Can an officer give orders to an enlisted, who is not appointed to him?

Question

Can an officer who has the command over "Team 1" give commands to an enlisted of "Team 2"?
Espacialy in the US Air Force.
And can an officer of "Team 1" give orders to a member of his own team when there not on duty but on the base, like beeing in the bar and give the order to go home and too sleep?

Answer 1

1) Yes and no. If it is a lawful order and does not conflict with the orders of the enlisted person's actual chain of command then I can give an order. If it contradicts and gets in the way of his assigned duties to his chain, then I can expect a call from his actual supervisor demanding an explanation. Obviously, there is priority assigned to emergencies as well, since emergency situations demand immediate response. Essentially, if a bomb goes off, I'm going to organize whoevere is around me and issue whatever orders need to get done.

2) A military person is always "on call." That means you're an airman 100% of the time, on or off duty. Any officer can give an order to his troops at any time, though unless it's a big ticket item most will refrain from doing so during off-duty times. If I were in a bar and saw one of my troops then the following would be my line of thought:
a) is He disgracing the Air Force by his actions?
b) are his actions likely to lead to some danger to himself or others (ie, DUI, etc)?
c) are his actions going to interfere with his execution of duties?
>>> If the answer to any of these questions is yes, you'd better believe I'm sending that person home for the night.

Answer 2

First of all, the first line of your question is your answer. Officers give orders, enlisted obey them. Secondly, if you are in a bar and are disgracing your service, ANYONE who is ranked higher than you can and SHOULD give you an order to to go home and sleep it off. If it were me, I would first, take you aside, identify myself as a Senior NCO then tell you that you need to tone it down. If you persist I will strongly suggest you go home, if you still continue, I will put you in a cab and send you home, then notifiy your chain of command. The next duty day, you WILL find out that, yes indeed, any officer can give you an order at a bar in or out of uniform, on or off base/post/ship or anywhere else you are witnessed displaying actions not becoming to the uniform/service.

Answer 3

Let's clear something up. Comissioned Officers give Direct Orders, while Non-Comissioned Officers (Sergeants) give Lawful Orders. Either way the enlisted have to follow these orders. They are required by military law (Uniform Code of Military Justice) to obey the orders of those appointed over them of high rank. So it doesn't matter if it's Team 1 or Team 2 commander, or NCO.

Answer 4

Yes. And it can go alot farther than that. I was with my little brother (Active duty Army E-5) a few weeks ago and we were walking through the mall and saw a kid in his BDUs standing around wearing his beret, obviously showing off for his friends. My brother and I are in civvies, and he walks up to the kid (E-1) and politely tells him to take off the beret indoors. The kid gets all mouthy, asks "Why? Who the f*** are you?" Still showing off for his buddies. My brother pulls out his ID, shows the kid the rank, locks him at parade rest, informs him that he will address an NCO correctly, then marches him around the corner from his friends and puts him in the front leaning rest for a few, while he informs him that you are *always* on duty, you *always* have to obey orders weather from an NCO or Officer, and you swore to do that when you signed up.

Answer 5

Yes in both cases. Members of the military are on duty and subject to obeying lawful orders 24/7. I had my fair share of being called out in the middle of the night to go off post to the local bars and order my men to return to their barracks for being intoxicated or causing a disturbance. I always appreciated being called. The alternative would have been local law enforcement intervention.

Answer 6

First it is the OFFICER who is "appointed" via his/her commission. The first part of your question is regarding an enlisted member not under his "operational" or "administrative" chain of command. As long as it is a LAWFUL order, the enlisted person is oath-bound to follow that command.

I like the example given regarding the soldier at the mall. Several times as an instructor at NAS North Island, I'd be taking the county bus home (off base) and would see "kids" from other commands out of line (dungarees off base, improper language, or a lack of courtesy to civilians)...

I was an AW1 (E-6) and would simply slide over to the offender and point out his error. My working-dress uniform usually settled the issue... until one soup-sandwich airman from the USS Ranger told me to "kiss my @ss" since I wasn't in his chain of command (he was in dungarees and sitting in a handicap-seat while civilian ladies were forced to stand). I told him one last time to stand... he refused. I took his name and ship (ooops, wearing your ball-cap) and reported him to HIS command when I got home.

The "kid" was corrected of his impression that I couldn't give him orders at his Captain's Mast.

Answer 7

Yes, of course so. If it is a legal order and even if you of off duty, you are still subject to orders.