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

Punch him in the throat and hide his corpse next to the dead hooker in the attic

It is a new military, I would have been carrying 5 gallon buckets of sand all day until I decided I wanted to be back in Navy and follow orders. I know it is a volunteer force today, and that is awesome, but we had all enlisted in the Navy (so we were volunteers as well). Enough with the molly coddling, don't let your mouth write checks your ass can't cash. Exercise until you drop, KP or some other shit duty and elevate to brig time if the don't get the message. It's like a cancer and if you don't cut it out it fosters resentment. A soldier has the right to bitch, but under his breath, or to his buddies ,but not in the face of his superior in front of other guys.

Dropped and Smoked !

If it was in front of the whole formation, bring the hammer down in front of the whole formation. Otherwise, take them aside for a little one-on-one. But insubordination CANNOT be tolerated in a chain-of-command.

I would get nose to nose with him and tell him, I gave you an order, follow it or suffer the consequences.! Do you understand ?

One way to end that is to demonstrate that a size 10 boot will in fact fit up his ass. Moreover, it will fit so far up his ass that you can tickle his tonsils by simply wiggling your toes. Perhaps a healthy regimen of 15 hours of leg flutters, mountain climbers and front leaning rest position (you know, during breaks) and having demonstrated his inability to manage E2 responsibilities, a relief of responsibility down to a much easier managed position of E1...indefinitely...could be in order. Maybe discuss with him all the amazing possibilities to look forward to as he follows this path, like spending the rest of his life in a concrete box in Kansas, and spending his outside time swinging a 15 lb sledge hammer turning big rocks into little rocks. :) There are all sorts of possible solutions. As a commander of men (MEN), you have a plethora of options from which to choose.

I don't think the Services have lost their art of dressing down a subordinate. I think I was called everything but a child of God. But, I have seen some very strange things happen.

He would quickly find himself in front of the Commanding Officer for Non-judicial Punishment.

First I count to ten to prevent my being court martialed. Then i would think about the worst possible assignment and let him and all others present know he was going to be assigned that duty. If he was already on the s___bird duty that day then he would discover he was assigned to it for a week.
Shortly after arriving at my first ship I let the Chief know he was assigning me to a working party two days in a row which he usually rotated. An hour later I was reporting to the mess deck master at arms for 3 months mess cook duty. It taught me a lesson that stuck with me and I used the same method years later as a leading petty officer. And yes when this stuff happened I counted to ten.

I never made NCO (safer that way) but seen one E-3 get his ass handed to him - in public! Blatantly disrespected an order from the platoon NCO (E-7P, Nam vet) who proceeded to give him the dressing down of epic proportions. Flat ripped this guy a new ass and then sent him to the CO who proceeded to present this twat E-3 with some great papers - reassignment and loss of some uniform jewelry. Heard ding-a-ling got shipped out to a post stateside as a groundskeeper.

Been there done that. Give them a nastier task (clean the latrines) and remind them of their oath to obey the lawful orders of the officers above them.

I see this is a pretty old post. That being said I would have to agree with Gunny Pepper. Knee jerk would be to call Private Snuffy front and center and tune his ass up in front of the formation. I've been a Veteran for about 30 years so I know "wall to wall counseling" is frowned upon in the military now. I will say that it did WORK, though.

I was of the mindset of praise publicly, punish privately. I did so several times. Everyone gets dismissed except the E2, and unless I'm his immediate super, then That person stands to as well for a discussion afterwards.
Bringing the E2 aside to find out what's going on for his or her poor reaction to orders is a first point. (Find the problem, Fix the problem, if possible). Then, if it comes to the point of pure insubordination, discipline will be the answer, with emphasis to the E2 that discipline, in ANY situation while in the service is a must and that lawful orders are to be followed as given, as he or she made an oath to do so during enlistment. Anything else could lead to disciplinary actions being taken. In todays military, sometimes "taking him out back to the woodshed" just Might be a necessary step to get the point across.
I would never have chastised in public unless it was a "guns drawn, bullets flying " situation, and then he might be facing an even worse situation.

I would immediately remind him of his responsibilities to carry out legal orders, what the UCMJ IS and give him one, very brief, second to recant. If not, I would initiate Article 15 procedures - he would be an E1 by close of day. Actions have consequences.

That needs to be ended right then and there. If you don’t then other Soldiers may lose respect for you and try the same thing with you or other leaders. These Soldiers know what they signed up for. If a Soldier disrespects you like that then you need to hold him/her accountable. Everyone has their own leadership style so you can handle it your way but this is what I would do:
1. I would immediately have a one on one counseling session with that Soldier after I assign those Soldiers their tasks and send them on their way. I would have a negative counseling and annotate the incident and let that Soldier know the consequences of his/her actions and that the next time he/she does that, then those consequences will take effect. I would also give them corrective action that takes away some of their time (make sure the corrective action meets the crime).
2. During the counseling I will try to listen to the Soldier and attempt to determine if their is something going on I their life (either personal or professional) that might be putting them in such a bad mood or causing them to have this kind of attitude. I would attempt to help them address the problem and teach them that there are ways to address the problem without reacting in a way that can hurt them or their career.
If they don’t accept the help or if they just don’t care and just want to do what they want then maybe they need to find a new career.

In my opinion the Sgt holds him after formation and starts with PT followed up by KP or extra duty.... say painting the curb with a toothbrush....Having a father who was an Officer I learned a lot before I ever joined, my dads belt wasn’t a wimpy leather belt it was his pistol belt... I cursed my Sgt’s under my breath but never did I talk back to them. Lessoned learned.

Immediately quote the article (92)in the UCMJ that he/she is violating and what can be done to them for this violation (Corrective Training, Article 15 or Courts Martial.) If this is their first time showing out like that, I would go with 2 weeks corrective training (observing others servings extra duty, in the same uniform as them, and have him/her present an essay to the entire platoon on the need for good order and discipline.)
When soldiers come to understand that their superiors know more than they do they generally fall in line and even try to learn more themselves. Going straight to Article would demonstrate weakness and an inability to think outside the box. Taking time from Soldiers hurts more than taking money.

That wouldn't have happened in my day. If it did, the E-2 would have been so damn tired from work details, they wouldn't do it again. Semper Fi.

pull the problem child aside, inform him that this is the us navy, marine corps etc not burger king and we dont have things our own way. Makee sure you have a senior enlisted with you so he cant whine.

pull the problem child aside, have a plagtoon leader with you and inform the person is the united states military, not burger king and we dont get things our own way.