Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) in the Army deal with ethical issues each time they write or review a Non-Commissioned Officer Evaluation Report (NCOER). The NCOER outlines an NCO's performance for a rating period. The Army regulation covers administrative data portion of the NCOER in detail, however performance data is based on personal opinion of the rater and the senior rater. When ethics are pushed aside when writing these reports, a multitude of implications arise. Considering the relevance of this report and how it is used as a promotion tool, only ethical and honest rating on the NCOER ensures the best NCO's are selected and promoted to senior ranks. It is the duty of the NCO to know how to conduct proper counseling using effective Army writing style, to use it in writing and reviewing the NCOER, and to install that knowledge into the next generation of NCO's through leading by example. Without proper back-up, substandard performance cannot be included in the NCOER. Failing to document incidents falsifies the performance records of the NCO. Is it ethical to just leave it out and allow for a better rating of the NCO's performance? It is unethical for the rater to leave the writing of the report to the ratee, but it happens on a daily basis. Any ethical lapse or unethical behavior associated with the NCOER voids its purpose and may possibly breed a population of unethical NCO's. Only when ethics are valued highly and used in writing and reviewing NCOER's can we be sure that the report is an effective tool for evaluation, assignment selection, and promotion.

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