Posted on Aug 23, 2015
Can somebody be told to write their own adverse counseling statement?
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I know this 1LT who was just told by her commander that she needs to write up her own counseling statement in regards to delinquent GOVTCC bill. Can this 1LT write her own negative counseling or does the Commander have to write it. I've done some digging but I guess I haven't dug deep enough since I cannot find anything. My NCO instincts is that she cannot write her own form. Does anyone know the correct answer and what reg this would fall under?
Integrity
Counseling
Leadership
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 19
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They absolutely can. Not only that, it can be a form of leader development. The same goes with NCOERs. It serves to develop the one thing most junior officers and many mid-grade NCOs have a serious deficiency in, their writing skills. When writing their own counseling, a junior officer would be forced to research which regulations or policies they violated and develop a plan of action. The one thing that should never be written by a soldier is their own award.
To all those who say lazy commander, I say you are missing out on a great tool to develop your subordinate leaders.
To all those who say lazy commander, I say you are missing out on a great tool to develop your subordinate leaders.
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SSG Warren Swan
Having a junior leader writing their own evals is a far cry from having a junior write their own negative counseling statement. If you can have a junior write their own counseling statements, evals, then they could very well write their own awards. Where in all actuality they should never do any of that. A leader should groom their subordinates and show them how to do things like this, but not have them do it on themselves for something serious. I'm not going to teach you the fundamentals of marksmanship in the middle of a firefight. I should've done that a long time ago while I was training you (this is an example)
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SGT(P) (Join to see)
I agree that it is a good tool for leadership development. I believe that both the LT and the CO should write one separately and then the CO should review the LT's counseling statement to see if they understand the severity of the situation. I don't think it's a sign of laziness to have a soldier or junior officer write their counseling statements as long as they are reviewed with whoever is signing them. However, this should not be something that occurs every month, but done every once in a while to improve the SM's writing skills and teach them a new skill that they will need when they are leading others.
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When a leader subordinate is told to write their own counseling statement, it forces them to examine their situation, why they were wrong, how they can improve it, and what corrective training is suggested. This also forces them to be completely honest. Failing to pay a government credit card is a obviously a "no-no", and there is not doubt about that.
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MSG (Join to see) should be her supervisor enticing discipline, leadership traits. Leading by example, she should never write her own counseling.
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