Posted on Oct 16, 2016
How would you react to an E2 who "smart mouths" you in formation?
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Here's the background. You're a senior E5. Your troops are in formation and you're handing out work for the day. You hand out an assignment to a fresh E2 with less than a year in and only a few months at your command. They blatantly complain and tell you to choose someone else. You calmly tell them they will do this task and they tell you to shove it and give it to someone else. How do you react?
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3697
"The standard you walk past is the standard you accept." Lots of good answers below...all based on the initial situation at time of occurrence, so you have to be flexible in your response. Those E-5 stripes on your shoulder tells me you should already possess all you need to handle Pvt. Clueless there, but the most important aspect is to handle it NOW! While I agree with the 'praise in public, punish in private" COA and have used it throughout my own career - at times it's important enough to correct an attitude WHERE it occurs, in order to send a message to all in attendance. Your own expertise and experience will tell you when to do that, so be careful to ensure that your 'public' response is measured and sends the proper message (all predicated on the amount of angst, anger, or outright bovine spatter sent your way by Pvt. Clueless).
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that person would be out of there, rank shouldnt even matter, what the hell makes him think its even okay
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I think this depends on a couple things. Is this the E-2's first incident? If so, then corrective training and/or punishment should be done at the NCO level. There is zero reason to kick this upstairs for an incident that should be able to be handled by a competent NCO.
If this is a repeat offense, or the serial abuser, then full write up and move on to let the Chain of Command handle it. Even then it should be done in an orderly way and only as a last resort should the XO or CO be involved. Having a smart mouth is what young men and women do. It's instinctive at that age, particularly for those coming from tough situations. No need to ruin their potential careers over a smart ass comment. But make no mistake, I'm not saying to coddle them either, they get double duty, the real shitty jobs and extra watch rotations. All things that can be handled at an NCO level.
If this is a repeat offense, or the serial abuser, then full write up and move on to let the Chain of Command handle it. Even then it should be done in an orderly way and only as a last resort should the XO or CO be involved. Having a smart mouth is what young men and women do. It's instinctive at that age, particularly for those coming from tough situations. No need to ruin their potential careers over a smart ass comment. But make no mistake, I'm not saying to coddle them either, they get double duty, the real shitty jobs and extra watch rotations. All things that can be handled at an NCO level.
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That's when after COB I call him on my carpet, and present his smart mouthed self with a Summary Article 15!
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Ask the E-2 if he'd like to stand in front of the Platoon Commander and explain why he is insubordinate, and wasting everyone's time and not be demoted to E-1, and make up his, and everyone else's time for clearly demonstrating to everyone, that really you are in a military organization, and if you do not adapt to the warrior creed you are just not going to enjoy your adventure in the Army being a living breathing example of how not to conduct yourself in the Army!
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