Does Rank matter across Military Branches?

Question

If your in the Air Force for example:

Do you have to salute or can you take orders from a person of higher rank from the navy, army, Marine corp or Coast Guard?

What about a person from another military, from different countries, like an allied force.

Answer 1

yes you do as well as at least acknowledge the rank of any serving member of another countries force.

For instance whilst a very young navy girl we would march from place to place and we had several US sailors at the same base, we always did eyes right and gave them a salute till we found out [some months down the line] that this guy REGARDLESS of what his uniform looked like [lots of gold etc and medals] was NOT an officer of any sort..........but it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to this sort of thing and you are the bottom of the totem pole rank wise.

Regards

Answer 2

It's Military Law that you have to respect any ranking officer from any of the services in this country, and even the officers from friendly other countries like U.K.

There is tons of intermingling within the Military, I'm still only in the ROTC corps, but every summer I went on a training billet like any good ROTC Cadet does to train in speciality tactics. We were around The Navy, Marines and Air Force Officers very often, even Officers from other countries and Canada. Despite the fact I'm going for Army.

Not sure if it's the same for Enlisted members, but I would assume so. Oh, and you have to watch for the weird Enlisted ranks of the AirForce, Marines and Navy. They are different than the Army, and a Navy Captain is equivelant to an Army Colonel. A Naval Commander or Lt.Commander is a Lt.Colonel and Major respectivly. You learn that very quick.

Answer 3

Anyone in any branch of the US Armed Forces must salute any commissioned officer who outranks them from any other branch. Enlisted always salute an officer, and officers technically, must salute higher ranking officers and certain government offcials.
Different branches have different jobs that may be used in another branch. The USMC has no medical jobs, the medics with any Marine unit are Navy Corpsman. The Marine officers of the unit the corpsman is assigned to are in that sailor's chain of command and can give that sailor lawful orders. So, by assignment, one could have a person from another branch in their chain of command. If the higher rank is not in the chain, it depends upon the situation. Yes, the higher rank is just that, a higher rank and considered an authority. However, a higher ranking person [not in the chain] could not give an order which conflicted with standing orders w/o proper authority from someone in the chain.
As far as foregin military personnel are concerned, saluting is a matter of courtesy and salutes will be rendered in appropriate surroundings to officers of higher rank. As far as orders, it would boil down to again if that foreign personnel was in the chain or given some sort of authortiy by the chain.
For saluting, the old saying is: When in doubt, whip it out.
For orders: just get with your NCO and find out. NCOs, well good ones anyway, know everything. Even if you're a "butter bar", get with your NCOs. 99.9% chance they still know more than you.

Answer 4

Yes, you should salute officers from the other branches. As far as orders go, if they're assigned to your unit and in your chain of command (if you're in a joint force), then of course you follow their orders. Other countries apply also, such as if you're in a NATO unit, you may have a British commander or a Norwegian OIC.

If you are in the middle of doing your mission though, and some other unknown officer comes over and wants you to drop everything and go with him to do whatever, then no, you politely refer him to your NCOIC, your OIC or your commander...who may then assign you to the officer or they may get somebody else, depending if your mission is more important.

An example would be if you were out running electrical lines for a tent city or telephone lines for your unit, and some Army guy came up and tried to order you to go to another camp to fill sandbags. That ain't gonna happen. Of course, you cannot be rude or unprofessional.

If you're in a combat zone though and being shot at...you had better listen to the senior person there and all take orders because your life and the others lives would depend on it.

Answer 5

Of course you salute all branches,
It's not required it's always considered polite to learn other militaries rank structures and salute them, when I was in South America they have Conscripts that salute enlisted, and I was always getting saluted. I felt guilty not saluting their officers
The British and Canadian officer rank structure is pretty familier to the US, but I gave up trying to learn the Austrailians

Answer 6

Yes. That includes officers of other countries. One of the things I learned early on when working in organizations with officers from different branches was to ask anyone who identified himself/herself as "Captain " if they were a Navy Captain. I always wanted to know who I was dealing with since Navy Captains are far more powerful than ordinary Army, Airforce or Marine Captains and my boss was only a Major. It was a lot easier for him to tell a Captain that we couldn't do something if that Captain wasn't in the Navy.

Answer 7

Ranks has its privileges and it crosses along the branches. Thus, a general in the Army can order a sergeant in the Marines.

Answer 8

no matter the branch rank is not handed out like candy each branch has their own method of earning you rank and the courtesy that goes along with it. I personally have a great deal of respect for the sacrifices and accomplishments necessary to achieve rank in any service.

Answer 9

Uh yeah...It is a General Order #10 to Salute all officers standards and colors not cased. That would apply to all other officers, assuming that you recognize them as an officer. (That would apply to some of the other countries)

An officer has the right to give you a lawful order.

Answer 10

Yes, you do. All the branches of military have equivalent ranks (sometimes with different names) that works throughout the military.