Army's NEW 4856 and What's WRONG wtih it

[@genesisdavilaboscan9219]

1SG, I went to the Soldier of the Month board today and I won 🎉 thank you so much for all the tips, I have a baby boy and anytime I was busy at home or with him I watched your videos to learn more, thank you for sharing your knowledge with us!

[@jennymijangos709]

I just want to THANK YOU because I got my promotable status last week, you gave me that confidence and strenght to better myself.

[@Z7d3nR4]

I was a squad leader in Basic, and received a counseling statement for Failure to Supervise. My guys were on cleaning detail, and I was helping. I told the E7 drill that I never watch a man work without helping, and if that's what the Army wants, they should send me home. I got brownie points from him, but still got the counseling.

[@CaptainJ22]

I've never heard of a counseling in BCT

[@Z7d3nR4]

@@CaptainJ22 , yeah. I thought it was odd, but I was new to the game, so maybe they were just trying to shake me up or something. I never followed up on it.

[@GodIsAStrongMan80]

I personally think this new 4856 is for the NCO conducting the counseling as it is for the subordinate being counseled. Speaking on a personal level, soldiers, do not always get the most stellar leadership; then they get pushed through for automatic promotions. I think the Army is finally recognizing this, and performing maintenance on the leaders that they have built. With that said, this new 4856 guides leaders in the direction needed to properly focus on their soldiers professional development. I think it’s a win.

[@Lettrashad]

1SG I use this new 4856 of course but only use general form because I was expecting and feel as if my own 1SG should have given his NCOs a class to better understand and use this new form effectively. Yes it can be said it’s self explanatory but there are parts where I can say myself is confused and wouldn’t know how to answer certain blocks

[@BillStoker]

It always takes time for everyone to process new info and new versions of forms. I’m positive you’ll figure out how to make the most of this one for your Soldiers. You got this!!

[@gregbauer6638]

I first heard about the new form on 01 April, so I originally thought it was a joke. I didn't think time and effort would be spent on this when the previous form was functional, and senior leaders should be mentoring junior NCOs on developing subordinates. That said, my only concern with the new form is we'll have to figure out how to handle situations that fall outside of the constraints the form gives us, though that is probably a rare occurrence.

[@yu-ger-bloob-highway3521]

Hey brother, form still has General Use in the old form format. Seems to me like that could really be the catch all for the rare occasion the selections fail to adequately address the situation. It’s definitely going to be a big adjustment

[@genesisdavilaboscan9219]

Next -> Soldier of the quarter board 😮💪🏼🙏🏻

[@BillStoker]

Heck yeah!! Stoked for ya!!!

[@stewarttrains98]

Being retired could care less. However, I see an added benefit if it is used right. Makes the job easier as it is generated based on earlier selections of type of counseling. There is always going to be the CSM or 1SG who will dictate exactly how they want it done and used. As for the accountability of doing it as should be done, we used to have a platoon folder that had a folder for each member. Was very easy to keep up with. In my last job each SM had a folder I would place a printed copy in then I had a digital folder on the share drive and was easy to know if you did or didn't do your job in a timely manner.

[@BillStoker]

absolutely! good stuff

[@yu-ger-bloob-highway3521]

Honestly, I think you should give yourself more credit. It just takes someone to really put the exact standards in place. You’d be surprised how much “that’s how we’ve always done it” plagues the higher and even lower leadership levels. If you can show someone the proper way, make it make sense and positively enforce it, it pays dividends later down the road. I really think many of those soldiers, while not perfect, probably did take your teachings and go forward with them. It’s honestly the young NCOs who are trying to get out or just don’t care that are the issue. The Army seems to be dwindling on morale (at least in the super understrengthed Cav world). This form looks good, but as someone who would sit down with every team leader each month and look at every counseling with a fine tooth comb (had to after seeing the packets with copy pasted month to month), request changes just to get the same thing back, just to have to reinforce what was not right with it the first and now second time…. This is going to be a headache for a long time. It’s going to actually really force team leaders to step up though so I think it’s great and of course as a Section Leader it’s my job to advise and support them through that process so we can really develop these soldiers. I love the fact that it has different areas to really work with. It’s like an NCO Support form where you can prep bullets for awards as they happen, notification for upcoming promotion boards and how to hone oneself…. I like it but I think it also falls under “when things become over complicated results may be substandard”. Team Leaders barely seem to know how to do the previous counselings let alone know the difference between approaches, category of counseling, etc on top of it.

[@BillStoker]

appreciate you sharing so much. right on point.