What is the NCOER support form?

DA Form 2166-9-1A is the NCO Evaluation Report Support Form. It is a mandatory working document used throughout the rating period to record the duty description, performance goals, and accomplishments that later populate the actual NCOER. It is not filed in the rated NCO's AMHRR.

Who is required to use the NCOER support form?

Use is mandatory for all NCOs from corporal through command sergeant major, even though no NCOER is generated for corporals. The rated NCO, rater, and senior rater all have responsibilities on the form.

How often should the NCOER support form be updated?

The rater conducts an initial counseling session within the first 30 days of the rating period, then follow-up counseling at least quarterly for Regular Army and AGR NCOs, or at least semiannually for Army National Guard and Army Reserve NCOs on inactive duty training. The senior rater counsels initially within 30 days and again at the midpoint.

Does the NCOER support form get filed with the evaluation?

No. The support form is a local working document, not part of the official file used by selection boards. It remains in the Evaluation Entry System (EES) but does not get iPERM'd with the finished NCOER.

NCOER Support Form Examples

A section-by-section walkthrough of the NCOER support form (DA Form 2166-9-1A): counseling timeline, duty description, performance goals, and 18+ example entries that turn into NCOER bullets at the end of the rating period.

The support form isn't the evaluation itself — it's the running record that makes the evaluation possible. At the start of the rating period, the rater and rated NCO jointly draft the duty description and performance goals. Through the period, they update it at each counseling session with real accomplishments. At the end, the completed form moves through the rating chain and feeds directly into the DA Form 2166-9 series NCOER. The support form is never filed in the rated NCO's AMHRR or sent to a promotion board — it lives in the Evaluation Entry System (EES) as a local working document.

Counseling timeline: Day 1-30, the rater conducts initial counseling and the rated NCO drafts duty description, goals, and objectives. Quarterly for Regular Army and AGR NCOs, or semiannually for Army National Guard and Army Reserve NCOs on inactive duty training, the rater conducts follow-up counseling and updates objectives. Within 30 days and again at the midpoint, the senior rater counsels the rated NCO and reviews Part VI. At the end of the period, the completed form is forwarded through the rating chain to help populate the NCOER.

Form sections: Part I is administrative data. Part II is authentication — initials and dates confirming each counseling session happened. Part III is the duty description. Part IV is performance goals and expectations. Part V is major performance objectives across the same six areas as the NCOER: Character, Presence, Intellect, Leads, Develops, Achieves. Part VI is senior rater comments from initial and midpoint counseling.

Duty description examples: Squad leader responsible for the training, welfare, and equipment accountability of a nine-Soldier infantry rifle squad. Platoon sergeant responsible for the training, discipline, and readiness of a 34-Soldier mechanized infantry platoon. Motor sergeant responsible for scheduling, PMCS oversight, and dispatch of a 22-vehicle company motor pool.

Performance goal examples: Complete the Basic Leader Course by the end of the rating period to prepare for squad leader responsibilities. Develop the ability to plan and brief a platoon-level operations order without rater assistance by the midpoint counseling. Raise the section's weapons qualification rate above 90 percent before the next external evaluation.

Accomplishment log examples (Part V), Character:

o self-reported a $6K supply discrepancy the week it happened instead of waiting for the quarterly inventory

o counseled a Soldier through a financial hardship and connected him to Army Emergency Relief within 24 hours

Presence:

o scored 570 on the ACFT this cycle, up from 520 at the initial counseling session

o kept the squad in standard uniform and bearing through a two-week no-notice field problem

Intellect:

o caught a scheduling conflict between two mandatory training events before it affected squad attendance

o completed Structured Self-Development Level 2 three months ahead of the suspense discussed at initial counseling

Leads:

o led the squad through a battalion situational training exercise with a 90 percent first-time go rate on assigned lanes

o took charge of the platoon formation for two days when the platoon sergeant was on emergency leave

Develops:

o mentored two team members toward the promotion board discussed at initial counseling; both were selected this cycle

o counseled every subordinate on schedule and kept DA Form 4856 records current for the full quarter

Achieves:

o closed the maintenance backlog identified at the last counseling session, raising the squad's equipment readiness to 96 percent

o met every training deadline on the quarterly training guidance without a missed suspense since the midpoint review

Common support form mistakes: waiting until the end of the rating period to fill in accomplishments from memory; letting the rater draft the whole form alone instead of involving the rated NCO; skipping counseling sessions entirely; treating the form as a formality instead of the record that becomes next year's NCOER bullets; forgetting the senior rater's required initial and midpoint counseling.