What do you do when a soldier refuses to listen to your directions?

Kick his/her a#@; right there - on the spot. Orders required to be followed in a culture whose purpose is warfare doesn't have room for touchy/feely "discussions". The lesson needs to be driven home immediately and impressively. Did I say "her"?! Why yes, I did. The girls want to play the game, they're gonna have to deal with the same consequences. Sorry, but soldiering is a hard-knock life. It's only purpose is violence and death-dealing. On "game day" it's a little late to be instilling the instincts of command and obedience. Oh, and I'm speaking from personal experience.

First is you have to have good order and discipline. You need to nip it in the bud right away. Get your First Sergeant in on the deal where you can have some additional duties for the soldier to perform with you as the supervisor where the soldier has to take orders from you. He should of course be written up and in the counseling let them know they are in violation of Art 91 or 92 of the UCMJ and what the punishment is for this. Outline that he will be going through additional training as a result of this and if it continues what will happen. If you are in Europe, then have his pass privileges pulled.

Now, you also need to evaluate yourself to ensure that you are being a good role model of what a non-commissioned officer should be.

I remember a few years ago my unit was at hunter liggett taking part in the PACWARRIOR excersize. We were the only unit from our battalion that was attending and we were placed under a different battalion/brigade for the purposes of the excersize. We were called to a brigade level foration one sunny afternoon. I was a squad leader in a horizontal construction platoon at the time, before we left our tent I told my squad to make sure they had clear eye pro with them because they would be switching from tinted to clear for the formation. A few were butthurt, and the other platoon/squad leadership scoffed at that notion but my troops followed the order anyway. We got to the formation and I inspected my squad before the brigade CSM took charge of the formation to ensure that everyone had clear eye pro, all the while the other squad leaders in my platoon all laughed and joked that I was just being a prick. Well when that CSM took charge of the formation he looked around, then looked right at me and pointed, "what's your name sgt?" I responded with my name and my duty posistion, he said "what I'm about to say does not apply to you and your troops" he proceeded to berate the rest of the brigade about all the troops wearing sunglasses in his formation, and how he was disgusted that the NCO's in his formation would allow their troops to disrespect the regulation and the brigade commander. He chewed everyone a new ass for about 10 minutes. When it was all said and done he walked up, shook my hand, gave me a brigade coin, and told my troops that they should consider themselves lucky to have an NCO that doesn't overlook the little things, that it will make them all better soldiers. That was one if my proudest moments in my 12 years in the army. After that I always found my troops checking each other out before formations, making sure that they had the correct gear and that uniforms were squared away. The other squad leaders talked a little shit about me with the tails between their legs haha

Physically touching a Soldier in an aggressive manner now constitutes assault. In fact, there is no reason to touch a Soldier. I have scanned several comments on this post. Some of you senior NCOs either need to find new jobs, or re-evaluate your leadership skill. If one of my PSGs is in anyway involved in hazing, he will be relieved of his duties the same week.

"If you are wearing unauthorized eyewear in my formation, remove them now..." if that doesn't open some minds, "Open ranks, March, half right, face..." you know the rest.

He'd be on every shit detail I could think of, then some.
Got to get approval from the 1st shirt of course and his help. But I'd bury his ass as deep as I could in bullshit.

Punish everyone in ranks. Then tell all of them Space need to be field day and the thank (put name here). Before walking away tell them all to take care of the issue.

Simple solution- put the rest of the formation in the front leaning rest position until he/she removes the sun glasses. Peer pressure works every time!

Put him in charge of someone equally or more stubborn/rebelious than he is.

When I was promoted to Corporal (USMC) back in 1964, I soon learned that there was more "real-time" authority in my fists than on my sleeves. I sorta gather that the mood has shifted since then...