What is the proper way to handle soldiers (junior enlisted) addressing each other as Sergeant Major?

They are probably doing it to yank your chain. I didn't give a shit if my Marines called each other the Grand Poobah of upper butt crack, as long as they did what they were supposed to

My friends use to call me "Command Private Major" when I started working as the driver. They meant no harm and certainly no disrespect to our CSM. I think the Army's sensitivity training might be making all of us a bit too soft to feel comfortable with harmless humor.

All Soldiers are to be addressed by their rank. Referring to each other by another grade is at the very least disrespectful to that grade or the person holding that grade in that unit. If they are doing it in gest indicating their future, then a simple motivating conversation should handle it, if it is in a mocking manner then the conversation turns to disrespect.

You assert your lawful authority and make the correction.

Never knew this was an issue, on the spot verbal roundhouse kick to the face should work.

To me what is funny about this is that I knew of an instance where the proper form of address for a Sergeant (E-5) in my company was Sergeant Major. We even had an incident during a battalion awards formation where they were calling out individuals for awards shortly after he was promoted, when the Adjutant called out "Sergeant Major" and both Sergeant Major and the Battalion Command Sergeant Major responded. Almost the entire battalion busted up laughing. His rank was Sergeant and his Last Name was Major.

Once, I encountered a Sgt in my company out in town. He was in civvies, wearing a ball cap with regulation Captain's bars pinned to them. I discreetly called him to my position. Told him to hand me the cover. I calmly unpinned the bars and put them in my pocket and returned his ball cap. I ordered him to report to the Company 1st Sgt on Monday with his SSgt at 0630 and give a full explanation of what just happened.

At 0633 on Monday, the only thing I heard was "You did what?!

At 0645, the 1st Sgt brought me a cup of coffee (not something I expected him to do, or that he usually did). He smiled and said "the situation is well in hand sir". He asked if he could have a seat, I said sure. We silently enjoyed our coffee and the beautiful morning. Then we stepped off together to take morning formation. I never got any report of what happened. It was about three weeks before the Sgt could look me in the eyes.

Um, one of the oddest Qs I've ever seen on RP. I wish this was all I worried about my Tomahawks doing over the weekend. I hope that's their version of living resilience and goal setting!

If this is the worst issue you have in your unit, sit back, relax and have a beer, TR things are well in hand. Remember they're 18-20 year old kids with a job that can get them killed. Relax and look for real issues.

I have a little different take on this. I suspect they were just screwing around and didn't think anyone would overhear them. If that's the case, I don't think they were being disrespectful at all, just being young troops doing what they do. I would still approach them and tell them someone (you) did overhear them and they need to be careful even when they're just screwing around, because it could be taken as disrespectful, and you're sure there are more than a handful of Sergeants Major that might be pretty offended by it. At that point, it would be more than just a friendly word of advice! I'd just leave it at that.

If you did think there was an intent to be disrespectful and it wasn't just messing around, I would jack them up. I would explain to them the problem - not about the regulations or impersonating or anything like that, but simply about being disrespectful of a senior NCO. If they were in my chain of command, I would probably have them do some research on the CSM and SGM ranks, when they came into being, why they came into being, what their responsibilities are, at what levels of command they serve, how they are promoted, things like that. I'd have them give a presentation to the rest of the Soldiers in the Company or at least Platoon on what they found, and address the respect and courtesies owed to SGM and CSM by Soldiers junior to them. If they aren't in your chain of command, I'd go to my PSG or 1SG and ask them to accompany me to the Soldiers' PSG or 1SG to discuss the incident with them.

Egad! The Specialist Mafia has their own rank structure?!
I guess my response would be to order a hit.
Best way to do that is promote them to Sergeant.