Do cadets actually outrank non-commissioned officers?

Well if you are a cadet, how is it you out rank an non-commissioned Officer - I might be wrong but can someone please site military regulation that says a ROTC cadet or Academy Cadet outranks an NCO.

F**k No! Cadets, if they're smart will observe and learn. If they're not, they can fertilize the parade field.

These are the kind of "leaders" that are most likely to fail. I attended a Mortar Leadership course at Ft Benning. This is primarily a MOS school for young LTs. A limited amount of NCOs are also allowed to attend. The school commandant addressed the class and admonished the LTs to look to the NCOs for mentorship and guidance if they really wanted to become good leaders because of the experience of the NCOs.

I am the oldest child of a retired LtC. My Dad was stationed at West Point with the Facility Engineers when I graduated from High School (James I. O'Neill HS, Highland Falls NY). We often had Cadets over at our Quarters so that is my first experience with Cadets. My next experience with Cadets was at my first duty station at McKee Barracks, Crailsheim Germany. One summer we had a Cadet assigned to our Battery. We were told to treat him as if he were a 3rd Lt. He was there to LEARN and was not in our official chain of command. Our NCO's were told to treat him with respect but were to correct him tactfully if he attempted to give orders.
My next experience was when I was with the 101'st and I was with the HQ detachment from HSB 3/319th FA sent to West Point for summer Cadet training.
In the Reserves, my last AT was to West Point. I was an Army Reserve Drill Sgt and I was sent there to help run the Range for Plebe Rifle Marksmanship Qualification. I was a Line Safety NCO and I was given the primary responsibility of assisting Plebes who had difficulty in qualifying. I got told that was the first year where EVERY Plebe qualified in RMT. Our instructions for that AT was that yes, these youngsters were Officer Trainees but that WE were in charge. We were to treat them with respect but firmly inform them that we were there to train them and they had no authority.

Like I was taught at WOCS:

"You can be an asshole to the Lieutenant, and you can be disrespectful, and they will usually suck it up. But, one day, that person will be a Commander. Probably your Commander. And as for the Senior NCO, well, they may be your CSM who hold the ear of that Commander"

That goes for the junior enlisted who ignore the cadet, as well as the cadet who forces respect. It goes both ways.

I once attending a Xmas party, non military, many, many years ago. One other attendee was a guy I graduated HS with 3 years prior, he was attending a pre-college program so he could get into college and then get commissioned. At the time I had just made 2nd Class Petty Officer, E-5. We were introduced, he as his status, myself misidentified as still being E-4. I corrected the announcer on his error, whereas my friend piped up "what's the big deal, it's only a number". I responded, "whatever you say O negative 3".

In 1961 I was a USMC private in wearing my winter service greens in a Bus Depot and standing in front of me was a guy in uniform ( years later I knew he was a Naval Academy Cadet) we starred at each other then we both rendered a hand salute and then walked away from each other without saying a word. Neither of us knew what the others rank was and over the years when reminded I get a laugh out of that moment of fear the two of us shared until we both snapped to attention and saluted.

The only time this would be true is when said cadet is also in the SMP (simultaneous enrollment program) where he is filling an 2nd lt spot in a NG or reserve unit. As he has the "frocked" rank of 2nd lt.

Furthermore, if I were on AD and some dot head tried to tell me to do something, there would be a shit storm of foul language and do nothing; It was hard enough for actual officers, and some NCO's, to get my respect.

As many of the people on this forum know.

Like anything else in the Military there has to be a regulation to spell it out as far as duty, responsibilities, and authority. As far as I know no regulations place Cadets in the Army Chain of Command. Therefore they don’t truly outrank anyone except a lower ranking cadet. While we had several West Point Cadets assigned to our units for summer training our BN CDR got all the Senior NCOs as well as all SSGs in Squadleader or above positions together in the Bn Classroom and laid out his expectations for how these Summer Training Cadets were to be treated, addressed and given respect by us and our subordinates whom he ordered us to brief thoroughly using his comments as much as possible. He also spelled out how to address a situation of a Cadet getting too big for their britches. We only had trouble with one female cadet that seemed to have a mental breakdown while deployed for ten days on the West Range Complex in Panama. She was hospitalized for a mental evaluation. We were briefed that she had some kind of deficiencies in her blood chemistry due to poor nutrition and lack of sleep. She was not eating right nor sleeping because she was afraid of the jungle environment. I heard of that same thing happening to a couple other soldiers that were left alone on guard duty or such by themselves. It is never a good idea to leave anyone by themselves in a jungle environment especially at night. The mind is our own worst enemy in such situations.

I served at the Air Force Academy for 5 years as an E6/E7 and I never once had a cadet try to pull rank or give me an order. In fact when dealing with cadets they generally referred to me as Sir and requested my assistance very politely if needed. So for me at least the issue of rank never came up and never presented a problem. I treated them with respect as I believe befits a young person who was accepted to a Service Academy and they treated my stripes and experience with respect. It was a two way street for me.