Okay, here's the quick and dirty on FITREPs for most NAs (Maritime and Helos)
- Only two things matter: highwater breakout EP and highwater trait average > RSCA.
- No 1 of 1 EP? No breakout EP? highwater trait average <= RSCA? You are almost certainly now non-due-course.
- You may have to ask your CO their RSCA. They don't have to give it to you.
- Block 41 needs to recommend you for CO or Flag early and often; otherwise is a negative signal.
- Block 42 first and last line are a little important. The middle truly does not matter.
- In large wardrooms you are sorted/groomed early - i.e., within your first year aboard or less.
- Individual trait ratings are determined after the fact by your summary group's rack and stack + CO's desire to manage RSCA - alone, they are not really indicative of performance. (Lookin at you, EO)
With this knowledge you should take action by:
- Come out of the gate HOT when arriving at a new command.
- If not given, ask for CO's RSCA every time you debrief a FITREP.
- Put "Flag Officer" and "CO Afloat" in Block 41 starting with your first observable FITREP.
- First and last lines of Block 42 should read like you walk on water.
There's other stylistic things - document your performance with hard metrics, etc. - but that's covered a lot. The other stuff above isn't really covered much.