So today, seven days after the evaluations for E-5s were due, we finally got ours back. On my one and only other eval since I've been in, I got a very high mark and great comments on it and overall it was fairly consistant with my work and with how others saw me.

Today, 9 months later, my eval marks were average in all but two catagories, and my total score was just above average (and the eval scale from what I've seen is very much like the GPA scale overall.. where an "average" mark really means below average because in this day and age, everyone is supposed to get straight A's ... and moreso in some ways since a person's marks reflect on their superiors, kind of like if teachers got graded on their students' GPAs.)

Out of the other E-5s at my command, my marks were significantly below average.

Seeing as how I didn't have a mid-term counseling to let me know that I had done so much worse, I'm having a hard time figuring out how people are still going to me to ask all kinds of questions, how I got in the 99th percentile on my advancement exam and went from E-2 to E-5 in 18 months, how I get people telling me so much that I'm really squared away and doing a great job... and yet get marked below others who are not sought after as much, and more than that get marked barely above doing decently, doing the bottom line.

The one that boggled my mind the most was the comment that said "Impeccable military bearing" and "Outstanding on her fall Physical Fitness Assessment" (which was the only one since my last eval .. ) and then in the military bearing catagory (which includes physical fitness) I got an average mark.

What part of Impeccable and Outstanding mean average?

I mean, I know not everyone in the military has majored in English...

So, umm, I've got 3.29 years left in and then, perhaps, I can work somewhere where things line up just a little more accurately and where maybe I'd be a little more appreciated.. because you know what, guys? I really love the fact that you got me flowers and cake and ice cream and a balloon on my birthday.. I can't tell you how much I love that. But that's kinda like a guy cheating on his wife and giving her roses on Valentine's day or a necklace on Christmas..