I have an NCO (inherited from another section) who just can't get right. Do you have any suggestions?

As tough as it may be, I would say start from ground zero. NCO Basic 101. Explain and teach him what you want him to do. Make sure that he understands your expectations and standards.

Some times, when we see an NCO that just does not get it, we don't see that there is an underlying factor that is preventing him from getting it. Be honest and ask. Give the guy truly a clean slate, but if he takes advantage, or just can not get it, well....He may just have a great future in the fast food industry. Not everyone is cut out to be a Leader in the Army.

First a junior NCO needing help is something we all have faced, and it's a test of you, SSG (Join to see) as much as it is a test of him.

Other have mentioned the DA 4856 Counselling Statement, but almost no one thinks of it as other than the first punitive measure. I've seen the calculus, as I am sure we all have. It takes three 4856's to support a Needs Improvement on an NCOER, and so on.

I wrote an annual counselling statement on all my primary subordinates. EVERY YEAR. Each year, I'd discuss what they were doing well, where they needed to improve, what schooling needed to be next on their list, what they saw their career progression as, and whatever else seemed important. I wrote the same statement for each NCO I got, whether through promotion or transfer.

If someone did something well, got a unit coin, or whatever, I wrote a counselling statement. Since starting that policy, I NEVER had a single NCOER downchecked because of an unjustified Exceeds the Standard block checked.

And of course, every time one stepped on their crank, I wrote a statement about that too. The point wasn't to accumulate 4856s so I could write a bad NCOER. The point was that my junior NCOs knew I was watching; that I expected them to be NCOs; that I expected them to do well, or at least to learn from their mistakes when they didn't. And because they knew I was trying to help them, not just looking for opportunities to criticize them, they responded (in general) above my expectation.

If there is a lack in the NCO corps that I have seen, it's that we are more interested in documenting bad behavior than good.

Of course, you can't just start this policy in the middle of nothing, and expect people to see it as helping them. And if you already have a problem, you have to fix it. But if you see the 4856 as a tool to encourage better behavior, rather than just a tool to document bad behavior, you will have more success.

Counseling, re-training and mentoring. I'm in the same boat with a newly promoted SGT.

Whenever I personally had an NCO that was not making it, the first person I looked at was me. Was I leading by example? Was I being fair in my assessment? When I see he had a problem with a task, what was my response and did I use it as a training moment? There were many more questions that I asked myself and I was brutally honest with myself. Then I looked at how much did I know about this NCO? What were his past assignments? Which ones did he enjoy the most or least and why? What did he think it meant being an NCO? What did he see as his weaknesses? Of course you mentor that NCO and just like with all soldiers under your leadership you truly care about them. Being a leader is also being a servant. Some of my weakest NCOs have turned out to be some of my best or even later become Sergeants Major. Not saying that I am all that because I have had some failures along the way as well. It may sound cliche, but the military is a way of life, not a job. You have to put yourself into it and where as you may have your swag, you also need to be humble too! I always told my troops my position does not mean I am more intelligent than you, it says that I have more experience in this way of life than you. All of your minds are important and I expect for you to use them for the good!

While I'm not up on the Army promotion system, back in my day most cutting scores were inflated to ensure that our troops got a chance for promotion. So people were getting promoted that shouldn't have been. A part of the problem is that when you promote a new NCO, they are afraid of stepping on their friends that didn't get promoted. Additionally, the squad leader, based on your scenerio, had failed not only the NCO you got, but the entire squad.

So what you need to do, is use this as a teaching/training moment. However, you need to ensure that the NCO doesn't feel slighted in any way.

This should get you thinking.

First you have to identify why this NCO "just can't get it right". Is it a training issue or is it an attitude issue. The Army provides you with the tools to correct both. No matter which issue you are facing it needs to be documented. Document the problem, and the course of action needed to correct the shortfall, and the results of the corrective training. It starts with conducting a "Relief for Cause" counseling session. Document counseling session on DA 4856. Identify the where the NCO is falling short, develop a corrective course of action that is 90-days long, implement, and document results. If for some reason the NCO does not correct their performance, then you can resort to a Relief for Cause. I have only had to go this route with two NCO's during my career. 1 become a very successful NCO, and the other I had to do a relief for cause, recommended for reduction and separation. The NCO I relieved had an insubordination problem, and forced my hand when he disobeyed an order from a commissioned officer.

Can't get it right, or does things differently than you? All things are a matter of perspective, you should provide more information if you want real assistance.

Lots of great information on this forum. I do believe that a lot of soldiers are getting promoted way too fast especially during the start on GWOT. These young NCO's do not understand the amount of responsibility and influential power that they have towards their subordinates. As we all know, leaders are not born and in order to be a good leader you must learn to follow. With that said a soldier becomes a good leader by experience. As stated in several post you need to counsel this NCO and make the NCO identify his/her strength and weaknesses then come up with a plan on how he/she can improve. If the NCO fails you must have a paper trail on all that he/her accomplished and failed to do, so when its time for you to write his/her NCOER you will have documents showing that you have given him or her a chance to be successful.

Well ensure that it reflects in his NCOER. That is how we keep bad NCO's from getting continually promoted.

Every time I received a new NCO, problem child or other, I would always start from the beginning. Do not expect them to know what they are supposed to because you are only going to be disappointed. I always put forth everything that I suspect in writing and verbally, and let them know that I do not tolerate NCO's who do not perform. If he is a turd and cannot improve then I would recommend an NCO reduction board...had to do it once and it worked well for the NCO. Sometimes they just need to learn the hard way.