Can a corporal in a team leader position have me do corrective action (“smoke” me)? And was I wrong to tell him to eat a bag of dicks?

Brother, you should always keep your Military Bearing, whether they are junior, senior or a peer. The Corporal has Positional Authority. You have to Respect that as part of your Situational Chain of Command. For example, as a C-130T Loadmaster in the Navy, each Crew position has Positional Authority. During load/unload evolution, the Loadmaster, as Subject Matter Expert, has Command of the load/unload evolution. All available Crew Members, including the Pilots, are under the direction of the Loadmaster. Of course, this is limited to the evolution and predicated upon other Mission factors. However, proper Military Bearing and Respect for Rank is in full effect. On one Mission, I was an E-5 giving an O-6 Commands during such an evolution. Again, it is all about Respect.

In your case, you need to follow the Commands/Orders given. If you believe that the Commands/Orders will cause systems damage, injury or death to personnel, you can ask for clarification or refuse on grounds of an unlawful Order.

Well there, you were wrong and should be recommended for UCMJ action or corrective counseling and punishment! I was a commander numerous times and had this come before my desk I promise you, you would have received 15 and 15 from me. You need to check yourself in the future. I always supported my NCOs 100% and did not tolerate them being disrespected. Period, end of discussion.

When I was an NCO I would have smoked you worse than that...and if you told me what you told him, not only would I smoke you but you would get disciplinary paperwork and possibly an Art 15 under Art 91 Whether or not you have more experience is not the question...the question is who is in charge...by disrespecting him there and possibly in front of others you have unintentionally set a standard that he is now gonna have to correct. Bottom line: YOU WERE WRONG AND LUCKY YOU ARE STILL SERVING!

Sometimes I think that the Army is here for entertainment purposes only. You have got to be kidding me. I would have had you in front of the MAN on Art. 15, NJP charges in a half a heartbeat. What the hell is the Army producing these days?

I retired as a 13E/C (Arty equivalent to 11C) over 20 years ago. The idea that you even think there is ANY acceptable reason to tell an NCO to eat a bag of dicks bewilders me. The fact that you had time to make this post and aren't still being smoked also saddens me.

During my time in the Army, tact is always important when dealing with NCO who may not know. However, even if you were right, you made yourself wrong by becoming Disrespectful to a non-commissioned officer. You are lucky that he only offered corrective training and not UCMJ.

I am sorry, but as a spc myself that is the dumbest question I have ever read or heard. YOu should know better then do that at all. Take it to the lead to have the situation corrected.

You were absolutely wrong. That corporal was assigned as the team leader, which puts him in charge...period. That's positional authority assigned to him by your immediate chain of command, whether you approve or agree or not. Your job is to obey all lawful orders...period. As for his Smoke order, that sounds punitive which is outside his authority. But any lawful order leading up to that you must follow regardless of your opinion that you're more technically qualified. So get the chip off your shoulder and get back to work.

You handles situation way wrong. NCO should have turned it into a training situation and you would have been training him. NCO should have been smart enough to realize he was not up to speed. Being in that situation as a SFC when reclassed to Patriot from Nike-Hercules I worked with my troops and learned from them. Besides they all knew I was behind power curve and it was in their interest to get me up to speed.

You'd be in the leaning rest until you ETSed