So You Need to Do a Counseling Chit. Here Is How It Actually Works.
Navy counseling chits are official documentation tools used across commands to record enlisted member interactions. They cover everything from administrative reminders to performance discussions and physical readiness notifications. The governing instruction is OPNAVINST 6110.1, the Navy Enlisted Evaluation System manual, along with supporting NAVADMIN messages that update specific procedures over time. You will also find relevant guidance in the NAVPERS 1610/2 series forms. I have processed hundreds of these over the years, and the biggest mistake I see is people treating them as paperwork to get through rather than legal documents that follow sailors for their entire career. A poorly written chit can complicate a promotion board or a retention decision. I once had a sailor come to me with a counseling chit that was filed correctly on the surface but had a subtle error in the rating period date that made it look like the counseling happened before he was even assigned to the command. The board review board ended up discounting the entire counseling chain because of it. Took me about an hour to trace the inconsistency back to a transposed month in the date block. The fix was a supplemental chit with a clear correction notation, but it should not have been necessary in the first place.
Understanding the Counseling Chit Navy Instruction
The instruction itself is not a single document you download and read once. It is a living set of policies that gets amended regularly. The core of it is found in Chapter 3 of OPNAVINST 6110.1 and in the NAVPERS 1610/2 form itself. The form has a front side and a back side, each serving a different purpose. The front is typically for the primary counseling points. The back is where you document additional discussions, action plans, and follow-up items. Here is what most people miss about the format. The counseling chit is not just for negative performances. In fact, the majority of chits I see filed are positive or neutral in nature — routine annual counseling, mid-term check-ins, and onboarding sessions. The form is designed to be a comprehensive record, not a disciplinary tool. That distinction matters when you are writing because it changes the tone and content you include. There are specific triggers that require a counseling chit. Mandatory ones include the initial counseling session after a sailor joins your command, annual counseling, change of command counseling, and separation counseling. There are also discretionary ones — things like counseling a sailor who is struggling with physical fitness standards or has a conduct issue that does not rise to the level of non-judicial punishment yet. The instruction gives you the framework. You decide when something warrants documentation.
One practical thing that trips people up is the difference between a counseling chit and a letter of counseling. A counseling chit goes into the sailor's official record. A letter of counseling is generally a command-level document that may or may not follow the sailor depending on how it is handled. If you are unsure which one to use, the safe bet is the chit, especially if there is any chance the conversation could come up during a promotion or board review later. The form itself requires specific blocks to be filled out correctly. The rating period must match the official evaluation period. The Sailor's rating chain has to be accurate — command master chief, division officer, and so on. When a sailor transfers commands mid-rating period, the outgoing and incoming counselors both need to sign, and the instruction has specific language about how to handle that handoff. I have seen too many incomplete chits from transfer situations because the outgoing commander signed off without coordinating with the incoming one. The result is a gap in the record that boards notice immediately. Another common pitfall is the signature block. Both the counselor and the counseled must sign. If the sailor refuses to sign, you note that on the form and have a witness sign. I once had a sailor refuse to sign a chit because he disagreed with the content. We documented the refusal, had the department head witness it, and moved on. The chit was still valid. Some people think an unsigned chit is worthless. It is not. It is still a formal record of what was discussed, and the refusal notation protects the command.
Get the Full Details
Processing timelines matter too. The instruction generally requires that counseling be completed within a certain window. Annual counseling should happen within 30 days of the sailor's rating period start date. Transfer counseling should be done before the sailor departs. Missing these windows is not a catastrophic failure, but it does create gaps in the record that can look negligent if someone is looking hard enough. When it comes to the actual writing of the chit, be specific. Vague language like "needs improvement" is not useful. "Needs to improve punctuality with morning reports" is. Use the sailor's own words where possible, especially when they make commitments during the session. I always tell junior counselors to quote the sailor directly in the action plan section. It makes the document stronger and harder to challenge later. If you need the current version of the form and instruction, the Navy form repository at NavyForms.com is the standard source. You can also pull the latest OPNAVINST 6110.1 from the Navy.mil instruction database. The instruction gets updated periodically, so always check the revision date before you start a counseling session. I have seen counselors print outdated versions and spend an hour filling out a form only to be told by the evaluating officer that half the blocks were no longer relevant.
The counseling chit is one of those things that seems straightforward until you are dealing with an edge case. A sailor on extended leave. A sailor with a pending medical board. A sailor who is part of a restricted duty program. Each of those requires a slightly different approach to the counseling, and the instruction does not always spell it out clearly. That is where experience comes in. You learn by doing it, making mistakes, and correcting course. The form will survive your mistakes as long as you catch them early and document the corrections properly.
