Does fraternization cross branches?

Back in 1986 when I was in AIT, a guy (PFC) in my unit had a female LT request to see him. He walked into the room and without preamble, hugged and kissed her on the lips.

The Drill Sgt was shocked and looking a bit upset until he said, Drill Sgt, meet my wife!

It's not very common, but it happens more than people realize.

so what you're saying is I shouldn't ask the battalion commander out on a date?

Been there done that, more than once aside from what your branch has in the regs there are numerous other considerations. Since the object of your affection is not in your chain of command she wont be helping your fresh career, which would be super naughty. You know those things called ethical behavior some in the armed forces tend to take them seriously. Additionally some where someone will get his or her feelers injured and when and if your chain of command tells you to end it follow your commanders advice even if you think it is unsound.

Depends upon the service's respective policies, MC one states that if there was a pre existing relationship 6 months prior to that you should be alright, best way to go about it would be talking to your respective recruiters and trying to contact lawyers for both branches a pose the question.

One I directly witnessed was a 1st. Lt. dating an E-4. At the time, it was treated like it was okay as long as they were not and never would be in the same chain of command.

How it was explained was that the fraternization rules were set to prevent acts of favoritism, fraudulent or blackmailing acts, attempts to influence the actions or decisions of the chain of command, a way to gain gifts or favors, and similar.

It applied not only between officer and enlisted but also higher ranking enlisted with lower enlisted. Also, a dating relationship is not the only form of fraternization. Siblings were discouraged against being assigned to the same unit if rank was too different, close friendships were also scrutinized.

Two examples of this, one was two twin brothers that had to be assigned to different companies in the same battalion due to one being an officer and one enlisted.

The second was a company commander and one sergeant in his company that were best friends from childhood. When on duty, it stayed, "yes, sir, no sir," but after work, they often hung out and partied together.

This was very much a fraternization violation, but they managed to keep it off the radar until one of them was transferred to another base. I guess the point is, fraternization is not just about dating nor officer/enlisted, it is about preventing harm to the soldiers, unit, or the service.

I believe if they were in a relationship before the soon to be Officer gets pin then it is ok.

If you check with your Personnel section, you will find that about 11-14 years ago, the DOD issued directives on this very issue. Simple interpretation is that you will have a very short time frame in which to be married, or under the UCMJ you will have to terminate the relationship status as you and she will be in violation.

Fraternization in between branches is not an issue unless there is a co-working issue.

As long as it does not interfere with the jobs of either, and it is not a direct sr/ sub then it's not a problem. But you will get flak for it though. So keep that shit to yourself.

I believe it does cross over to different branches. If they want to continue the relationship then they would need to get married before the Air Force person becomes an officer. That's the only legal workaround to that situation. Otherwise the relationship would have to be terminated.