Verbal Counseling

The lowest level corrective tool is verbal counseling. This is the unscheduled spoken guidance that supervisors provide every day such as, “You need a haircut” or “Your boots need shining”. This type of counseling is normally not formally recorded unless the supervisor finds that the Airman failed to follow his or her direction. If the offending Airman failed to follow the supervisor's spoken guidance, the next step would be either a formal Letter of Counseling or another verbal counseling depending on how patient the supervisor is. If the supervisor chooses to give the Airman a chance and deliver only another verbal counseling, this time it would normally be documented in a Memo For Record. A Memo For Record is merely an informal record or note to remind the supervisor that he spoke to the Airman about a certain topic on a specific date. It's only for the supervisor's use and the offender doesn't have to sign it. Normally the offender wouldn't even know it exists. That gives the Airman two chances to clean up his act. It also provides evidence of the person's offensive behavior if needed to justify more serious action. If the Airman still doesn't correct his or her behavior after being verbally counseled, it's the supervisor's responsibility to the workcenter to write a formal Letter of Counseling. Note that there is no requirement to verbally counsel an Airman before writing an LOC. It's up to the individual's supervisor.