Forbidden Potential Language
The regulation forbids potential language in rater comments. There is a specific list of phrases that violate the rule. Memorize them and rewrite around them.
// 01The verbatim rule (recap from lesson 1.3)
This lesson is the practical phrase-bank for the rule introduced in lesson 1.3. Read the regulation once more before the catalog.
"For OERs and NCOERs, rater comments are specific to performance-based assessments. Intermediate raters (OER only) may comment on both performance and potential when writing assessments. Potential comments are reserved for senior raters on both OERs and NCOERs."
AR 623-3 ¶1-40c
Checkpoint
Which kind of comment is allowed in a rater bullet per ¶1-40c?
"Rater comments are specific to performance-based assessments." Performance only. Potential is senior-rater territory.
// 02The phrase-bank of violations
The phrases below are forbidden in rater bullets:
- "has potential to..."
- "will become..."
- "capable of..."
- "shows promise..."
- "future leader"
- "ready for [a role they have not held]"
- "destined for..."
- "promotable based on potential"
Each one points at the future. Each one belongs to the senior rater. None of them survive in a rater bullet.
Checkpoint
Which of these phrases is forbidden in a rater bullet?
"Has the potential to" is the canonical forbidden phrase. The other three describe past actions with specifics.
// 03The rewrite move
The rewrite for each forbidden phrase is the same: anchor in past action. Watch the transformations:
"Has potential to lead at the platoon level" → "Led the platoon for 47 days during PSG R&R; zero deficiencies on the QTB"
"Capable of running larger training events" → "Ran the battalion's largest STX of the year; 240 Soldiers, two-week duration, zero incidents"
"Shows promise as an instructor" → "Instructed the brigade NCOPD twice in the rating period; received 'excellent' on both end-of-course critiques"
"Future leader" → (Delete — this is pure potential. Replace with a specific past leadership action.)
"Ready for the next level" → "Performed at the next level: filled in as Platoon Sergeant during the EXEVAL, executed without rater oversight"
The pattern: every "will/can/has potential to" verb gets traded for a past-tense did-something verb plus the specific instance.
Checkpoint
Which rewrite of "shows promise as an instructor" is acceptable?
The third option anchors the claim in past action. The others retain potential language.
// 04Recommendation is the edge case
Recommendation language ("promote ahead of peers," "select for First Sergeant," "school selection") is a special case. The regulation allows it when it is grounded in cited past performance. "Promote ahead of peers — built the brigade ammo SOP now in use as the division template" is allowed. "Promote ahead of peers — shows leadership potential" is not — the recommendation has no anchor.
The test: read the bullet without the recommendation. Does it stand as a statement about something that happened? If yes, the recommendation can be added. If the bullet collapses without it, the recommendation is doing the wrong work.
// 05Worked examples
Worked example · Did Not Meet
Forbidden — pure potential.
Has the potential to be one of the top NCOs in the battalion.
"Has the potential to" is the canonical violation. No past action, no quantified impact, no scope. The bullet does no work for the NCO it was meant to praise. A board reads it, identifies the violation, discounts the bullet, and the rest of the section suffers from the credibility hit.
Worked example · Far Exceeded
Proper — recommendation anchored in past action.
Promote ahead of peers — built the brigade ammo SOP now used as the division template; trained six company supply NCOs who ran the next ITX without rater involvement; division qual rates sustained up 18% through the next quarter.
"Promote ahead of peers" is recommendation language, allowed because anchored in past action (built the SOP, trained six NCOs, division-wide impact). Three Far Exceeded markers fire from the anchor. The recommendation is supported, not stranded.
// 06Practice: name the tier
Read each bullet, decide the tier it honestly supports, then check the answer underneath.
Answer · Did Not Meet
Will become a top performer in the next rating period.
"Will become" is future-tense potential. Rewrite as past action: "Performed as a top performer in the current rating period — earned company NCO of the Quarter twice."
Answer · Exceeded
Often led cross-squad cooperative training across the rating period; raised platoon's expert-rated qualification count from 4 to 12.
Markers: often take disciplined initiative; immediate impact
Frequency + quantified before-and-after. No potential language. Two Exceeded markers.
Answer · Did Not Meet
Promotable based on demonstrated leadership ability.
"Promotable based on demonstrated potential" is the most explicit form of the violation. The "demonstrated" qualifier does not save it — "ability" still points at potential. Rewrite by replacing the abstract "demonstrated leadership ability" with the specific past action that demonstrates leadership.
Answer · Did Not Meet
Has the talent to be the unit's next senior squad leader.
"Has the talent to be" is potential. Rewrite: "Filled in as senior squad leader for 32 days during the senior NCO's school attendance; zero deficiencies on the unit-level inspection."
Answer · Exceeded
Promote ahead of peers — served as Acting Platoon Sergeant for 47 days during PSG R&R; zero deficiencies on the QTB, sustained training schedule through the transition.
Markers: immediate impact; often take disciplined initiative
Recommendation anchored in past action. "Acting PSG for 47 days" + "sustained training schedule through the transition" supports Exceeded.
Answer · Did Not Meet
Capable of leading at the battalion staff level.
"Capable of" is potential. The rater cannot project battalion-staff readiness from rater observations. Senior rater can. Rewrite as past action: "Filled in on battalion staff during the PSG's 60-day school attendance; ran daily battle update brief without staff augment."
// 07What most get wrong
The trap most raters fall into: the NCO IS genuinely going to do great things, and the rater feels every past-tense bullet under-sells the trajectory. So they add "has potential to..." as a flourish. That phrase triggers the rule and the bullet gets sent back.
The rewrite move: every time you reach for "has potential to X," change it to "did X" and produce a specific instance. If no instance exists, the claim doesn't belong on the rater bullet — give the senior rater the message in person instead.
// 08Regulations cited in this lesson
- AR 623-3 ¶1-40c
// 09More in Writing Patterns
The facts behind a good bullet get written down in February, not remembered in November. The free Accomplishment Log keeps them.
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