As a fairly new NCO, am I supposed to give my soldiers initial and monthly counsellings (PSG is asking for monthly)?

Some great comments below. I spent the 70's and early 80's in the USCG, getting out as a Petty Officer 1st class. (E-6 for you grunt types). As Petty Officers, we were expected to do quarterly evals of those below us, and to watch out for our guys as well as train them to properly perform their duties. As an Electronics Tech, that included troubleshooting, proper adjustment of equipment, safety, and of course professional behavior. Sometimes that did include some fan room counseling, sometimes that meant chewing the fat over a beer.

In the Coast Guard units tend to be pretty small, so the dynamic was probably a little different than most. Heck odds were if you stayed in long enough you would know a few people wherever you went, and others would know people you knew. Just to give you an idea, the average compliment of the units I was assigned to other than schools, was probably less than 20 total. My last one was my largest we had 87 officers and men. With units that size, everyone knows everyone, and personal relations become very important, especially in an isolated unit with no place else to go for a year.

I would say, yes, counsel them, but do more, get to know them, not to be a buddy, but to know their strengths, weaknesses, vulnerabilities, etc. If they can be addressed and corrected informally so much the better. I had a great mentor in the MCPO (E-8) who was officer in charge of the small unit where I was XPO. He taught me how to be friendly and relatable with the men under me without crossing over the line from mentor to buddy. Skills that have served me well in life.

Whenever you pick up a new soldier, you do an initial counseling. How else is he supposed to know what you expect from him? You need to do monthly counselings so he knows how well he's been doing and so he knows what success looks like for the next month. You also need to do "as required" counselings for if the soldier trips over his dick or if he does especially well. They're not just negative counselings. Young soldiers benefit from praise when they've earned it.

I'm sorry. But speaking you need to ask this question tells me you are not ready to be an NCO yet.

I’m, who took you to the board? Who helped groom and train you? Maybe you should ask to go back to being a specialist and let The real ncp’s lead and train soldiers.


Wait, I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings.

I'm almost jealous. While I was enlisted my fellow soldiers and I would only get our councelings every 3 month's. Monthly is a lot more useful for NCO's to help their Soldiers grow and keep track up their progress.

On attainment of the rank of sergeant, or corporal, you are no longer a peer of those in your team. Team Leader. With that change of status comes the responsibilities of grooming your former peers for advancement as well. Counseling, both good and bad are part of that development, both for yourself and the enlisted in your charge. Along with counseling, MOS proficiency and a wider range of duties come into your sphere of responsibilities. The hardest part is acknowledging that your assistant Squad/Team leader, usually an E4(P) will be both a support and adversary in some ways. And may be the more difficult member of your team to assess. Look to both the SSG and SFC for advice or guidance on what they expect. And Good Luck. The Army has evolved and changed quite a bit since I retired, no more wall to wall counseling, the horror...

WTF has the army come to?! As a squad leader, I was required to show my monthly counselings to my platoon sgt, once I was the plt daddy , you can bet your ass, I demanded to see them. You see, as a junior leader, you’re still learning. The only way you’re going to learn is to be critiqued on your counselings. Appreciate the fact that your platoon sgt wants eyes on your counseling, it’s going to make you a stronger backbone!

Giving feedback to those under you is critical for the chain of command to work like it should and also for those under you reaching their fullest potential. Does it have to be formal? No unless you are being asked to and for those in a training and upgrade status you are supposed to give them feedback monthly and document that also in their training folder. That way there is less chance of any surprises down the road as well as any got ya moments for any of them as well as yourself. The other thing about this is that it is pretty hard to be your best if those under you are not performing at a high level also. Feedback to them can be used to motivate and spur them on, or used to bring about needed changes and improvements in their work, and also for giving them praise for what they are doing well. As their success goes so will yours to a certain extent as an NCO.

What worries me more, and as an NCO counseling were integral in developing soldiers, is how you as an NCO can take issue with this. My only, and I dont know your story, but my only conclusion is this was probably not done for you. This is a negative in two ways. It doesn't help develope you to be a better soldier (though I agree not all NCOs are well versed in counseling) but also prepare you to develope those under you.

Not the easiest thing to do on a monthly basis if you are Guard/Reseves and to actually give constructive feedback based on 2 days a month. We normally do quarterly, which can give some more time for training and accomplishments or deficiencies. Important though is to know your soldiers and see what makes them tick.