Special NCO evaluation reports are required for several thousand sergeants first class who will be considered for promotion by the annual master sergeant board that meets in March.
The same board, scheduled for March 1-25, also will conduct retention screenings under the Qualitative Management Program, and possibly the Qualitative Service Program.
Zones of consideration for the QSP review, a force-shaping tool for the drawdown, have not yet been announced by the Army.
Selection for master sergeant continues to be one of the toughest promotion cuts in the Army, much tougher in recent years than the competition of sergeant first class and sergeant major stripes.
For example, the 2015 master sergeant board that met in February considered 16,658 soldiers, but only recommended 1,502 for promotion, for an overall select rate of 9 percent.
By comparison, the select rates for the most recent sergeant first class and sergeant major boards were 25 percent and 13 percent respectively.
To qualify for E8 promotion consideration in 2016, sergeants first class must be graduates of the Senior Leader Course and Structured Self Development Level 4 (SSD-4), and meet these date-of-rank and active-duty service criteria:
• Primary zone: All Regular Army and Active Guard and Reserve (Army Reserve) sergeants first class with E7 dates of rank of Feb. 11, 2012 and earlier.
• Secondary zone: Dates of rank of Feb. 12, 2012 through March 2, 2014.
• Regular Army promotion candidates must have basic active service dates of Sept. 2, 1994, through March 2, 2008.
• Active Guard and Reserve candidates must have basic active service dates of Sept. 2, 1994, and later, and a pay entry basic date of March 2, 2008, and earlier, and a birth date not earlier that March 2, 1958.
NCO Evaluation Reports submitted for this board must be received at the Army Human Resources Command no later than Feb. 19.
Because of the scheduled implementation Jan. 1 of a new NCO Evaluation Reporting System, some special rules apply to the reports submitted for the master sergeant board as follows:
• The Army will not require a close-out report under the current system (DA Form 2166-8), except that SFCs who are in the promotion zone and who are due an annual NCOER during the 180 days prior to March 1, will receive a Form 2166-8 report with a thru date of Dec. 31, 2015.
This is called a Code 19 "AHRC-Directed" report. These special reports are not subject to the minimum rating time requirements that apply to regular reports.
•The only evaluations submitted to the master sergeant board under the new NCOER system (DA Form 2166-9) will be those that document problem behavior, such as a relief for cause action, occurring after Dec. 31.
"Anyone who receives a report on the new form, and who is in the master sergeant zone of consideration, probably will be receiving a bad report, such as a relief for cause or similar-type NCOER that is documenting problem behavior," said an HRC official.
Any optional or mandatory report that is submitted on the new form for any other reason will not be accepted by HRC for processing to the board.
Soldiers who are in a zone of consideration for promotion can review the contents of their board file using the online My Board File system that will open Jan. 1, and close Feb. 23.
MBF can be accessed through the "self-service" link on the Human Resources Command homepage at www.hrc.army.mil.
