How do I counsel a sleeping sentry?

Article 113 applies to misbehavior of a sentinel or lookout and depending on the situation Article 92 could apply as well. However, when counseling, it is best in most cases not to mention the UCMJ article as the counselor is likely not a lawyer and could reference an inappropriate article and potentially make the counseling useless or unenforceable to some degree.

Counseling should be centered on the facts of the matter and corrective action. These comments are not exact or ready to be used in a counseling. Use them as food for thought and items to consider.

On or about (date)____ I found you sleeping at your guard post, this is in direct violation of your special orders/general orders (if these apply). By sleeping on duty you put other Soldiers lives and welfare in danger and potentially jeopardized the success of the unit’s mission. This is a serious offense. I am recommending the following action be taken:___(list actions).

Also find out why the Soldier was a asleep.

Assess whether other circumstances were involved (e.g had the Soldier been up for 48 hours prior?). This is not an excuse but you need to know if there were other factors involved. If a leader had a fresh Soldier who was well-rested, but decided to put a sleep-deprived Soldier on guard, why did the leader make this decision? Was it a good decision? Again, these items are still not considered excuses.