Can a platoon sgt tell a female soldier that she is required to wear a bra when in civilians?

As an Air Force Officer I wouldn’t touched that subject at all. It wasn’t my business.

Only the idiots try enforcing those rules. Had a Sgt tell one my other SGTs while running to wear one. She was. we all Had a good chuckle and continued on our way.

When I read the question carefully first I would figure if I glanced at your chest I would not do a double take. When my wife walked down the street with me in Uttar Pradesh India men of the cheap labor class would tend to look her way no matter where i was standing, and she would later tell me it gave her an ugly creepy feeling. So there are countries where if a man notices anything attractive about a woman he will scan the rest of her body, as I did as a teen-ager and for many years until I had more understanding of women friends and lovers, and the mistakes I made being sex oriented (a.k.a. known as living in a fantasy world).
Are platoon Sgts. watching out for the platoon sexually harrassing women on base? Not from what I hear from women Iraq vets! Not from what is in the news frequently. One can criticize burkas and sharia law, but how do we treat women?

This I have no idea, I wasn't involved with women when I was in the Army from 1966 to 1975. When I was in the Navy from 1976 until I retired in Jan 1988 I only served on one ship with females and it was a repair ship the USS Hector AR7. I never worried about what they wore off the ship.

Sharp

Proud of all you soldiers for real concerns & reasonable comments.

Do it ! It's for your own safety.

AR 670-1 is the "initial" standards for wearing and presentation BUT you also have to look at all potential local policies as well which can add to but not subtract from the standard. There is one thing almost everyone misses on wear and presentation. You need to "present yourself in a professional manner at all times" UCMJ. By not having appropriate underwear on, male or female could be seen as conduct unbecoming which I have see, especially high visibility placed such as the PX/BX and Commissary one can easily misrepresent themselves in an unprofessional manner which.in the case of an officer that is subjective and as an NCO you have to enforce the ARs and additional addendums as well as the UCMJ. In this case, a Male NCO should have another NCO present so there is no he said she said and IMHO I would as a ranking female NCO to politely address the issue and see if that NCO aso sees this as an issue. I hate to say it but in the real world people who do not dress appropriately do not get the respect they deserve and the situation could escalate into a really bad one in the wrong civilian setting. (SSG 15yr Arny and was the 1st Sargent for a company of 220 Male amd female MI HHSC company for over a year)

Absolutely not. If someone said that to you, would you consider giving me their name, rank etc...

I think I understand how you feel. You are off work, relaxing and want to be comfortable. That being said, if your platoon Sgt sees you again with out a bra she can turn up the heat on your team leader. I don't think there is anything wrong with a female, military or civilian, not wearing a bra as long as they are out of uniform. Here is the issue. Even if the regulations doesn't specifically say off-duty solders must wear a bra, there are regulations about following lawful orders. You should be very careful about fighting that battle. You are still a junior Soldier and the last thing you want is a target on your back. Good luck.