Counseling
The Initial Counseling Session
Hold the ICS within 30 days of any new senior or junior relationship. Set targets, expectations, and the working agreement. Skip it and the next 90 days drift.
Leader Steps
- Schedule the session by day 25 to land it by day 30
- Prepare an agenda anchored to the six functional areas
- Open with expectations, mission, and unit status
- Set 3 to 5 targets with the Marine
- Close with summary, agreed targets, and next session date
- Record in your leader notebook within 24 hours
When the Clock Starts
A new senior or junior relationship triggers the ICS.NAVMC 2795 2001.1 The clock runs from the day a Marine reports to your section or the day you take over the section. Day 30 is the deadline.
The welcome aboard meeting does not count. The ICS sits 30 days later, with full prep on both sides.
Prepare the Agenda
Per NAVMC 2795NAVMC 2795 paragraph 3001, both senior and junior prepare.NAVMC 2795 3001
Your prep checklist.
- Pull the Marine's records. MBS, FitRep history, awards, PME status, last counseling notes if available.
- Block the calendar for 45 to 60 minutes.
- Draft 3 to 5 candidate targets across the six F's.
- Brief the Marine the day prior on the agenda and your prep expectation.
Marine's prep ask.
- Bring a written list of personal and professional goals.
- Bring questions about the unit, the billet, and the section.
- Bring any record concerns the Marine wants addressed.
Run the Session
Five movements per NAVMC 2795NAVMC 2795 paragraphs 3002 to 3004.
- Open. Coffee, two minutes of small talk, statement of objectives, agenda walk.
- Expectations. Your standard for performance, conduct, communication, and presence.
- Mission. Unit status, section status, the Marine's primary and collateral duties.
- Targets. Set 3 to 5 with the Marine. Action verb, object, standard. Tag each one to an F.
- Close. Summary, agreed targets, follow-up date, one forward-looking sentence.
Document Inside 24 Hours
Use the Cpl-and-above worksheet from NAVMC 2795NAVMC 2795 Appendix A or your unit's leader notebook.NAVMC 2795 3005.1.j Capture date, name, subjects discussed, targets set, next session date.
The notes stay between you and the Marine. They never travel with the Marine to the next senior, and they never roll up to the reporting chain.NAVMC 2795 3005.1.i When the relationship ends, destroy the notes.
Common Misfires on the First Session
- You skip prep. The Marine senses it. The rest of the relationship costs you.
- You read the agenda at the Marine instead of asking. Switch to questions inside the first ten minutes.
- You set 12 targets. Three to five fit. The rest become noise.NAVMC 2795 4002.1.i.(4)
- You forget to schedule the follow-on. Set the next date before the Marine leaves the room.
Same topic, other roles
References