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FITREP 101

Brett327 said:
This may be a community difference, but your next milestone as a LT (O4 and Operational DH) is what should be addressed in Blk 41. Putting recommendations for CO or flag in a LT FITREP is a waste of space, and I have not ever seen that done (YMMV). You can start mentioning flag in an O5 FITREP, but you should really focus on next admin and stat milestone. My presumption is that this is the standard throughout Tacair.
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31806
 
Brett327 said:
It's interesting as I have a bunch of second tour JOs now, that I can tell how much of this type of career training their 1st tour COs did. When I have a JO that doesn't know what RSCA is, or have never seen a bubba list, that's a big disappointment in their previous leadership.
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LOL, I don't know what either of those are either... ?‍♂️
 
Yeah, I've never seen the flag thing done. I have seen the CO rec done on JO FITREPs, but they were usually the high-water write-ups. If it was on something other than a high-water FITREP, it was there to fill space and the RSCA and GPA could send any real message. It of course was a very real thing on O-4 FITREPs, as was mentioned.

I remember when doing my O-5 FITREPs after I had already been passed over for operational CO. I just put kept putting "Reserve CO" on there because I knew The Man wanted something like that on there. Nevermind the fact I had already been selected for Reserve CO, but it kept my boss and Admin happy and took up space.

Edit: I apparently can't tell the "C" key from the "J" key.
 
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You don't have to put anything on Block 41...

If no recommendation is appropriate, enter “NA” or “NONE” in the first block. These are the reporting senior's recommendations, based on performance. They are not binding on detailers, do not preclude consideration for other opportunities and do not replace duty preference cards.
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OP, please do not put Flag Officer on your first FITREP. You will look ridiculous.

You usually put the next milestone as your next desired job. Your highwater FITREP on your first fleet tour should say “Operational DH” as your desired job for example.

I’m at the end of my instructor tour and that’s the first time I’ve been told to mention CO. Flag officer? No way.
 
MGoBrew11 said:
OP, please do not put Flag Officer on your first FITREP. You will look ridiculous.

You usually put the next milestone as your next desired job. Your highwater FITREP on your first fleet tour should say “Operational DH” as your desired job for example.

I’m at the end of my instructor tour and that’s the first time I’ve been told to mention CO. Flag officer? No way.
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Same here.
 
MGoBrew11 said:
OP, please do not put Flag Officer on your first FITREP. You will look ridiculous.
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Look at it as being proactive. I mean, you may not be able to predict the exact callsign you’ll get out of a stunt like that, but at least it will narrow down the potential topics.
 
squorch2 said:
Okay, here's the quick and dirty on FITREPs...
  • 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.
With this knowledge you should take action by:
  • 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.
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.
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I disagree with the bullet points noted above. Recommending a JO for CO at sea and flag officer in block 41 tells the board (particularly statutory) that you don't know how to write fitreps more than it says anything about the JO's performance, and could lead people to say "so is this JO actually recommended for DH/O-4 or not? Was that flag officer recommendation a joke from the JO that made it through chop?" The 'normal' custom is 1 operational billet up for block 41 and 2 up for the secondary recommendation for a top performer and/or transfer.

I also somewhat disagree with block 42 body not mattering. Phrases that indicate breakout performance consistent with the precepts get circled and briefed. Additionally, the recommendation in block 41 should also be repeated in block 42 (again, leave no ambiguity).

Finally, the CO's RSCA is easily viewed by looking at your ODC/OSR on the bupers website; no need to ask about it.

From a practical perspective, a JO isn't going to be able to control his grade or the recommendations given in block 41 or 42. He can check for administrative errors (continuity, recommendation in block 41 also appearing in block 42). Other than that, it's about understanding what's considered important for top performance and then doing those things, and that comes with understanding that the parts of the job you like doing or do well aren't necessarily the parts of the job your boss or community finds most valuable.

What I would encourage JOs to do is understand what 'best and fully qualified' actually means for the sailors in their divisions so that the eval reflects those qualifications and the writeup provides OQE that they perform those duties well. If you want to talk about a group of people who on the whole woefully falls short of understanding how to write in fitrep/eval-ese, it's senior enlisted sailors.
 
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Spekkio said:
Finally, the CO's RSCA is easily viewed by looking at your ODC/OSR on the bupers website; no need to ask about it.
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That's true, but I offer this as someone who had to make sure the RSCA was correct for the "next current" batch of FITREPs for the boss...the ODC/OSR number is fairly time-late. Great for knowing after the fact, but it will be some significant time after you've been debriefed.
 
Suppose a Navy JO in a Joint unit is getting a FITREP from a senior officer from another service. Does RSCA even matter? How would the Navy (PERS) even find out the RSCA, and how would the other service learn about the Navy JO’s FITREP?
 
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