Do cadets actually outrank non-commissioned officers?

Out rank doesn't mean out smart.

All I will say is it was very entertaining dealing with Cadets. Who were amongst Battle Hardened Veterans. The consensus was if the Cadet will not listen will not learn. Then Let him Fall not Fail but Fall down and be there when he or she did. Some fell hard and learned a valuable lesson.

I don't think they do, but we were on summer break rotations for them, and we were told to treat them as though they were 3rd LTs. I only had 1 serious issue with 1, when he pulled rank on me in front of my soldiers. He apologized at formation the next morning.

For the most part cadets tended to be invisible when we had them in my units during their rotations. I don't mean that as a slight, I'm saying that they were generally good dudes and dudettes who showed up on time and did what they were supposed to do while they were with us. I don't recall any of them making waves or trying to pull non-existent "rank", but maybe that was because I was an officer. I do remember that they would get destroyed during Jump School at Benning, the Black Hats generally treated them worse than new Privates.

Technically, they outrank'' NCO's and and are under warrants... practically, we just laughed those few that wanted us to salute them - they were not assigned to our CoC to be clear...

A cadet is an E6, unless it's changed in the past 5 years.

No. Cadets that are ROTC and SMP in the US Army Reserves/ US Army National Guard are paid at the E5 level. They have no rank, but they fall into formations like officers. When I was a platoon sgt, if the cadets tried to tell me they out ranked me, we would be finding a Coke machine to elevate their feet onto as I explained life in the army to them. Once they were commissioned, that's another story.

Senior ROTC and all(?) Academy Cadets are somewhere between Enlisted and Warrant Officers. I'm not quite sure where contracted junior cadets land though*.

In regards to your question, refer him to the saltiest NCO you can find, preferably (in my humble, biased opinion), a Navy MCPO, and have the cadet in question tell the Master Chief how strongly he believes that he outranks the Anchor.

Unless a cadet is just giving shit to his friends or family (in private) who are NCO's, there's no place for the cadet to go spouting off about his rank. I'd just find the nearest O and suggest a smoke session for a quick lesson on how the rank structure actually works. Or is that hazing now?


*A prior service Navy O-3 told me recently I was equivalent to an E-5, but I'm unsure if he knew I was a second year cadet.

Technically, they do. Realistically, they are there to learn. The NCO should be there to advise and instruct. Cadets should know their place however. I was both and NCO and then a cadet later in my career. So, it was a strange transition for me. But for the green cadets, some struggled with ego. While others excelled with social skills and had no problems with junior enlisted or NCO’s. Usually, the NCO’s would test the cadets ability to deal with them at different attitudes and that would set the outcome of the weeks ahead. I cheated and broke the “officer” no no training rules and would just go “smoke and joke” a few times to form a little bond with the troops. Helped to break the ice with the new unit.

I used to treat cadets like regular Officers, it was just my way of helping him/her to adjust into military life.