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

Root cause analysis is in order. I got a guy that was squatting in his house for 6 months, had stolen gear from his old unit, had 'bought' a rifle from a guy in his old unit, couldn't show up on time to duty, had no savings to his name because despite squatting in a house for 6 months has spent everything he should have paid to rent. He was supposed to be working in a controled air conditioned environment supplying the people that put you to sleep in the OR. Very specific simple duties. After multiple counselin sessions, and a 30 minute one wY conversation with our Senior Chief he opted to leave 160 hours duty a month in AC for 400 hours a month at a student command in North Carolina summer heat because he was incapable of getting his stuff together. He left the Navy very shortly after and was a burden on every command he was ever part of. My only conclusion was he was an end of the month quota grab so the recruiting office could make mission.

find out what's going on at home. maybe he made NCO and went right out and bought a brand new Lancer he can't afford, or his wife decided all of a sudden they can afford to have 10 kids, or maybe his parents aren't doing so well. see if he's talking with everyone else or if he just sits in his corner. i had someone sent to me that someone else didn't want b/c he was kind of a screw up, and he understood, or at least assumed this. he was kind of depressed about it and about being far away from home, but after a couple of people talked to him and after we started giving him crap and calling him names (treating him like we would anyone else) and encouraging him to keep practicing steps in the checklists, he settled in to his new surroundings and we had a ball.

First thing, make sure your intentions and the standards are clear. Then talk to the trooper to find out what is holding him (or her) back from satisfactory performance. Find the solution and help the trooper implement the solution. "Help" in this case may be either training (the NCO hasn't been trained correctly in the past), or corrective (the NCO knows better, but doesn't want to comply). Build on successes, immediately correct failures.

Send him to mental Health for an evaluation.

You have to counsel him and let him know what the consequences for his shortcomings. You have to give him time to make the new adjustments. If that doesn't work he/she may need mental help. If that is not the case then he/she maybe unfit for service.

A ton of responses for using the 4856 to counsel the NCO in question. Lets not forget that as Professionals we are supposed to train and mentor our subordinates. How can we expect someone to be right regardless of rank if the person was never taught what right is? Document what your expectations are and how you expect them to be achieved then provide the proper motivation and mentorship so the person can succeed. You must know yourself and your subordinate to provide the proper motivation and mentorship.

I would consider having him work very closely with an NCO in your section that is squared away (which may be you). Have him shadow this NCO and simply observe unless they are relaying an order as it sounds like this NCO has not earned the right to issue orders of any kind. If anything, hopefully having a "babysitter" embarrases them in to stepping up although hopefully it just teaches them how to begin to be a leader. Make sure that he knows the TLP's in and out, as well as having him work on the Troop to Task with you. Make sure that he/she understands what goes in to being a true Army leader. Also, have them recite the NCO creed, as a matter of fact; have them do this first. I can almost guarantee that they don't know it. If they don't know it, I would say this is a good place to start in having them learn it (not just the words, the meaning behind the words). Finally, if all else fails, sounds like E4 and out the door!

Counseling....NCOERs, and basic counseling statements. You can use the counseling statements for body for your next NCOER on this "NCO" Identify the areas in which he/she needs to improve and give that NCO realistic goals. If he/she doesn't meet those goals, reflect that in your NCOER and maybe go talk to your 1SG for advice on how to get this NCO out of the Army.

Document, document, document....every little infraction and failure to adhere to standards should be logged to demonstrate a failure of said individual to conform and perform to the required level of standards! Once you've compiled enough documentation it should be enough to submit recommendation for individual to be Chaptered Out, or at minimum, be subjected to corrective action (i.e. LOC, LOR, etc...). With the ongoing drawdown of 40K soldiers, it should be easy enough to throw the individual into the mix.

I dont remember what its called but while in the Navy, when we had problems like this we did have a basic boot camp that we could send them to it was only a few weeks long but it was to reacclimatize them to the standards. it was ran by Marine instructors and they lived and worked in a barracks just as we did in boot camp. Look into and see if the army has a similar program