How would you react to an E2 who "smart mouths" you in formation?

His team leader had better be all over him. That's what I would have seen in my units. Team leader would have blown his top.

Investigate and evaluate. Investigate what caused the behavior and if there is a documented history of said behavior. Once you have done that, evaluate your options and act accordingly. Remember two things. You are in charge of investments made by the taxpayers, whether they appreciate it or not, and according to Sun Tzu, there are no bad soldiers, only bad generals.

"We will send you home to your mother a failure and a loser." E-2's don't act that way unless they think that the consequences are acceptable. But, most E-2's, probably haven't thought of all of the consequences. Remind them, in an uncaring fashion, that the path your both going down ends favorable for only one of you.

1) Segregate the "problem child." Ask him to step to the side along with a trusted lieutenant (in my case a senior LCpl or a Cpl). "Cpl X, PFC Y, do me a favor and stand by next to the connex box for a moment. I'll be right with you. Cpl X, please wait for me."

2) Get the rest of the troops moving. I'm still in charge and they need to understand that. Segregating the "problem child" was the first part. The second part is reassigning Cpl X's duties to someone else (there's a reason for this below). "Cpl Z please take care of Cpl X's assignment." (if I have already given it out. If not adjust on the fly).

3) Investigate the problem. Although the troop might be blatantly disrepectful, there "may" be a reason for it. Everyone has a breaking point, sometimes it's a snapping point. In this case, we (Cpl X & I) need to find out what is going on. I am leading an investigation and he is acting as a witness. I'll walk through the last few minutes of our exchange and make sure I haven't missed a pertinent piece of info, that Cpl X saw everything, and that the troop understands the issue as I see it. The reason for investigation is that "I" might have been sending him into a hornet's nest and taking an $^% chewing from me may have seemed like a better option. Without investigating it's impossible to know. With investigation, it narrows things down and I have a witness.

4) Reassign, Escalate, and Document. "If" there is a valid reason for the troop not wanting to do the assignment (although unlikely), take it myself, have Cpl X do it, and have the troop take Cpl X's (or Cp l Z's etc). Work still has to get done. Further investigation may be necessary "on site" where a civilian/another person is abusing him (or had previously), and I need to find out what is going on. Depending on the severity depends on how I escalate. If the troop is non-cooperative, it gets escalated up the chain with Cpl X's witness statement. But everything gets documented. Everything gets backbriefed to my SL/PSG/etc so that there is a trail.

The big thing is to stay calm. Lose your cool, and you lose control.

Is this a hypothetical question or does this actually happen in today's Army/MC/Navy/AF. Maybe some of the active duty RPers can weigh in with real life examples of this or something akin to this situation. I cannot get my mind around the idea as even potentially possible in any day and age, but things have been known to change over time. The scenario doesn't provide any background or insights into what exactly was going on.

The appropriate response would be "Please see me after the formation is dismissed."

The leadership theory is that you praise in public, but criticize in private. Once I got him in private, I would explain to him, the "error of his ways," assign him to the crappiest detail, and tell him that if he ever pulled that kind of crap again, he could explain it to the First Sergeant, or to the Company Commander. (Dogs and damn fools get second chances.)

Lock his heels, tell him it's not a choice, then write it up.
Many push ups will happen and said Pvt. is on a doo doo list until I hear the pop of his head coming out of his ass.