OER training comes to APG

By U.S. ArmyFebruary 4, 2014

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. - A mobile training team from the U.S. Army Human Resources Command (HRC) briefed more than 200 APG Soldiers and civilians Jan. 22 and 23 on the Officer Evaluation Report (OER), in the Mallette Hall Auditorium.

OER mobile training teams are currently visiting major Army installations throughout the continental United States and outside the contiguous U.S.

The new OER system will officially start April 1. Maj. Stephen Trotter from HRC stated this evaluation will increase accountability within the rating system.

�"This will really begin our transition, allowing leaders the opportunity to more easily council, coach and mentor officers," he said. �"Officers will develop an understanding of how to establish career-oriented objectives that are aligned with leader attributes and competencies, per ADP (Army Doctrine Publication) 6-22."

Under the new system, raters and senior raters can only assign the top rating of �"excels" and �"most qualified" to less than 50 percent of officers that they rate or senior rate, he said. A rater profile will be created and accessible within the web-based evaluation system, allowing raters to track how many officers they have rated and how those officers were rated.

�"This will allow the Army to easily indentify the best performers and those with the greatest potential," Trotter said.

Raters under the new system will evaluate job performance, while senior raters will determine an officer�'s potential for promotion and increased responsibility.

The system is all web-based, which creates the ability for data mining. Trotter said this capability will allow HRC to better manage officers�' strengths and capabilities so they can match the right person with the right position at the right time.

The new OER, is comprised of four forms -- company grade commissioned and warrant officers; field-grade officers in the ranks of major; lieutenant colonels and chief warrant officers 3 through 5; and colonels and brigadier generals.

�"It used to be like a one-size-fits-all evaluation," said Maj. Simone Butler, part of the HRC mobile training team. �"Now, the forms have been tailored more by grade."

Training attendee Capt. Will Viegas, from the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command, said he thinks the new system will make it easier for the Army to promote the right people.

�"There is always some difficulty when you transition to a new system, but I think these changes are necessary," he said. �"We need to facilitate change, not resist it."

For more information about OER, visit www.hrc.army.mil/, or contact Tony Rose, Communications-Electronics Command Chief of Military Personnel Division, at tony.d.rose3.civ@mail.