Preparing for a wall-to-wall counseling session

More counseling sessions have been ruined by poor preparation than by anything else.

Wall-to-wall counseling is no different from any other counseling in this respect. However, wall-to-wall counseling imposes its own special considerations due to its violent nature.

Dress for success--mean and lean

A leader must be properly dressed to gain the respect and confidence of his subordinates. A wall-to-wall counselor's dress must also inspire confidence. The soldier must be very confident not only that he is going to get his ass beat, but that this man who is standing in front of him preparing to beat his ass is in fact the one who will do it. A military uniform is very much the wrong garment to wear to a waIl-to-wall counseling session, though. More radical dress is called for. A stop by a clothing store catering to members of the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club is in order. Basically, you want to look like Attila the Hun. Full leathers are good for extra protection should the soldier attempt to fight back. Proper jewelry is important. Spiked wristlets not only enhance the terror you want to instill in the soldier, but if properly weighted can increase the pain and damage which a sidearm blow to the solar plexus can cause. Wearing a large Eric the Red biker's ring will not only make you look tough, but the half pound of metal it contains will increase the effectiveness of punches. Wearing a Hell's Angels' deaths-head earring, though, isn't such a good idea. Although it's an intimidating item, the counselee may grab it and pull, and then you are in a world of hurt. If you plan to conduct many wall-to-wall counseling sessions, interesting in some large tattoos of Vikings beheading people with blood-covered swords would be a good idea. Additionally, the pain endured while they are being done will toughen you up and make you a more effective counselor. Watching films like The Road Warrior; The Last Boys and Conan the Barbarian will give you more apparel ideas.

Location

The room in which waIl-to-waIl counseling sessions are conducted has a great deal to do with the success of the session. Not only do you not want to be interrupted during the session, but you do not any large objects behind which the soldier can hide or which the soldier can push you into and hurt you.

Modern construction standards, in which large amounts of sheet rock are used, have changed the face of waIl-to-wall counseling. When was were built of plaster and lath, you could bounce the soldier off the walls a few times, kick him in the nuts once or twice, swat him in the head and that would be the end of it There were no worries that the room would survive the counseling session, because you knew that it would. However, you can easily throw a soldier through a sheet rock wall. The Army will make you pay for any walls you damage during counseling. Therefore, you want a large, strong room to conduct your wall-to-wall counseling sessions in.

Before calling the soldier in for his wall-to-wall counseling session, inspect the room thoroughly. Make sure the door is of good quality and is equipped with a working door lock. The lock is important not only to keep the session from being interrupted prior to its conclusion, but also to hinder the soldier's leaving prior to having received the full impact of the lessons you are teaching him. Try to find a room without any windows.

If this cannot be attained, windows placed high on the wail are acceptable. Not only will the lack of windows prevent others from looking in and observing the wall-to-wall counseling session, but if the session gets really intense, the soldier could accidentally push you into the window, breaking it and injuring you. The purpose of a wall-to-waIl counseling session is to impart the maximum learning and pain upon the counselee with the least amount of damage to the counselor's body, and a glass shard in your ass is a poor reason to prematurely terminate a session.

However, in a windowless room lighting takes on prime importance. You need to see the soldier so that you know where to hit him next, and the soldier needs to see you hitting him. Make sure the lights work and that the light switch is covered with a piece of green tape to prevent the soldier from easily turning the lights off.

Inform the soldier

After the area is selected and prepared, but before you dress for the session, find the soldier inform him of the time and place of the session. Also give a reason for the session. Don't approach the soldier and tell him "You're a screw up and I'm going to beat your ass at 1530 in the first sergeant's office." This puts the soldier on the defensive. Instead, tell the soldier "Meet me in the first sergeant's office at 1530. I want to talk to you about your performance at NTC last month." (You can tell him that he's a screw up and is going to get his ass beat when he gets to the first sergeant's office.)

Find counseling assistants

You usually want to conduct wall-to-wall counseling sessions on a one-to-one basis. This is fine if you're counseling a 120-pound basic trainee who doesn't know crap anyway. If, however, you're counseling the captain of the Fort Hood Boxing Team and you are a 135-pound woman, you may want to get two or three assistants.

It is simple to find them. Visit the gymnasium and go to the weight room. If you see someone is there putting many fifty-pound plates on a bar and then doing curls and 20 bench presses then you've found your man. It's even better if he is in your unit and hasn't yet been instigated in an assault case.

If you can't find anyone like that, though, look for boxers, wrestler or anyone else who fights for fun. The ideal waIl-to-waII counselor has a six-foot reach, fists the size of volleyballs, can bench 350-pounds, runs ten miles a day and has over 20 knockouts.

If you can't get Mike Tyson to assist you in your counseling session, though, anyone who maxes his PT test would be good too.