Army QMP Notification of Denial of Continued Active Duty Service
An Army Staff Sergeant received notification for potential denial of continued active duty military service because of a poor Noncommissioned Officer Evaluation Report (NCOER) in his personnel file. The poor NCOER stemmed from his alleged loss of equipment in excess of $10,000.00 during a deployment. The SSG retained Attorney John L. Calcagni III to aid him with formulating a response to the QMP notice in the hopes of saving his career. Attorney Calcagni looked deeply into the nature of the loss, as described in the NCOER. He noted contradictory information in the NCOER regarding the SSG’s actual duty performance, which was rated positively, and the negative comments about the equipment loss.
Attorney Calcagni also demonstrated that per Army Regulation, a financial liability investigation was required under the circumstances of the loss, but was never conducted. Absent such an investigation, there was really no evidence to allege or conclude that the SSG was responsible. Further investigation to include interviewing the SSG’s former rater yielded new evidence that the equipment in question was never issued to or acquired by the unit to which the SSG was assigned. Given this collective information, Attorney Calcagni attacked both the conclusory remarks in the NCOER, challenged the overall poor rating, and established new evidence that vindicated the SSG of any negligence or wrongdoing. He put forth this information, along with positive highlights of his client’s otherwise illustrious career, in a written submission to the QMP Board. As a result, the Board voted to retain the SSG for further military service.