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CHAPTER 8
COUNSELING SERVICE MEMBERS
Throughout your career as a PN, you will
counsel service members. During a normal day’s
work, a Personnelman second class (PN2) or
Personnelman third class (PN3) can expect to
counsel several different Navy members on a
variety of subjects. In this chapter, you will read
about some of your responsibilities in this
important area. You will also read about some
counseling techniques with which you should
become familiar so you can enhance your own
counseling skills and become a better PN.
In counseling Navy members, you will have to
develop expertise on several different topics.
Some of the topics discussed in this chapter are
pay, allowances, entitlements, and bonuses; the
dependents’ dental plan (DDP); availability and
types of legal assistance; and the purpose and
submission procedures for availability reports.
Many of these topics are complicated. Official
guidelines often change frequently. One of your
most important and challenging responsibilities
in counseling Navy members will be to provide
the most accurate and up-to-date information
possible. This is not an easy job. To do it right,
you must be able to put your hands on the correct
resources that will give you the most current
official guidelines to pass on to the people you are
counseling.
After studying the information in this
chapter, you should be able to discuss different
counseling methods and techniques you should
use when you are advising Navy members. You
should also be able to identify the official
manuals, instructions, and publications you
should use to counsel Navy members on pay,
allowances,
entitlements,
bonuses,
legal
assistance, and the dependents’ dental plan. In
addition, you should be able to explain the
purpose of availability reports and why you must
submit them promptly. After studying this
chapter, you should achieve an awareness of how
important
your
counseling
duties
and
responsibilities really are and how the Navy
entrusts you, the PN, to do the best job you can.
COUNSELING
Figure 8-1 shows a PN2 assisting a young
third class petty officer. This scene is
representative of the work PNs, such as
yourself, perform daily. As a PN2 or PN3, you
may counsel many service members during the
course of your daily assignments. The
counseling
Figure 8-1.—Personnelman second class assisting a third class petty officer.
8-1
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