aligned when we release the new AF Form 910, for TSgts and below, later this fall. We will only authorize the Commander closing out the report to make promotion statements on the AF Form 910 (utilizing the promotion recommendation blocks and forced distribution) when an Airman is promotion eligible and will prohibit the use of written promotion statements in the form.
To ensure equity for all Airmen whose evaluations closed out on the 31 July SMSgt static close out date, we have made this guidance retroactive to 31 July 2015. Therefore, any time-in-grade/time-in-service promotion eligible EPR with a written promotion recommendation in any block other than the Final Evaluator must be corrected to comply with this guidance. The suspense to have these forms at AFPC remains 15 Sep 15 (45 days after the SCOD) to ensure the CMSgt central evaluation board has the most current EPR. We ask for your assistance in making these adjustments before finalizing EPRs for signature and forwarding to your local MPS and to AFPC. EPRs already at your local MPS or at AFPC for processing will be returned for correction.
Points of Contact
- For RegAF: AFPC Evaluations, AFPC/DPSIDEP, DSN 665-2571 or commercial 210-565-2571
- For AF Reserve: HQ ARPC Evaluations, ARPC/DPTSE, DSN 565-5000 or commercial 210-565-5000
- For ANG: ANG Force Management Branch, NGB/A1PP, DSN: 612-9124/7931 or commercial 240-612-9124/7931