Air Force Writer EPR


How to Write an EPR

Directions for AF 910

The Front.

BLOCK I. RATEE IDENTIFICATION DATA

Blocks 1 through 9 are self-explanatory. None of us know our PAS Code or SRID or our start and end dates. This information is contained in the EPR shell or RIP generated by the personnel section (of your unit or the base). The information entered in these blocks must match what is on the RIP.

BLOCK II. JOB DESCRIPTION

Every shop or office has a standard blurb (depending on rank) for the Duty Title and Key Duties, Tasks, and Responsibilities fields. If the officially sanctioned blurb needs editing for grammar or updating, there is no law against it. They don't HAVE TO be indentical --it just normally works out that way.

BLOCK III. EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE

This is the easiest part of the EPR --just X the appropriate boxs. A lot of people agonize over these decisions. And when the new EPR system came out, there was some justification for this. But these days, the system has evolved into an inflated go/no-go situation. If the ratee is OK or better, give him firewall fives. If the ratee has a documented problem area, mark down that individual category. The rater has total independence in evaluating the ratee's performance; he or she may rate the individual as they see fit. If the Additional Rater does not agree with the overall rating, he or she may indicate this fact by marking the block (in Section IV, Promotion Recommendation) they deem appropriate.

The Back.

BLOCK IV. PROMOTION RECOMMENDATION

Here, check the appropriate box in the Rater's Recommendation row. Do not check the box in the Additional Rater's Recommendation row. The Additional Rater will check the box he or she thinks is appropriate when you send the EPR to them for review. If you don't know, the ratee is the subject of the EPR, the person being evaluated. The rater is the ratee's supervisor, the person responsible for writing the EPR. The Additional Rater is the rater's supervisor.

BLOCK V. RATER'S COMMENTS

This is the section that gives people the hardest time. Even though there's only 13 lines to fill, at times it seems almost impossible to fill them. Below is the required format for this block. The first line is an introduction where the rater describes the ratee. The eleven lines in the middle are for listing accomplishments. The last line is a summary and promotion statement.

The quickest way to knock this out is to brainstorm first. List all the ratee's accomplishments on a separate sheet of paper. Jot down everything that might qualify as a bullet. Then, when you have roughly nineteen accomplishments (thirteen for Block V, Rater Comments and six for Block VI, Additional Rater's Comments), go back to the form and start fitting them in. If you try to think up accomplishments individually, edit them for readability, and make them fit in the space provided as you go along, your progress will be slow.

The format required for all lines in this block, whether introduction, accomplishment, or summary, are "bullet statement" format.

The Introduction: this is the only line where descriptive, flowery terms are tolerated. It used to be that raters could fill up 13 lines with a lot of fluffy, descriptive words. That sometimes made filling in those 13 lines easier. But these days they want terse, to-the-point descriptions. But, to accurately describe a person, some descriptive words are needed. This is done on the first line. It's a challenge to describe a person's character in a single line and not even a complete sentence at that. Add to that, the requirement to stratify the ratee and it's apparent that the rater has to a warrior poet.

The accomplishments: List the ratee's accomplishments. The majority should pertain to their assigned duty but education, self-improvement, and community involvement should be addressed as well. Accomplishments may be confined to a single line or expanded to consume two lines. To give the best impression, as many accomplishments as possible should be listed. This necessarily limits most accomplishments to one line. Some feats can't be adequately described in one line; if it's a good bullet, use two lines. The best accomplishments are those that somehow support your unit's mission.

The summary: If a rater doesn't list a promotion statement here, it's a signal that he or she doesn't think the person should be promoted. Or it could mean that the rater is just not familiar with the traditional format of the EPR. If deserved, the promotion statement should be included --just because it's expected. But don't lose any sleep over it. This statement has very little, if any, influence over whether a person actually gets promoted.

Note: Don't leave a lot of white space or unused space at the end of a bullet statement. Officially, white space is OK. Because the goal is to accurately describe the ratee's performance with no unnecessary clutter so inevitably white space will naturally occur. But, if you want to go the extra mile, if you want to demonstrate that your troop is important to you and worthy of a good rating, this is where you can demonstrate a little extra effort. When the Additional Rater or future reviewers of the EPR see how well it was written and how someone labored over it, it should make them realize that this person was viewed as a person worth the effort. In real life though, even if you do spend an extra couple of hours consuming all the white space, it could all be lost if the chain of command edits it.

BLOCK VI. ADDITIONAL RATER'S COMMENTS

In this section the Additional Rater, the rater's rater, gets to express his or her opinion of the ratee. Normally the ratee has to provide enough bullet statements to fill both the Rater's Comments block and the Additional Rater's Comments block. Below is the required format for this block. It's the same as Block V except there is less room for accomplishments. The first line is the introduction where the Additional Rater describes the ratee. The four lines in the middle are for listing accomplishments. The last line is a summary and promotion statement.


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