NCOER Presence Bullet Examples: 9 Bullets With the Tier Reasoning Shown
Most raters treat Presence as the fitness-score block: AFT number, height and weight, done. The attribute is four components wide, and fitness itself is holistic: mental and emotional, not just physical. These nine examples come with the reasoning underneath: why each one reads as Met, Exceeded, or Far Exceeded under DA PAM 623-3 ¶3-11a.
I’ve spent twenty years on the rating chain. This is the Presence installment of the series that started with the Achieves examples post: real bullets at every tier, with the paragraph-level reasoning shown.
// 01What the Presence block measures
The NCOER’s Part IV blocks follow FM 6-22’s Leadership Requirements Model: three attributes and three competencies. Presence is the second attribute and the Part IV-c entry, and FM 6-22’s framing table for it (Table 2-4) names four components: Military and Professional Bearing, Fitness, Confidence, and Resilience.
Two things raters routinely miss. First, fitness in this model is holistic: physical readiness, yes, but also the mental and emotional endurance to function under stress. A bullet about coaching Soldiers through high-stress training, or coming back from injury, is a Fitness bullet. Second, Confidence and Resilience are behaviors, not vibes: calm decisions under evaluator scrutiny, composure through the no-notice extension, the comeback from the setback. Presence is how the NCO shows up and what that carries in others: write the behavior, then the outcome.
And formatting is not optional. Per DA PAM 623-3 ¶3-6b, bullets start with a small letter “o,” begin with a past-tense action word, and run no longer than two lines: preferably one. Every example below fits two printed lines on the form.
// 02The tier definitions in one breath
Full verbatim text and the deep dive live in the four-tier explainer; the short version for reading the examples below, per DA PAM 623-3 ¶3-11a: Met (¶3-11a(2)) is appropriate initiative with positive impact: the solid work a majority of NCOs at the grade demonstrate. Exceeded (¶3-11a(3)) is disciplined initiative taken often, with immediate, measurable impact: upper-third work. Far Exceeded (¶3-11a(4)) adds what Exceeded doesn’t have: consistency across the period, an enduring effect that outlasts it, and leadership that enables Soldiers and unit to far surpass the standard.
// 03Met-tier Presence bullets
Met: ¶3-11a(2)
o maintained a professional military bearing; passed the AFT at 540 and met all height and weight standards
Why this reads as Met: the bearing-and-fitness baseline, honestly stated: standards met, scores on record, nothing claimed beyond them. A 540 is a good score, and it still doesn’t move the tier by itself: a personal stat inside standard performance is Met. Numbers don’t set the tier.
Met: ¶3-11a(2)
o presented a disciplined example in and out of uniform; passed both record AFTs and met AR 600-9 standards all year
Why this reads as Met: sustained personal compliance across the period: positive impact through example, appropriate initiative, plain register. Note that “all year” here describes meeting the standard continuously, which is what ¶3-11a(2)’s “maintains” already means; it isn’t the Far Exceeded “consistently” marker.
Met: ¶3-11a(2)
o maintained composure through a no-notice 30-day field extension; kept all 6 drivers mission ready throughout
Why this reads as Met: Resilience in its everyday form: the plan changed, the NCO absorbed it, the section stayed functional. Positive impact, appropriate initiative, no claim of anything surpassed. Steady under a routine hardship is exactly the majority-of-NCOs performance the paragraph describes.
// 04Exceeded-tier Presence bullets
Exceeded: ¶3-11a(3)
o scored 570 on the AFT and led squad PT 3 days a week; raised the squad AFT average 42 points in one cycle
Why this reads as Exceeded: the personal score is the entry fee; the tier signal is what follows it: disciplined initiative (PT led three days a week, the “often” frequency) with an immediate, measured impact on the squad’s numbers. A fitness bullet earns Exceeded when the NCO’s fitness starts moving other people’s.
Exceeded: ¶3-11a(3)
o directed fires for a company live fire under OC/T evaluation; delivered all 12 missions inside time standards
Why this reads as Exceeded: Confidence as observable behavior: a fire support NCO performing under external evaluation with every mission inside the standard. The immediate impact is checkable (12 for 12, on the clock). Why it is NOT Far Exceeded: one event, no enduring claim, no one else lifted.
Exceeded: ¶3-11a(3)
o coached 4 Soldiers through high-stress trauma lane recerts after MRT training; all 4 passed on the first run
Why this reads as Exceeded: holistic fitness in action: a medic applying resilience training to carry four Soldiers through the most stressful gate in their lane, first-time-go. Disciplined initiative (sought the training, applied it), immediate impact (4 for 4). Mental and emotional fitness is a Presence bullet, full stop.
// 05Far Exceeded-tier Presence bullets
Far Exceeded: ¶3-11a(4)
o set the physical standard with a 580 AFT; led 5 weekly sessions that lifted section pass rate from 78% to 98%
Why this reads as Far Exceeded: the leadership multiplier: ¶3-11a(4)’s “leadership enables Soldiers and unit to far surpass” language: plus consistency: five sessions a week is a standing battle rhythm, not an event. The 580 isn’t the tier signal; the twenty-point section climb behind it is.
Far Exceeded: ¶3-11a(4)
o returned from a 6-month profile to a 540 AFT in 90 days; rebuilt the shop reconditioning plan now used across the BN
Why this reads as Far Exceeded: Resilience with an enduring effect. The comeback alone is a strong personal story: what earns the tier is that the NCO turned it into a reconditioning plan that now serves the whole battalion after them. Immediate impact AND enduring effect, the exact discriminator ¶3-11a(4) adds over (3).
Far Exceeded: ¶3-11a(4)
o earned the BN's first H2F instructor certification; rebuilt the reconditioning POI and cut profile recovery time 40%
Why this reads as Far Exceeded: performance extraordinarily above the standard for the grade, first in the BN to hold the certification, converted into an institutional fix. The rebuilt POI keeps returning Soldiers to duty faster whether or not this NCO is in the building. Enduring effect, earned and checkable.
// 06What to notice across all nine
- The score is never the story. AFT numbers appear at every tier, 540 at Met, 570 at Exceeded, 580 at Far Exceeded, and the tier moves on what surrounds the number, not the number.
- All four components appear. Bearing, Fitness (physical and mental-emotional), Confidence, Resilience. If your Presence bullet is only an AFT score, you’re rating a quarter of the attribute.
- The format never varies. Small “o,” lowercase past-tense verb, no closing period, two printed lines max, ranks written as ranks.
- Tier lives in the markers, not the adjectives. Multiplier, consistency, enduring programs: the regulation’s own vocabulary, never “outstanding.” More on that line in Far Exceeded vs Exceeded.
- No future tense anywhere. Rater bullets are performance-based per AR 623-3 ¶1-40c: presence is demonstrated, this period, on the record.
// 07Now write yours
Copy-paste bullets are always a size off: someone else’s score, someone else’s comeback, sometimes someone else’s tier. BulletForge generates Presence bullets from your rating period: your facts in, tier-calibrated bullets out, formatted to the two-line rule, grounded in ¶3-11a: and if your input doesn’t actually support the tier you asked for, it tells you instead of inflating.
Bullets like these start with facts written down in February, not remembered in November. The free Accomplishment Log keeps them.
Get the free logWriting one right now? Open BulletForge.