News and features
Updated NCOER rating forms available online By David Ruderman
U.S. Army Human Resources Command Public Affairs
U.S. Army Human Resources Command, or HRC, announced Monday the availability of the DA Form 2166-9 series, the revised Noncommissioned Officer, or NCO, Evaluation Report, or NCOER, and its activation in the web-based Evaluation Entry System, or EES. As detailed in Military Personnel, or MILPER, Message 15-395, the effective policy date for use of the 2166-9 series will be Jan. 1. Activation of the revised NCOER forms now allows Soldiers and raters to immediately begin to prepare NCOERs with a “through date” of Jan. 1 and later. The 2166-9 series consists of three revised NCO rating forms based on grade plate that mandate distinct rater and senior rater roles, and incorporate a senior rater profile and rater tendency assessment. Soldiers who are due to receive a mandatory report between now and Dec. 31 of this year will continue to receive that report, whether it be an annual, an extended annual or a change of rater report, using the DA Form 2166-8 series of report forms. Sergeants first class who are eligible for the FY 2016 Regular Army and U.S. Army Guard Reserve Master Sergeant Promotion Boards will also employ the 2166-8 series NCOER form, said Sgt. Maj. Stephen McDermid of HRC’s Evaluation Branch. Details were published in MILPER 15-340, Oct.
27. For board eligible NCOs, who have not received a mandatory report as outlined in MILPER 15-340, he or she will receive an HRC-directed Code 19 Evaluation with a through date of Dec. 31. “This will ensure those individuals eligible for that board receive a close-out evaluation,” McDermid said. Training modules for proper use of the revised NCOER forms and an EES test site have been and remain available on the HRC website for Soldiers and raters to practice with. Detailed training modules have been posted to HRC Evaluations Branch website as well as S1NET and are available for download on DVIDS at https:// www.dvidshub.net/tags/video/ncoer. The training modules lead NCOs and raters through the process, section by section, in an easy-to-understand manner, McDermid said. In addition to the activation of the NCOER forms, MILPER 15-395 also announced an update to the OER, or Officer Evaluation Report, forms that incorporate the use of Department of Defense ID numbers, or DoDID, in place of Social Security numbers. The new NCOER forms will also use DoDID numbers in place of Social Security numbers. The DoDID, which appears on Soldiers’ Common Access Cards, is being phased in as part of the federal government’s effort to remove Social Security numbers from as many documents as possible.
Photo by Pascal Demeuldre
Maj. Gen. Thomas C. Seamands, commanding general of U.S. Army Human Resources Command, answers questions about the revised Noncommissioned Officer Evaluation Report while addressing Soldiers at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Mons, Belgium, Aug. 31.
Dog tags get first update in more than 40 years By Daniela Vestal
U.S. Army Human Resources Command Public Affairs
After more than four decades, the identification tags issued to all Soldiers, commonly called “dog tags,” are getting an update. In accordance with Department of Defense guidance governing the reduction of the use of Social Security numbers, the Army published a new version of Department of the Army Pamphlet 600-8-14, Nov. 30. The pamphlet documents new procedures to replace Soldiers’ Social Security numbers with their Department of Defense identification numbers. The change to using the 10-digit, randomly-generated number will be implemented on an as-needed basis, said Michael Klemowski, Soldiers Programs Branch chief, U.S. Army Human Resources Command. “This change is not something where Soldiers need to run out and get new tags made,” Klemowski said. “We are focusing first on the personnel who are going to deploy. If a Soldier is going to deploy, they are the first ones that need to have the new ID tags.” The removal of the Social Security number from ID tags is one of the ways the Army is safeguarding the personally-identifiable information of its Soldiers whenever possible, Klemowski said. “I think removing the social will help,” Klemowski said. “If you find a pair of lost ID tags you can pretty much do anything with that person’s identity because you now have their blood type, their religion, you have their Social [Security number], and you have their name. The only thing missing is their birth date and you can usually get that by Googling a person.” Staff Sgt. Kristen Duus, a Soldier with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, said she thinks the update is a good idea. “Identity theft is a very real threat for us right now, and so many people are not aware that our information is easily accessed,” Duus said. “By removing socials from ID tags, one more step is being taken to protect ourselves and our identities.” The required change was first outlined in the DOD Social Security Number Reduction Plan and then-President George W. Bush’s Task Force on Identity Theft Strategic Plan in 2007. Since then, the Army has been searching for a way to replace the Social Security
Courtesy photo
A metal embossing machine is used to make ID tags at the Soldier Readiness Processing building on Fort Knox, Ky. number on the ID tag Soldiers wear. However, what might seem like a simple task turned out not to be, Klemowski said. The Army used several systems tied to a Soldier’s Social Security number, all for different purposes. Each of these systems had to be retooled to work with one another and the DOD ID number, Klemowski said. “The DOD ID number is currently used on ID cards and TRICARE will be using it in the future,” Klemowski said. “More and more systems are going go to the DOD ID number as technology catches up with us and we are able to phase out the Social Security number.”
www.wiesbaden.army.mil .......................................................................... Dec. 17, 2015
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