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

In with GySgt has that shit happen in the desert. Not much support from my 1st shirt. Not establishing the rank structure early on can put lives at danger later.

Must be taken care of quickly and without losing your temper. You are in charge. The way you handle it will last the rest of the time shit bird in in the service. What is required is instant obedience to orders. Failure to comply is a General Court Marshall. Do I make myself clear? There is no other way for that action to be carried out. Do it or else.

I don't know if things are that much different than they used to be, but Extra duty was my go to. Private No Go don't want to do his assigned work? Fanfreakingtastic! let's start with some extra duty! go to Battalion HQ and strip and shine the floors/shine all the brass/paint the molding, you get the gist. explain to them that had they done their assigned duty they wouldn't be losing their free time. Also enforce it by explaining that failure to complete the extra duty task to satisfaction will lead to more extra duty, further if that is not effective your will then resort to paperwork (Art-15) to result in additional extra duty AND loss of pay. TIME and MONEY speak volumes and can motivate the shammiest of shamers.

My first question is, was this response from the young Soldier out of character. If so try to find out why the Soldier responded that way. There my be something very serious going on in the Soldier's life and he may be trying to punish himself for it. I'm speaking from experience and a good NCO will know his or her Soldiers, and believe it or not, a three (3) day pass may be what that Soldier needs.

There’s a ton of great advice / options. I think I’d simply look at the SL and simply ask, “you got this, right?”

My point is that if you’ve built what you want to have built in your SLs.......all you’re doing is continuing that development process.

Like if I was standing out front and one of my SLs shot his mouth off to the 1SG.......

I’d look at my 1SG and say, “I got it, top.”

30 years ago when I was in we would have gone on a trip to the wood line or to the inside of a conex. I’ve seen a few smart ass soldiers get their attitude adjusted. Charlie’s Chicken Farm (IDF) was a great option as well. After 30 days locked down moving piles of dirt, digging and filling in holes and filling sandbags the dirt bag came out with a whole new attitude.

This praise in public and discipline in private idea is not always the best solution, unless you're a politician!!!

Because the ill-advised comments and attitude occurred, not only in public but in ranks, the situation should be addressed right there, right then, so no one misunderstands or gets the G-Rated version (or worse) after the fact!!!
I'd dress that E-2 down like he was in Boot Camp all over again and under no certain terms would I ever tolerate that kind of disrespect without the E-2 being written up and it becoming a permanent part of that individual's service record!!!
In addition, to further curve the E-2's (or anyone else's) appetite for speaking out of turn while in ranks, the work load on the entire squad just doubled. Any further ill-advised words and/or attitudes will not be tolerated for one second... And in the words of Sergeant Carter...
Do I make myself perfectly clear???
I can't hear you!!!

This lace drawers wearing bunch of idiots that have infiltrated the U.S. Armed Forces have 2 choices in my book...
Either Shape Up or Ship Out!!!

Check this out, this is some of the problems with todays Army, hell new recruits come into the service questioning authority figures.A Sense of Entitlement'"What leaders have observed in general is they believe that there is too much of a sense of entitlement, questioning of lawful orders, not listening to instruction, too much of a buddy mentality with NCOs and officers and a lot of tardiness being late to formation and duties," Frost said. "These are trends that they see as increasing that they think are part of the discipline aspect that is missing and that they would like to see in the trainees that become soldiers that come to them as their first unit of assignment."https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/02/09/low-discipline-new-soldiers-prompts-army-redesign-basic-training.html?fbclid=IwAR1gyxaN6Z8bYXcU3vZ1C03GWKvVp65vBzR8LOjeDZot6eUTQxI4zDeJXaY

I would discipline him in front of the squad so everyone knows it will not be tolerated!

What they are doing is Disrespect to and NCO in the performance of his duties (Article 91) and Disobeying a lawful order (Article 92).
Call the formation to Attention and if they refuse, ready the charges and a Chapter.

Well . . . . given I'm a retired CSM, and trying reflect on my time as an E5/E6 when was at Ft. Knox - mostly wearing a Round Brown - I can say, "come unglued and smoke his ass" is the best way to say it. No one ever gives lip to a CSM - that I learned early on - but occasionally a trainee shit would get cocky and think there were all that. Remember, once I got done with that asshole, there's a whole another tribe of Sergeants around . . . . simple as that. Too bad it's not my Army any longer, been retired 19 years. Just a bunch of wannabe's and "why me" babies these days. CSM out.

Am I reading this correctly that an E-2 is in a formation, regardless of type or purpose, and opens his/her mouth against receiving an order for the day? May I ask, what’s happened to military discipline? It seems like the concept has changed since my time. I can remember vividly as a basic trainee (1963) at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. One day after noon chow, my fellow basic trainees and I were in platoon formation. I don’t remember what our platoon sergeant was demonstrating. He was passing up and down the ranks and came to me. He stopped and looked at me and suddenly punched me in the stomach. He continued to stand directly in front of me and his words were “don’t throw up on my boots”. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction, so I just stood at attention, wooden faced. The idea of complaining never entered my mind, as I accepted this as part of Army basic training. Years later I was a T.I. at Lackland AFB, TX. When my three year tour was up, one of my fellow T.I.s told me that I never had a problem with my recruits because I kept them petrified for six weeks. I never had a trainee open his mouth in formation, unless I asked a question.

Tell his team leader and him to stand by. Then explain to the the E2 that unless he wants to be a E1 he will do as told. If he has a problem with it he does it then approach his team leader afterwards. If he continues then art 15, or corrective physical PT

What ever I do it’s in private and the penalty would be sever and publicly known.

This is just me. I’m not an nco yet but I am an E4 promotable, in my mos you are responsible for subordinates due to how small our mos is and a lack of actual E5s. I have been put in this exact same situation. “Private does this sound like a fucking suggestion ? If you don’t take your ass downstairs and do XYZ you will have alot more to worry about than a fucking counseling“. this also is dependent on the soldier. No two soldiers are the same. You have to know your soldiers. Some soldiers you have to pull aside and see what’s going on. Yes we signed a contract but we are all human. Sometimes people go through shit and you as a leader may have to adjust fire

I don't care if you are an E-5 an E-8 or an E-4. If you are in charge period you represent the person who put you there. That may be a commander, or it may be a SGM. For a leader to not address insubordination in any situation is an invitation to anarchy in an institution that thrives and grows on discipline. The only thing worse for moral within a unit is weak leadership. You as a leader must decisively and brutally stamp out insubordination with an iron fist. The Military is not a democracy, it is a institution that is tasked with the defense of it's country. It is an institution of trained and armed killers who have a tremendous responsibility that goes beyond any one individual or any one group. Anarchy and a lack of discipline within these types of units can and do lead to disaster. If you for some reason decide to go soft on these individuals that sow discord within a unit then you allow further displays of insubordination by other individuals who take this as permission to voice their opinions on a leaders decision. I believe that is all need to be said on my part.

I come from a simple time in the Infantry, I had a soldier tell me after I dismissed everybody to the motorpool that he wasn't going cause he can't work for black people, without missing a beat and showing no emotion I gave him the key to my room in the barracks and told him I understood and I had something special for him and told him to wait for me there, I brought the platoon to attention and dismissed them, went up to my room and beat his fuckin ass,when a soldier disrespected me I always took it personal FUCK army regs now it's personal, and I lived by this and I had a successful military career... And by the way me and that soldier became best of friends til his death in 93,I cared about all my soldiers and I would never disrespect them and I definitely didn't allow disrespect.. the Infantry Way... Don't know about these new times.

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I've never seen that happen, and if a PFC ever had the gumption to mouth back to an NCO like that, their life would have been over. This isn't even a scenario that I had considered possible before, and had I been tested like that, I would have found a way to immediately remove that Marine from my platoon and would have inundated them with endless paperwork to get them admin separated out.

In my day it would have been an immediate Article 15 and possible discharge. Insubordination was NOT tolerated.