Can your leadership counsel you for asking for an AER loan?

A counseling is a written conversation. So, can you be counselled for this? Yes. You have to think about it from their possible perspective: You have to take a loan because you don't have enough financial safety cushion/net for potential set backs which could lead to possible issues down the road. Now, I'm not saying your financial situation is bad. I'm not calling you out on it. I'm just merely trying to bring light of possible reasons for their perspective. You also have to realize that finances, when left to fester and not taken care of, could lead to security issues...like loss of clearance.

Your chain of command can counsel you for any reason they want. Counseling is NOT punitive, it simply addressing things that the command thinks may be a concern. It can be corrective or it can even be just Good Job.