Does general military authority extend across different branches of service? How should you approach the offender?

2018-12-29T00:45:12-05:00

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 29 at 2018 1:22 AM

2018-12-29T01:22:21-05:00

Yes. But you better be absolutely, positively, 100% certain that whatever the ‘offender’ from another branch is doing is actually inappropriate before you start pissing on their cereal.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 29 at 2018 1:31 AM

2018-12-29T01:31:34-05:00

Since UCMJ extends across branches of services, general military authority does as well. For instance, disrespect toward an Officer, Warrant Officer, or NCO is punished under the same respective articles of UCMJ regardless of the branches of the personnel involved. So in formally correcting such incidents, shy of UCMJ, general military authority applies.

For the person doing the correction, I think it's important for them to differentiate between branch-specific policy and broad military policy. If I remember correctly, at some point in the 2000's, it was acceptable for Marines to have their hands in their pockets while in uniform, but Soldiers could not. So a correction wouldn't make sense. So a Soldier trying to correct a Marine on that issue wouldn't make any sense (I think the USMC policy of hands-in-pockets changed to a ban). Now take a situation where a servicemember of any particular branch is acting a fool in public (harassing civilians in a store), while still wearing their uniform; not that harassment while out of uniform is acceptable either. Now they are violating a general military policy on professional behavior of which there should be no confusion over our responsibility to keep that person from embarrassing the services. I've had to correct the last example before. . .

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 29 at 2018 10:33 AM

2018-12-29T10:33:55-05:00

Yes, general military authority applies across all military branches.
With regard to on-the-spot corrections, if you are certain it's a violation of their service's policy, sure. If it's a violation of the UCMJ, by all means take the same action as you would for members of your service.
To answer your question of how do you approach, identify yourself, if not in uniform, and make them aware of the violation. The seriousness of the infraction will dictate the action you need to take from there.

Response by MSgt Mark Bucher made Dec 29 at 2018 11:02 AM

2018-12-29T11:02:40-05:00

I don't know about the legalities regarding the UCMJ, but I jumped a bunch of young Marines waiting for a flight at Minneapolis IAP. They were young, dumb, and fuil of beer acting like idiots in uniform. Went up to them, identified myself as a TSgt at the time, and tightened them up.

Response by SSG Byron Hewett made Dec 29 at 2018 3:34 PM

2018-12-29T15:34:07-05:00

In a broad general answer - Yes - and here's why military customs and courtesies, rank, and the UCMJ are standard across all branches of service.
For example if you are lets say a SSG E-6 US Army and you pass by a Marine Corps General Do you salute??.......HECK YEAH!! I wouldn't want to be that Guy
the UCMJ applies to everyone regardless of branch of service
Rank is rank and the a no brainer it will also fall under customs and courtesies.
So what ever the case maybe the rules, regs, and customs are all services wide, you still snap to and salute the same way in any branch.
if correcting someone from another branch do the correction but be professional about it no reason to embarrass somebody and then cause a clash with another service.
the same rules apply to all branches of service just remember to do the right thing.