Try and start your FITREP bullets with a hard hitting action word or words, IN ALL CAPS, and then elaborate on it. For example:

OUTSTANDING LEADER: Lead a 25 man platoon into Afghanistan for a 60 day security mission. LT Smith security mission was responsible for securing 25 square miles of land and enabling the first ever election in his providence.

EXCELLENT TRAINER: Developed a comprehensive user-friendly NAVOSH training program for Officers and Work Centers which promotes NAVOSH training throughout the Command and ensuring 100% compliance on all command programs

MISSION FOCUSED LEADER: LCDR Smith keeps his eye on the ball; he is a mission focused leader who expertly manages a 125 person military and civilian organization with 25 deployment requirements and a 5MIL annual budget. He is an agent of change and will take calculated risks to ensure the deploying personnel have world-class equipment, training and support.

CONSUMMATE PROFESSIONAL: Senior mentor to the Wardroom, Chiefs Mess and Civilian work force. LCDR Smith takes a personal interest in the personal and professional development of his workforce, and looks for every opportunity to provide guidance. He demonstrates a clear commitment and outreach to the Navy family and is well respected both through USS NEVERSAIL and ONI.

TRUSTED ADVISOR: Over the last year John has been my trusted advisor. He has provided expert recommendations on both mundane and critical command level decision. He provides expert strategic level guidance and has earned my complete confidence in his judgement.

RESPECTED MENTOR: Responsible for the mentorship, professional development, career advice and guidance for my 20 assigned officers. John led formal and informal training in order to further develop these officers into Department Heads and Commanding Officers.

6.0 IN LEADERSHIP: LCDR Smith exhibits leadership of the highest caliber. He sets a standard and holds people to it. LCDR Smith lead the Manning, training, and equipping of 14 mobile and three shore platoons while supporting four Combatant Commanders and two Navy Regions.

BRILLIANT ON THE BASICS: Achieved 100% PTS applications, processed x awards, x reenlistments, and processed $$ in SRB, while excelling on five TYCOM directed inspections, to include EODGRU-2’s only ABOVE AVERAGE score on the 3M assessment.

EFFECTIVELY LEADS FAST PACED EXECUTION: As EOD forces commander in Bahrain, CDR Smith expertly lead over 120 sailors comprised of seven different units covering four geographically dispersed locations. Furthermore Greg held responsibility over 10 international exercises building relationships between our Middle East allies and the American Military.

BUILDS LEADERS AND UNIT COHESION: As a result of his superb leadership, morale at EODMU TWO remains at the highest level. The retention rate is at 95%, advancement rates are 20% above the Fleet average, 7 persons earned their Senior or Master EOD Technicians Qual and 100% of eligible Sailors qualified as EXW Specialists.

SUPPORTS MISSION ACCOMPLISHMENT: Led the effort to secure over $4M from the Joint IED Defeat Organization to support TSD and the US Navys first and only Underwater Post Blast capability and ancillary operations at the Navy Expeditionary Laboratory.

WARFIGHTER FIRST: Responsible for deploying Technical Exploitation platoons into SOUTHCOM, CENTCOM and AFRICOM to support the warfighter forward and enable tool, tactic and technique development at his warfare center.

LEADS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT: Under CAPT Smiths leadership his Indian Head Campus earned their Voluntary Protection Program STAR status in October 2013 with the EOD Campus awaiting final STAR approval. Furthermore he achieved an 86% reduction in incident rates and avoided injury related costs of over $1,000,000.

LOOKS TO THE FUTURE: CAPT Smith completed the first comprehensive year-long review business case analysis of the entire technical and infrastructure capabilities of the Indian Head Campus.

LONG RANGE VISIONARY: John set TSD up for long range success. He established MILCON proposals for both TSD spaces and the IHEODTD Robot Range, formalized TSD military and civilian manning, and established exploitation training across EOD Group ONE and TWO.

LEADS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT: LCDR Smith took the lead in improving processes for numerous command operations. These included Military/Civilian integration, gear issue and turn in, duty driver and civilian professional development education.

NATURAL LEADER: During the recent Underway Demonstration ENS Smiths leadership ability as EOOW resulted in USS NEVER SAIL receiving the score of “OUTSTANDING” from the PACFLT N82 inspection team. No other ship in the PACFLT has this honor or title.

STRATEGIC THINKER: Led disaster response operations for Hurricanes/Typhoons throughout Seventh Fleet AORs. His unprecedented actions during these major back-to- back disasters directly enhanced the USS NEVERSAILs capacity to respond to joint-interagency operations.

INNOVATIVE PLANNER AND MOTIVATOR! Foresight and preparation led to the Command receiving outstanding results during CART, READIMPT, and FEP, and the successful completion of 23 FXP’s during a demanding COMPTUEX.

SELF TAUGHT: Without a chief LTJG Smith took his 20 man Deck Division through the basic phase training cycle. This included mooring-to-a-buoy and underway refueling never attempted before with this crew.

CONSUMMATE PROFESSIONAL: Highly regarded for his extraordinary character, courage and integrity, his leadership is the benchmark for all who will follow. His tenure on the Strike Group Staff is marked by enormous contributions to our Nation.

CDR Smith is a superb Naval Officer in every respect. In this reporting period he has made a lasting contribution to the success of USS NEVERSAIL . Personally selected by me to develop a plan of action for the development of USS NEVERSAIL.

A few Additional Bullets:

As Line Division Officer LT Smith supervised the training of 48 men and women in the Plane Captain responsibilities. He transformed Line division into an effective and reliable Division.

Administered an aggressive ground safety program which resulted in a perfect Zero Lost Work Days record for FY-10.

Created an imaginative and effective Public Affairs program. Results included significant increase in command moral and esprit corps.

Rejuvenated the Command Sponsor Program. Actively ensures all new arrivals are quickly indoctrinated and receive first class, red carpet treatment.

Dedicated and meticulous. Set a new standard of excellence while performing as a special assistant, for such high visibility events as Naval Helicopter Association Conference, VIP visits and Change of Command arrangements.

Aggressiveness as Aircrew Division Officer resulted in all assigned personnel attaining First Crewman designation and simultaneously recording 64 percent of all helicopter AW advancements in the West Coast.

The expert leadership LT Smith continued to display resulted in an extremely high degree of success for the unit and the gaining command.

Senior Member of the Command Assessment Team. Her aggressive influence in the command, increased retention by 55% during this reporting period.

Immediately rose above his peers, filling two officer billets as COMCRUDESGRU THREE Staff Liaison Officer.

LT Smith inspires positive teamwork within the DET, he focus on improving processes through team interaction.

ENS Smith insured the Command maintained a 99% completion of all maintenance with ZERO equipment deficiencies.

Successfully completed two multinational exercises, TRICRAB 2001, SEAHAWK 2001, and one multinational MCM training evolution with the Canadian Fleet Divers

Instituted a DINK study program which has increased the number of people qualified in their respective PQS by 500%.