Air Force OPR (AF Form 707) Guide

The AF OPR (AF Form 707) and EPR share structural similarities but serve different populations and carry different implications. The OPR evaluates officers O1–O6, while the EPR covers enlisted E1–E8.

The OPR does not use the same 1–5 rating scale as the EPR. Instead, officer evaluations rely more heavily on narrative quality, stratification statements, and the promotion recommendation box. The push lines in an OPR must reflect strategic leadership scope, not just task execution.

AF OPR stratification lines appear in the rater section and additional rater section. The standard format is: "Top [X]% of [N] [grade]s in my [unit/organization]" or "#[rank] of [N] [grade]s I've supervised."

Board members calibrate these numbers carefully. "Top 10% of 30 captains" is more specific and credible than "top 10% of my officers." The denominator matters — it tells the board how competitive the pool was. A small denominator (e.g., top of 2) is weaker than the same percentage over a large population.

Both rater AND additional rater stratifications are read. If one says top 10% and the other says top 25%, the board interprets this as a meaningful discrepancy — not as averaging.

Like the EPR, the OPR has three promotion recommendations: Definitely Promote (DP), Promote (P), and Do Not Promote (DNP). The DP is quota-controlled at the unit level — commanders cannot give DP to everyone.

For competitive promotion boards (O-4 through O-6), a DP from the rater and additional rater is often a minimum competitive threshold. A Promote rating from both is sufficient only in the most junior promotion windows and is rarely competitive for O-5+.

DNP is a career-ending event without a documented extraordinary circumstance (medical, personal crisis). Receiving DNP requires immediate action: commander's inquiry, legal counsel review, and career manager consultation.

In the OPR context, the push line is the narrative statement written specifically to argue for promotion. It is the most visible advocacy tool the rater has, and senior raters write push lines differently than junior raters.

A push line that says "Promote ahead of peers and select for senior developmental education" carries much more weight than "Recommend for promotion." The latter is the floor; the former is what competitive boards look for. The additional rater's push line, if it echoes or amplifies the rater's, is doubly powerful.

Promotion boards don't read one OPR — they read your entire record. A single outstanding OPR matters, but a pattern of outstanding OPRs matters more. The file should tell a coherent story of increasing scope, responsibility, and impact.

Boards look for: consistent DP recommendations at each grade level, stratification positions improving or staying elite over time, diversity of assignments (ops, staff, joint, education), and a senior rater endorsement from an increasingly senior officer. A O-5 with an endorsement from a 1-star tells a different story than a O-5 with an endorsement from a mid-career colonel.