What do to if your supervisor delays or doesn't provide you with an initial counseling?

Write the thing yourself and hand it to the idiot, tell him/her I did not get this here is an example.

Ask to put it on the calendar. It's tough to forget or neglect to do it if you have a meeting setup for it. Try saying something like "Sir, I want to make sure we don't forget to schedule my initial counseling. Can we do it next Wednesday or Thursday? Let's lock a time in now on our calendars for it."

Scenario 1: He agrees to a time, but then doesn't have the counseling ready... then I think you have an issue. Before escalating the issue, I would ask him for a new time and get it on the calendar again. If this becomes a repeated problem, I would tactfully address it directly as something you would never do to your own subordinates, and that you feel he is not setting the right tone for your own relationship.

Scenario 2: He says "nah, don't worry about scheduling it. We'll get to it later." I would reply by insisting to get it on the calendar. Perhaps quote your unit's policy on initial counseling... "Sir, based on the commander's guidance, we must complete the counseling by XYZ date. I do this with all my Soldiers, and would really like to make sure we can adhere to the commander's policy." If he is not responsive to this, then you should seek out advice from a trusted E-9 in your command, as your supervisor would just be willfully negligent of the unit's policies and apparently unwilling to do the right thing. Hopefully it won't come to that. Just putting the session on the calendar in the first place should hopefully be enough.

SFC (Join to see), something similar to your scenario has happened to me many (MANY) times while on active duty and as a DA civilian. What do I do? I soldier on and let it go. It may not be the right thing to do, but it works. "Pencil whipping" counseling sessions (/dates) was a standard part of my military career, but only when I was the person who should have received the counseling. I retired in 2006, and I hope that things have improved since then, but I am guessing that what I experienced, and what you described, is still a fairly standard practice.