So, will the movie trope of a superior officer bullying their way past a guard post not work in real life? If General Asshole walks up to Private Nobody at a guard post and General Asshole forgot their ID will the Private refuse entrance no matter how much the General rages?
Yes, in real life, the guard is required to call the commander of the relief and say “an angry guy says he’s General Asshole, he’s demanding entry, but I don’t recognize him and he doesn’t have ID.”
Things need guarding in the military, it’s quite serious, it doesn’t function correctly if guards do not feel completely empowered to kill unknowns who try to pull rank. I’ve never actually heard of a general being that unprofessional in real life, so it’s hard to imagine what would happen. But if I had to guess, this would involve a visit from the MPs to sort it out, and it wouldn’t go well for General Asshole.
I’ve actually done it.
Ok not that exact scenerio because the General was a professional soldier. I demanded ID and he presented it. More often what would happen is a high ranking officer or CSM would test you to make sure you don’t just let them pass.
In my experience generals are the nicest people you’ll meet as a private. They are all cut from the same mold, like an ultra charismatic politician. If they feel like they have to yell at someone there are plenty of colonels around to feel their wrath.
And, beyond yelling at their immediate staff, they’re supposed delegate the yelling to their subordinates between themselves and the bottom-rung yellee.
Delegation is probably the most critical command skill.
It is also probably a really bad look for a general to jump on a private (or other low rank individual). Remember when Eisenhower made Patton apologize for berating (and hitting(?)) some low rank soldiers suffering from PTSD…or whatever they called it back then.
As @gnoitall mentioned, best to yell at someone just below you and let the shit run downhill.
I’ve heard the tale of an officer’s-school test where one question was “What orders would you give to make camp for the night?”. The correct answer was “Sergeant, make camp”.
Shell shock, at least according to the legendary George Carlin.
Shell shock was a WWI term. In WWII, it was usually called combat fatigue.
The trouble was, Patton called it “cowardice”.
They didn’t understand PTSD for quite a while after.
IIRC, I read that Hitler thouught there was something sneaky going on when he heard the news, that it was an excuse to transfer Patton to a new front or something - that an Army would never demote and discipline a general for hitting an enlisted man.
Nitpick. Patton wasn’t demoted. He was temporarily removed from the front line duty but kept his stars.
He was relieved of command. If his rank was permanent they couldn’t demote him without a court martial. Getting relieved of command is a career killer in most cases. In WWII you could get away with a lot more because the need was great.
Instead they kept him in south England as part of Operation Fortitude and Operation Quicksilver. It was a deception plan meant to make the Germans think there was an eminent invasion of Calais. This deception continued after Normandy and they still thought a second invasion would happen there.
I just happen to be watching Masters of the Air. One of the guys had his job changed from being in an office in charge of the navigators to being a navigator on an airplane. They all referred to it as a demotion but he kept his rank of Captain.
An anecdote from a former co-worker of mine:
He was in either the Army or National Guard, and I don’t recall all the details, but his ‘group’ and another group were involved in some kind of exercises. A lieutenant on the field had done something really reckless with a hand grenade or something. No one was injured, but what had done was out of line.
My co-worker said his sergeant walked straight over to the lieutenant and informed him, “Lieutenant, sir, you will have to accompany me to fill out a report on this incident.”
The lieutenant kind of brushed it off and told him, “OK, sure, as soon as this exercise is over.”
Sergeant responded, “No, sir. You will accompany me immediately to fill out a report.”
And he did.
Relatedly, a sergeant in motion outranks a lieutenant who doesn’t know what’s going on.
And an explosive ordnance technician at a dead run outranks everyone.
A low ranking range OIC or NCOIC has the authority to throw a general off their range. It’s still recommended they do it with tact.
Another anecdote: A co-worker was in the military in Alaska in the early 70’s on an SAR team.
They were sent out to find an officer who had done some incredibly stupid stunt and got lost. When they tracked him down (in a Huey) he started to bluster about his rank. A couple of guys in the SAR team said that it was too cold on Kiska to argue about it. They picked him up and flung him into the chopper and went home. I did not hear the further details, but I am guessing that either the officer was too embarrassed by his actions or the SAR team’s commanding officer shut down any protests of his treatment.
My buddy was NG and had this scenario happen to him. Guard duty, General shows up, is challenged and discovers he doesn’t have ID on him. My buddy says “Well, sir, I cannot let you pass.” General replies, “You’re damn right you can’t! Great job, soldier. But do me a favor and call the shift sergeant, he knows me and will vouch for me.” Shift shows up, vouches for the General, and then congratulates my buddy on a job well done. General shakes his hand and goes off to bed.
It’s an Army story, so it probably happened to somebody. Whether that somebody was my buddy is left as an exercise for the reader. 
There are so many various shooting incidents that I can’t find it, but a couple of years ago an (US) Army gate guard actually shot a drunk Captain who insisted on entering. I don’t know what the outcome was, but it was messy.
The theme of who outranks whom is the basis for a Paul Newman comedy, The Secret Life of Harry Frigg (1968).
Set in WWII, a half dozen French, British and American generals, all brigadier rank, are captured by the Italian Army in North Africa and taken to a special POW camp in Italy. Since they all have the same rank, their escape plans all fail, since no-one is in charge.
Newman is a ne’er-do-well private, always sent to the stockade, and demonstrating a talent for escaping. He’s offered the job of getting the generals out in exchange for a promotion to sergeant. He’s parachuted into the area in the uniform of a US major-general, gets captured, and is taken to the POW camp to lead the escape.
Hijinks ensue.