Is somebody higher up in your chain of command allowed to tell you what you should support or not support?

DAMN, life must be crappy for troops today. may times my XO, platoon daddy would knock on the door and have a beir. they went as far as removing their 'rank' read shirt and place it on a bunk. many times the XO would sit a play backgammon till the wee hours. Top was the same, hey Top, got a minute? guess its all on the situation your in, I was a line wrench in a Armor unit in Germany in the 80s.

As a fellow NCO, I believe your instincts told you that interaction was inappropriate, and that as a leader, you quietly stepped in to remind your colleague of this fact. I hope the situation wasn't simply left there.

Tell them respectfully that you don't agree. If it is Unethical, Illegal, Or it is against the law. Stand Down but you should know the law.

That NCO is si far out of his lane he is driving in oncoming traffic

It depends is he out of regs wearing them? If so he was well within the limits if not the nco could be in trouble!

No.

no

Not unreasonable to infer the comment was politically based. He didnt repl the Soldier not to wear red or blue shoes again. He didnt tell him not to wear running shoes when he should have had on other appropriate footwear. He told him not to wear a specific brand of footwear. If, in fact, it was based on the specific brand, the NCO is an ass and needs retraining, or other corrective action.

The Junior Enlisted should file charges against the NCO.

Soldiers are forbidden to wear certain items of clothing that could be deemed to subscribe to anything that could be in contravention to established law or that would bring discredit or demeanor to others but I don't think the Nike brand would fall in any of those categories. The NCO who issued the order to remove the shoes was clearly in the wrong but the order itself could probably not be considered an illegal order by definition so the soldier being given the order should probably follow it and lodge a formal grievance against the NCO through his/her command channels. If that doesn't work, lodge an IG complaint outside his/her chain of command.

If they have an emblem on them yes they are not to be worn for they show support for the organization so it cuts both way why the regulation states NO emblems

I never had any problem with suggestions, but a person needs to be able to make up their own minds when it comes to any kind of political issues.

Just as you cannot campaign for an delagate in uniform or on base, you cannot be told who to support. Except for POTUS, SECDEF or your commanding officers. You only support whom you want in office, outside of the higher ranks' juristriction.

The NCO obviously screwed up. He should have explained how Colin Kaepernick and Nike naming him their poster child is not something to be glorified so wearing Nike shoes and clothing made by slave labor in Indonesia should not be worn. Instead, go to Nine Line Apparel (https://www.ninelineapparel.com/) and get some!

Must be a marine

Assuming this is at a time/place where non-issue running shoes are permitted? The NCO's authority doesn't extend that far. Military personnel give up (temporarily) a lot of civil rights (you can't run a war by committee!), but not the right to your personal opinions.