Quite true. A friend of mine was an MP sergeant with a National Guard unit on manuevers in Honduras about 15 years ago. He was assigned to guard the gate of a base there. One night, he denied entry to a two-star general who didn’t have the proper ID. The general tried to bluster his way in; my friend stood his ground and kept the general out, and his CO later told him he’d done the right thing. No adverse career consequences either, fortunately.
Another point that should be made: members of the U.S. military are obligated only to obey lawful orders, a principle established in the UCMJ after Nuremburg and My Lai. If you don’t think it’s a lawful order, though, you’d better be prepared to explain yourself later, maybe to a court-martial.
There are two types of mltary authority which are being mixed up in this thread. There is direct authority and general authority. Direct authority comes from being in the chain of command. You are in a position of authority over someone and can order them to do tasks. General military authority comes from your rank in relation to someone. A higher ranking soldier can correct the actions or behavior of a soldier who they see regardless of what unit they are in. In practice this means that if a sergeant sees a soldier walking around with his jacket off or with no cover he has the authority to make a correction. The SGT does not have the authority to shanghai the soldier for a work detail if he does not have direct military authority over him. From the soldiers point of view he would be better off obeying the SGT instead of playing shithouse lawyer. After the detail is over he should then report then incident to his chain of command. Those in the chain should have a big problem with what was done and the SGT would be corrected swiftly.
Also, “General Military Authority” gives a private the authority to correct a Captain if - for instance - the captain is wearing his uniform in an unauthorized manner.
Actually… this question is WAY too broad to have a decent answer. Everyone trying to answer has a different scenario in his head.
… for example a Captain who is on duty be obliged to obey orders from a Major he happens to meet while on service, or would it be necessary that this Major is superior to him in the chain of command of the unit he serves in?
Pretty much, the General Answer to this General Question is:
It is not necessary that the Major be in the Captains Chain of Command for him to be recognized as the Captains superior. There could be times when the two would meet in a joint excersise or some tasking that brings in soldiers from many units. The Major is immediately recognized as the superior. If they are riding in the same vehicle or in the same building, the superior is treated accordingly.
However, there are limited examples - and almost none come to mind - where a high ranking officer would need to pull a random soldier off the street and issue him an order. With that said, if such a thing did happen. The soldier had better comply, and let those above him discuss it later. It’s not for him to discuss on the spot.
MPs, regardless of rank, are police officers. They can arrest and excersise authority over some colonel, the same way a civilian cop has authority over a Mayor or something. When they are being cops, they’re cops. Rank is not an issue.
Officers cannot issue orders to soldiers that would interfere with other standing orders. Like, telling a guard to leave his post or something.
**Does, for example, a Private First Class have any priority or authority over an ordinary Private if they serve in the same unit, of which someone else is commander?**No. A private only has authority over another private by position, not rank.
Things like this can get real sticky. We had a Marine Lt. Col. who was a real prick at our local navy base. On night at the O Club he was drunk and displaying his usual charm so the bartender finally called the OD. When the OD showed up the Col. gave him a ration of shit and it was only with difficulty that the OD managed to get him out of the place. Now the OD, who was a Lietenant, JG, is the Commanding Officer’s direct agent and has full authority. However he is only the OD for one night and the Lt. Col. is going to be a Lt. Col. forever (barring someone killing him) and the West Coast Navy isn’t that big a community. If the JG were ever put in a subsidiary position to the Lt. Col. I would pity him.
True dat. I work for an AF contractor. Some colonels on the base, when entering a room, expect civilians to jump out of their chairs along with the military. I categorically refuse to do so. The only people who rate that sort of treatment are the President and some of his direct representatives.