1. Fitness Reports: How to Tell Your Story
CAPT Christopher J. Pratt RN MS
Deputy Director, Nursing Services
Naval Medical Center San Diego

3. Disclaimer
The views expressed in this work are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Department of Defense, or the United States Government.
We have no affiliation or financial interest/relationships with any corporate organization that may be mentioned in this offering.

4. Why do we have FITREPS? Provide member with feedback.
Improve future performance.
Help set future goals.
Document performance in relationship to USN standards and peers.
Promotion Boards
Selection Boards
FITREPS tell your story
Promotion
Physical Readiness Status is part of fitrep
Shows your primary duty assignment (block 29)
Tells a board/detailer what your next career milestone should be (block 40)
Own your fitrep! Brag sheet is most important input you can give
The only tangible document that tells you how you are doing
Shows you how you rank among peers
DUINS selection = good fitreps
Detailer reviews fitreps which = assignments
Fitreps determine your future in the military
Good FITREPS do NOT just happen.
A well done performance appraisal is the result of multiple efforts:
Member
Supervisor
Chain of Command

5. FITREPS Dissected
Your SSN and dates are crucial for a complete record.
Be sure each field is accurate.
As mentioned, Blk 29 does not warrant repeating in Blk 41.

6. FITREPS Dissected
Blk 41 should reflect bullets that speak to the traits.
Professional Expertise and Leadership are very important.
Mission and Teamwork often go hand-in-hand.

7. FITREPS Dissected Blk 39 is typically marked NOB.
Blk 40 is an important way to let convey next career moves.

8. FITREPS Dissected
Blk 41 is the only narrative of your performance and where you can make the greatest impact on the story of you
Promotion recommendations show how you and your peers ranked out against each other.
Ensure that you are tracking to the right as you progress through your tour
Block 46

9. FITREP Ranking and Processing
Marks are validated by Ranking Boards.
Get to read multiple reports.
Have the TOUGH job of assigning grades and promotion recommendations.
Reports then go to SNE/XO/CO.
***All FITREPS are considered drafts until signed by CO.***
Your networking and ability to function/operate within the organization is tested here.
Forced distribution

10. It’s all about YOU!
Keep an ongoing record of your activities and accomplishments. Can be used at the midterm counseling.
Be sure committee involvement and collateral duties include accomplishments, outcomes or cost/resource savings.
Avoid acronyms.
Submit a thorough “Brag Sheet”.
Take Ownership!! It is your career and responsibility.
Supervisors have people to develop, they may not remember everything single thing you do.

11. Brag Sheet Hints Supervisor edits your fitness report.
ABOVE average performance in your duties, to include strong collateral duty performance.
Show cause & effect.
Reflect increasing level of accomplishments.
Provide supporting documentation.
Get familiar with the NAVFIT program.
Write your own FITREP! Submit draft of your fitness report.
Justify the trait marks in the narrative with measurable accomplishments.
After you’ve turned in your brag sheet:
Supervisor edits your fitness report.
Assigns trait marks.
May seek out details to assist with conveying accomplishments.
Assigns promotion recommendation.
Anyone who has the brains to gain a commission has the brains to become a good writer. It requires work. It doesn’t come easily or quickly. It demands time and effort to master the language. It demands practice, practice and more practice. Lastly, the writer must have something to say. The task is to deliver the message of substance in the clearest possible way. Almost always this means the shortest way.
The only way to become a writer is to write. There are reasons why the services are so free with dictionaries and run so many courses on fundamental writing skills. There are reasons why the services have either published or adopted a manual style and format. The services want to provide opportunities for mastery of the language. Just as a condition of the profession demands that an officer master a particular weapon, learning the language of the profession is similarly essential. Poor spelling, poor grammar and lack of specific vocabulary are excuses, not the result of effort. Even great athletes, whose stock in trade is essentially muscular coordination, understand the need for practice.
In the same way, good writing comes from practice and practice and more practice. Only after the process of making words into sentences and sentences into paragraphs and paragraphs into chapters becomes a natural rhythmic process does the stamp of individuality and personality shine through the writing to the reader.
Extensive practice creates the ability to look at a problem, define its important parts and discover the possible solutions. Before one can write, one has to think. What an officer thinks will be reflected in the structure, the choice of words and the logic of the writing. This does not mean that the task will ever become easy. Good writing always will require more perspiration than inspiration.

12. Metric Examples Improved customer service
Resource savings and cost avoidance
Off-duty hours used
A pre and post- implementation survey
Many sources of data
Analyze what is out there

13. Show Impact! Supervisor edits your fitness report.
Each bullet should state a measurable outcome.
Quality, not just quantity.
Cause & effect.
No jargon, use language future selection boards will understand.
Is there a hard metric that can be used?
Pick varying collateral duties. It shows flexibility, willingness to grow and you learn more about the broad mission of Military Medicine.
After you’ve turned in your brag sheet:
Supervisor edits your fitness report.
Assigns trait marks.
May seek out details to assist with conveying accomplishments.
Assigns promotion recommendation.

14. Bullet Effectiveness Background: There are 16 staff. Which is best?
You trained 8.
Which is best?
A. Increased staff PALS certification by 8 members.
B. Increased staff PALS certification by 50%.
C. Increased staff PALS certification by 50%, increasing staff competence with weekly code drills.
When using metrics, use the most descriptive:
% or raw numbers

15. Bullet Effectiveness Which is Best?
A. Received moderate sedation certification; enabled Gastroenterology and General Surgery departments to increase number of patients treated in TRICARE Healthcare system; saved command network deferment payments.
B. Achieved moderate sedation certification; enabled two surgical departments to increase access to care by 25 cases/mos. with network referral cost avoidance of $40K. Great stuff!

16. Titles versus Accomplishments
Titles do not matter as much as your ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
Job descriptions are only noted in Block 29.
Led 15 staff; managed $2K/mos. in supply funds.
Do not list same job descriptions listed on block 29 in block 41.
Displayed superior leadership skills; led staff in continuous improvement activities that decreased supply expenditures by 5%/yr.
Demonstrate that you have made an impact within greater circles of influence (division, department, directorate, Command, MHS)

17. FITREP/EVAL Counseling
Be realistic with your expectations
Expectations are different at each rank.
It takes time to settle into new command, role, rank.
1st report at new command?
Just promoted?
It takes time to build accomplishments, work projects.
You are being compared to people who are already established and producing.
Focusing on the grades keeps you from focusing on your performance.
Focus on how you can improve.
Ask your supervisor for guidance on what you need to improve on.
The goal is to have your trait mark average “move to the right” and exceed the CO’s average. The ENS and LTJG reports will all be marked as “Promotable”, but growth is demonstrated with the member’s average moving to the right.
The occasions where it resets to the middle is if you are new at the Command, have a new Reporting Senior or you were just promoted.
So you finally get to sit down with the Boss and do a FITREP debrief. So, what sorts of questions should you ask? Well, start with the numbers: - Why am I where I'm at as compared to the Summary Group Average? - Why am I where I'm at as compared to your Reporting Seniors Average? Summary Group Average (SGA) is everyone else being evaluated. If you're above, then you're in the top 50%. If you aren't, then you're not. Reporting Seniors Average (RSA) is a bit more important. Being above the RSA is looked upon as a good thing on a selection board. Not all reporting seniors keep track of their averages. Be sure to know where you fall out. If you're below the average, is it because you're new? Because you're junior? Or because you really didn't perform well? If you're above, is it because of great performance, or did you happen to get graded in a cycle when someone got a DUI and an SP? Then, go to what you did: - Was your Boss happy with what you accomplished? - Where did you take on a project and fail? - Where did you not take on a project that you should have? You might be surprised that some of the things that you thought the Boss cared about are really not concerns of his. You also might be surprised that he noticed areas you neglected. Then, talk about your personality: - Are you displaying the qualities of a professional officer? - Where are you really strong (and thus can take jobs that show off your skills)? - Where are you weak (and thus need to get some mentorship)? Don't hide strengths or weaknesses. If you're strong in something, ask the Boss if there is an opportunity to fix a problem of his that plays to your strengths. And if you're weak, ask the Boss for a recommendation for a mentor.  Lastly, talk about the future: - Schedule your midterm review. - Agree to work on something. - Thank the Boss for his time Midterm reviews are not widely used in the Navy, and that's a shame. It's a chance to review progress and change course should something not be working right. Be sure to schedule yours right away, it'll prevent it from falling by the wayside. Also, agree to change something. If the Boss says you are not a great briefer, offer to practice or take on the next few navigation briefs. Don't walk out of a FITREP debrief without something to do.

18. Top 10 Tools for Success
Volunteer – collateral duties, community service etc.
Stay physically fit and maintain body fat.
Keep an electronic file or notebook of training you have completed.
In that same notebook/e-file -keep a list of accomplishments:
Use a brag sheet and update it regularly.
Don’t write the same thing for every fitrep.
Show versatility and change.
No spelling or grammatical errors on submissions.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Write your own FITREP.
CAPT Hurt graciously provided the ENS Great fitrep slides and these key tools for success.
CAPT (sel) Vossler created the slides that this presentation was based.
My thanks to both!

19. Questions??
Thanks to Jeff Bacon, Author of Broadsides, for the cartoons!