I certainly respect your service, and I defer to you with a question. Can a Captain, no longer active, give orders to a a SGT on active duty. I respect Soltz' service, but the way he treated the SGT was disgusting.

Excellent blog, and I always enjoy reading the thoughts of one who has served this country.
snarking dawg | Homepage | 04 Aug | #

snarking dawg,

It depends on what you mean by an order. There are two types of authority in the military; general military authority and command authority.

In the matter of issuing an "on the spot correction" status and even rank play little part. A PV1 is supposed to correct a COL if he's aware of a problem, but he has to be respectful doing it. This is general military authority.

Command authority is about issuing instructions. Go here. Do this. This is where rank and organization come into it.

So. If the CPT sees a Soldier who is in violation of a regulation, he's obligated to issue a correction. A warning, if he beleives that a violation is forthcoming is not out of line either. Same would be true if the ranks were reversed.

However, when orders are issued, "come here", "go there", "I'll talk to you off-line", yes, he's out of line. He's not in this Soldier's chain of command. It turns out that both Soldiers here are Reservists, and unless under orders (such as being in Drill status) they are not subject to the UCMJ at that moment.
RTO Trainer | Homepage | 04 Aug | #

That explains a lot RTO. Thank you.
snarking dawg | Homepage | 04 Aug | #