Relief for Cause — the AR 15-6 Prerequisite

// 01The regulation, verbatim

AR 623-3... prescribes that the referral procedures specified in AR 15-6 will be followed before initiating or directing a relief for cause, if the relief is contemplated based on an AR 15-6 investigation.

AR 15-6 ¶3-4e, p.7

An NCO can be relieved for cause regardless of the rating period involved; however, a waiver is required to render "Relief for Cause" NCOERs covering a period of less than 30 days ... A code 05, "Relief for Cause" NCOER, is required when an NCO is relieved for cause.

AR 623-3 ¶3-56, p.85

Referral. The process of formally providing a completed evaluation report to a rated Soldier for review and acknowledgment ... This provision does not apply to NCOERs, however it is applicable to NCOER addenda processes.

AR 623-3, Glossary, "Referral"

The rating official directing the relief will clearly explain the reason for relief and indicate they directed the relief ... the rater will enter the comment, "The rated NCO has been notified of the reason for the relief" ... An assessment of "DID NOT MEET STANDARD" is consistent with a relief action and does not need further explanation. However, raters who select "MET STANDARD" must explain their recommendation and reasons in view of the action to relieve ... A "NOT QUALIFIED" recommendation by the senior rater ... is consistent with a relief action and does not need further explanation.

DA PAM 623-3 ¶3-20a, e, g, h, p.130

// 02What this means in practice

You've decided the NCO in front of you needs to be relieved for cause. Before you touch the NCOER, ask yourself one question: is this relief being driven by an AR 15-6 investigation? If the answer is yes, the regulation doesn't let you skip to the relief. AR 15-6 ¶3-4e is explicit — AR 623-3 "prescribes that the referral procedures specified in AR 15-6 will be followed before initiating or directing a relief for cause, if the relief is contemplated based on an AR 15-6 investigation." That's not a suggestion. It's a prerequisite, and it exists because a relief for cause follows an NCO for the rest of their career — it's the kind of derogatory document that drives Qualitative Management Program screening later. The Army doesn't let you get there without the investigation first running its own due-process track.

What does that mean in practice? It means the investigation itself — whether it's a Preliminary Inquiry, an Administrative Investigation, or a Board of Officers under AR 15-6 — has to be completed and processed correctly before you direct the relief. If adverse administrative action is contemplated against the Soldier based on that investigation's findings, AR 15-6 ¶3-4d requires you to notify the Soldier in writing, give them a redacted copy of the relevant findings, and provide a reasonable opportunity — no less than 10 business days — to respond and submit rebuttal matters, which you then have to review and evaluate before final action. Relief for cause is exactly the kind of adverse administrative action that provision is built to cover. You cannot direct the relief and then loop back to give the Soldier their investigation-response rights after the fact. The order matters.

Once that AR 15-6 process has run — investigation complete, findings approved, the Soldier's response rights satisfied — you're clear to direct the relief. That's where AR 623-3 picks up. A relief for cause NCOER is mandatory whenever an NCO is relieved for cause, and it applies "regardless of the rating period involved." There's one wrinkle worth flagging: if the rating period being covered is less than 30 days, you need a waiver to render the report at all. Don't assume a short relief window lets you skip the NCOER — it doesn't; it just adds a waiver requirement on top.

Here's where NCOER relief for cause looks different from what you might expect if you've dealt with officer reliefs. On an OER, a relief for cause report is a referred report — the regulation runs a formal referral process, the officer reviews the completed report, signs for it, and can submit comments before it's finalized. NCOERs don't work that way. The regulation is direct on this: the referral provision "does not apply to NCOERs." There is no NCOER-equivalent formal referral and comment window built around the relief. Instead, the relief gets documented through the rating chain's own entries on the form itself.

Specifically, the rating official who directed the relief has to clearly explain the reason for the relief and note that they directed it, and the rater enters a required comment confirming the rated NCO was notified of the reason for the relief. From there, it's box-check driven: a "DID NOT MEET STANDARD" rating is treated as consistent with a relief action and doesn't require further narrative justification, but if a rater instead selects "MET STANDARD" on an NCO they just relieved, that rater has to explain that apparent contradiction. The same logic applies one level up — a senior rater's "NOT QUALIFIED" needs no further explanation given the relief, but a "QUALIFIED" recommendation does.

What this means for you as the commander or rater: your obligations split into two distinct phases, and they run on different regulations. Phase one is the investigation — AR 15-6 governs it, and it's where the Soldier's due-process rights live. You don't get to shortcut that phase because you've already made up your mind about the relief. Phase two is the paperwork — once the relief is properly directed, AR 623-3 and DA Pam 623-3 govern how that shows up on the NCOER, and that's a box-check and mandatory-comment exercise, not a referral-and-rebuttal exercise. Confusing the two phases, or trying to compress them into one decision, is exactly where relief actions get challenged and where the investigation itself becomes vulnerable to appeal.

// 03What most get wrong

The single most common mistake: a commander sees the AR 15-6 investigation findings, decides relief is warranted, and directs it the same week — treating the relief as simply the natural next step once the investigating officer's report lands on the desk. It isn't. AR 15-6 ¶3-4e requires the referral procedures in AR 15-6 itself to be followed BEFORE you initiate or direct the relief, not after. That means the Soldier's notification and rebuttal-matters window under ¶3-4d has to be satisfied first — in writing, with a redacted copy of the findings, and a real opportunity (at least 10 business days) to respond, which you then have to actually review.

The second-most common mistake is assuming the NCOER relief for cause works like an officer's referred OER — that the NCO gets to review and comment on the report before it's final. They don't. AR 623-3 is explicit that NCOERs are not referred. What protects the process instead is the requirement that the rating chain document the relief accurately on the form itself: reason stated, notification confirmed, and any box check that doesn't match a relief action (a "MET STANDARD" or "QUALIFIED") explained. Skip the AR 15-6 sequencing or skip the required rater/senior rater comments, and you've built a relief action that won't hold up.

// 04Regulations cited in this lesson

• AR 15-6 ¶3-4e, p.7
• AR 623-3 ¶3-56, p.85
• AR 623-3, Glossary, "Referral"
• DA PAM 623-3 ¶3-20a, e, g, h, p.130

// 05More in Adverse Actions for New Commanders & 1SGs

• Initiating a Flag Correctly
• Issuing a GOMOR — Filing Determination, Due Process
• Article 15 from the Commander's Chair
• AR 15-6 Investigations — When You Need One
• Writing Memos That Hold Up
• QMP/QSP Awareness

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