So the purpose of this blog is to explain what I did on my application. The comments and recommendations SHOULD come from your unit commander. It is the official section of the 56 where the commander interviews and adds comments/recommendations for the board to review.
I personally scheduled this meeting (meeting #2) with my commander. I was prepared for it to be very formal so I practice my reporting procedures and guesstimated what type of questions she may ask me. I also ensured to square my uniform away! This was service uniform day so I was extra careful on the placement of my badges, ribbons, name tag etc...
I reported to her office, knocked ONCE and was told to enter. I did my facing movements via the most direct route, saluted...and she cut me off as I started to do my reporting statement (thank goodness). She told me to sit down and said whats up?!? The whole meeting was very very informal and she just wanted to have a conversation. We talked about my aspirations, what career field I was hoping for, my family, and hobbies etc...Like I said very informal. She then wrapped up the conversation by saying I did not complete your pg 6 of the form 56. I was like dang...but she said I want you to do it. I am curious to see what you would rate yourself and how you would write your own comments and recommendations! She then said to bring it to her as soon as I was done! Till this day I do not know if this was purposely done as a leadership tool or if she was just lazy ha ha!
I got back to my office, opened up my 56 and started plugging away. I marked myself all the way to the right on the interview section (naturally) and started plugging away at my comments and recommendations. In my opinion, the comments and recommendations NEED to be bullets! Yes, the form says to use bullet format, but I have seen narrative writing!
So as an Airman Leadership School instructor we teach bullet writing. However, we teach it at a very very basic level. Our format is the AIR bullet or Action/Accomplishment/Impact/Result bullet. The reason we keep it simple is because Airmen are supposed to come thru our course with NO experience what so ever. They are also supposed to "Build upon" this basic structure when they get back to their units. We all know, however, that supervisors pretty much make their subordinates write their own bullets....so students are pretty much more advance in their own units style of writing before they even get to us! Very frustrating...anyway venting over ha ha!
So back to the comments. I decided to print out all my EPRs and start highlighting my really really good bullets AND my key duties task and responsibilities statements. I then started combining these bullets to make SUPER bullets. So what is a super bullet?!? It is pretty much two accomplishments, two impacts, and a combined bad ass result but with the brevity to keep it all on one line. You are probably wondering where did I learn to write this way? Well check out the site http://www.brownbaglessons.com there is a lot of detailed information on how to write. I used this as a supervisor in security forces and as an ALS instructor....of course I didn't teach this method!
Anyway, I wrote all my bullets (19 in total) and thought it was really good. I even used the "poop sandwich" by racking my really good bullets up top, my good bullets in the middle, and my bad ass super awesome bullets at the bottom. You should ask someone about this technique if you're really confused or don't understand why I (Air Force) does things this way!
Oh almost forgot, ENSURE YOUR BULLETS display your LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL; NOT MANAGEMENT. Do you know the difference?
So as I was saying...when my bullets were complete I decided to take a piece of advice from http://journeytoairforceots.blogspot.com and had an OIC from a previous assignment provide me feedback. He gave me some real blunt constructive feedback that blew my mind. It was an eye opening experience to not only see his feedback, but the "why" behind it. He was able to take my bullets and aid me in transform them into "Officer" like bullets. I was really impressed and truly thankful for his assistance.
The PUSH statement. Bullet 19 for me wasn't actually a true AIR bullet. It was actually a push statement kinda like our old "mandatory" promote bullets on our EPRs. This was the only true bullet that met the recommendation criteria. I felt that it was best to show LEADERSHIP in 18 bullets and a RECOMMEND in the final bullet that the board members will see. Here is a sanitized example/version of my pg 6:
- Deployed ISO XXX; only Amn selected for NCO duties...hand-picked as Fire Tm Ldr--cleared X villages/detained XX prnl w/ no casualties
- spearheaded tm short-notice inspection; renewed CCAF accreditation as tm linchpin--solidified XXX (MAJCOM) tm of the Year award
- My #X out of 21 TSgts in Squadron! Winner of XAF NCOY 'XX/back-to-back Xth FSS NCOY 'XX & 'XX/NCOA DG--highly recommend for commission!
These are sanitized and may not be the exact length for proper fitting. This is one bullet from the top, middle, and bottom of the recommendation section.
* Please be careful from broad statements. Example of broad statements are:
Best OTS candidate
Truly Among the best NCOs
One of the finest in my unit
These statements really don't say anything. The board wants to know specifically where you rank.
As of right now the AFI does not allow unit commanders to list stratification remarks for TSgts eligible for MSgt. I actually don't like this because majority of the Air Force will be marked as Promote on their EPR. Well I only think it is smart to state "where" you fall in the rack and stack. But that is just me and this was my second vent so I will just cut it out.
FYI I was marked as "Promote" on my EPR. Did this hurt me in the board? Possibly, but I specificaly asked my commander where I stood amongst my peer group and she told me. I needed this data to display on my OTS package and I did it in my last bullet. I won't tell you exactly where I fell but...
Currently only the Top 5% can get promote now; the top 10% can receive must promotes. You should have noticed that there were 21 eligible TSgts so you do the math and figure out where I stood....I was the runner up for MP.
With that being said you should see why stratification statements is important on the recommendations. The board truly needs to know how you compare to your peers when 89% of your peers may be in the "Promote" category.
So I scheduled another meeting with my commander to show her my completed product. She was very impressed with my bullet writing and was good with the way I rated my self on the interview form. She made some very MINOR changes (Personally I think to show she did something haha) and signed the form! WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER. Please keep in mind that I already had her signature blocked type out and ready for her signature.
Thanks for reading my blog. I am open to review any of your comments/recommendations on your pg 6. My next post will be about the personal statement.
Until then... GO AIR FORCE
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