NCOER Nonrated Codes: The Complete Table 3-17 List, Verbatim

// 01What nonrated time actually is

Before the letters mean anything, you need the definition, and it comes from the policy regulation, AR 623-3, in the paragraph on continuous evaluation report history:

(1) Rated time encompasses the time a rated Soldier has been assigned under a valid rating chain for the purposes of counseling, guidance, and evaluation of their performance and potential. (2) Nonrated time encompasses periods of time when a rated Soldier cannot be evaluated. These periods include a wide variety of circumstances when a Soldier is not performing duty in an assigned position under a valid rating chain. Qualifying periods of nonrated time are documented on OERs and NCOERs using nonrated codes and they become part of a Soldier’s rating history (see DA Pam 623-3). Comments on events or accomplishments during periods of nonrated time will not be made on OERs or NCOERs (see paras 3-17a and 3-18a). AR 623-3, ¶3-34c(1)-(2)

Two things to hold from that. First, nonrated time is not a judgment call: it is time when the Soldier cannot be evaluated because they were not performing duty in an assigned position under a valid rating chain. Second, the last sentence is a writing rule, not just an admin rule. Whatever happened during a nonrated period stays off the report. No bullet about the school you attended while coded S. The code documents the gap; the narrative does not fill it.

// 02The full nonrated codes table

Table 3-17 of DA PAM 623-3 is titled “Reason codes for nonrated time for DA Form 2166-9 series noncommissioned officer evaluation reports.” It has two columns, Codes and Reason, and sixteen rows. Every row, verbatim:

The letters B, J, K, L, N, O, R, U, V, and Y are simply not assigned. The pamphlet does not explain the gaps, so neither will we. And directly under the table sits a note worth reading twice, because the EES drop-down will happily offer you letters this table does not:

Note. Codes other than those indicated in this table may appear in the drop-down menu on electronic forms. Use only the codes found in this table for processing NCOERs. DA PAM 623-3, Table 3-17

One scope warning: Table 3-17 is the NCOER table, for the DA Form 2166-9 series. The OER (DA Form 67-10 series) has its own nonrated code table in chapter 2 of the pamphlet. Do not carry these letters across to an officer report without checking the OER chapter.

// 03Where the codes go: Part I, block l

The form-prep tables for all three NCOER forms point block l at Table 3-17 with the same instruction:

Enter the appropriate codes from table 3-17. If there was no qualifying nonrated time during the period covered, leave blank. Entries in part I, block k are not required for ARNG IRR and IMA Soldiers not on active duty. DA PAM 623-3, Table 3-6 (DA Form 2166-9-2, Part I, block l)

The instruction is identical for the SGT form (Table 3-1) and the SGM/CSM form. Note the second sentence: no qualifying nonrated time means the block stays blank. You do not enter Z to mean “nothing to report.” Z is a real code for real nonrated time that no other letter describes.

// 04How nonrated time changes rated months

Block l explains the gap. Block k counts what is left. The rated months instruction on the form-prep table reads:

The number of rated months is computed by counting the total number of calendar days in the ‘rating period’ and dividing the number of days in the rating period by 30. DA PAM 623-3, Table 3-1 (DA Form 2166-9-1, Part I, block k)

Note. Do not use the number of days in the entire ‘period covered’ by the NCOER. Subtract all nonrated time. If 15 or more days are left after dividing the rating period by 30, count them as a whole month (for example, 130 days is 4 months and 10 days and is entered as 4 months; 140 days is 4 months and 20 days and is entered as 5 months). DA PAM 623-3, Table 3-1 (block k note)

That note is the whole relationship between the two blocks in three sentences: start from the rating period, not the period covered; subtract all nonrated time; then apply the 15-day rule to whatever remainder the divide-by-30 leaves. The pamphlet’s own worked pair shows the rounding in both directions: 130 days rounds down to 4 months, 140 days rounds up to 5.

// 05A worked example, start to finish

Apply those quoted rules to a common case. An SSG serves a 365-day rating period under the same rater. During it, she spends 60 days as a student at a military school, which is nonrated time under code S (“Student at military or civilian school”).

• Subtract the nonrated time: 365 days minus 60 nonrated days leaves 305 rated days.
• Divide by 30: 305 divided by 30 is 10 months with 5 days left over.
• Apply the 15-day rule: 5 days is fewer than 15, so it does not count as a whole month.
• Enter it: block k reads 10, and block l carries an S to account for the school time.

Had the school run 50 days instead, the math would leave 315 rated days: 10 months with 15 days over, and the 15-day rule would round block k up to 11. The letter in block l does not change; only the arithmetic in block k does.

// 06Check the source

Everything quoted above was transcribed from DA PAM 623-3 (12 February 2025), Table 3-17 and the Part I form-prep tables, and from AR 623-3 (14 February 2025), paragraph 3-34c. Both publications are free on the Army Publishing Directorate: DA PAM 623-3 and AR 623-3. If this page and the current publication ever disagree, the publication wins, and we want to know about it.

The codes account for the months a Soldier could not be evaluated. The rated months that remain still need bullets that hold up, and the NCOs who log accomplishments all year are the ones who are not reconstructing a rating period from memory the week the report is due.

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