Seemed very odd to me but I was assured by other USAF officers that they were not exaggerating.
The Marine Corps has/had some severe fitness report inflation too but nothing on that scale. The Corps didn't give a fig for fitReps written by other services (unless they were adverse) and considered end of tour awards to be belly lint.
They weren't. You wanted an OER with top marks across the board and an endorsement or two by the highest ranking officers possible.
It's the military's version of Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above average.
So-called “culture of fear” trumps honesty and integrity. Everyone who has ever taken a test has experienced test anxiety. Those with honesty and integrity tough it out and do their best. Unfortunately, these Air Force officers didn’t and should face the consequences of being dishonest and having no integrity. Losers.
It appears from your comment that you are either a current or former Marine officer. While your experience with AF officers may be limited your comments are spot on. For AF officers, and senior NCO’s, promotion is more about how you look than what you accomplish. Don’t get me wrong, I have known and worked with some exceptional AF officers and senior NCO’s but even they have to game the system in order to advance.
You were told the truth.
However, because of the “inflation,” it was very important what was actually written on the OER/OPR.
Because of this, when serving in another service USAF officers were very concerned because the other services didn’t usually inflate the checkmarks on the OER/OPR, therefore they had no true appreciation just how important the narratives were. The other services sometimes tried to take a ‘moral’ stand against perceived USAF inflation and the USAF officer suffered for it.
The checkmarks on the USAF OER/OPR may have been maxed, but we all knew that wasn’t important. What was important was what was said/accomplished.
Promotion boards first checked to make sure all the blocks were maxed, and if not that meant they were not keeping up with their peers and were trashed. That was why maxed check-marks were important. Less than max, trash the OER/OPR. If maxed, then take time to read the narrative.
The narrative was most important—what did he do and how well did he do it? How was this expressed on the evaluation? Was it written well with special phrases and key-words the promotion board would focus on? If yes, go to go. Example: “One of the best officers. . . “ Weak. “Top 20% of my officers. . .” Good. “The best officer in my command” Best.
While a major in another service may be just peachy for other services when it came to signing the top-level of a company-grade OER/OPR, a major in another service usually had many more people under his command than a major in the USAF, probably pretty close to an Air Force O-6. So, at least an O-6 was necessary to survive as it demonstrated keeping up with your peers in the area of responsibility.
I found other servicemen serving on exchange with the USAF were not concerned usually with their EOR/OPR because they knew they would not be inadvertently hosed by a comparatively low OER/OPR.
Majors and Captains in the USAF commonly served alongside each other as Flight Commanders. Therefore, a major signing your OPR as a senior company-grade was like having your peer sign it.
So, as a company grade if you didn’t get a maxed OER/OPR and have it signed by at LEAST an O-6 (your wing commander), then they were toast because you were not keeping up with your peers.
While running a section in a maintenance complex, I wrote an EPR on a young lady who failed and retested for her upgrade training end of course test (she passed the second time). I marked her down one block under training based on the verbage on the block as was appropriate. Her EPR was an overall 5 with one minor mark-down. As she progressed, she received two additional EPRs and they were “fire-wall 5s.”
Later, I transferred to a different unit and assumed a branch chief position. She also transferred and worked for one of my NCOs. She received relocation orders so I worked with her supervisor and we wrote an AF Achievement Medal package.
A certain Chief kicked it back all because her first EPR wasn't “perfect.” I went over his head, fought tooth and nail and pushed it through.
That's one of the primary reasons for Performance Report rating inflation.
“Seemed very odd to me but I was assured by other USAF officers that they were not exaggerating”
Not at all. An AF Major had better get a O-7 or above endorsement or kiss off becoming an O-6. The AF is busy making up medals to give to those not serving in war zones tat are then equal in stature to the war medals.