It is a common misconception that all branches of the military have the same military behavior, styles of leadership, and interpersonal relationships between soldiers, airmen and seamen and their commissioned officers. This is not true. Each branch has it’s own philosophy and standards for conduct, overall mission and traditions, working relationships, and leadership style. Within the branches, different fields can have their own versions of how officers and enlisted personnel work together.
Working relationships can be formally recognized as partnerships between senior non commissioned and junior commissioned officers, as peer to peer relationships, as collaborative relationships, as traditional superior/subordinate relationships. or as a combination of these types which depends on the nature of the work or the particular situation.
A computer division in the Navy may have personnel who engage in collaborative, and peer to peer, rather than superior/subordinate relationships with the officers in charge. This may be confounding to a line officer who spends his time on deployment at sea, where there must be a clear distinction in rank, unquestioning response to orders from superiors, and highly choreographed procedures that allow no deviance from standards.
An Army unit, deployed to combat, may have rigorous drills where every individual has a role to play, but must respond without question to commands that are given from a variety of levels: central command and control, the on scene commanding officer or officer in charge, or even the highest ranking individual who happens to still be present and alive at the time.
The Air Force has a tradition of delegating responsibility and authority to the lowest level possible. This tradition can be astounding to members of inspection, joint operations, international, and other teams who come from other branches of the armed forces. When asking for the person who is responsible for a certain function, and being told that a Staff Sergeant is responsible, a inspector who is a Navy officer may try to write that situation up, but cannot, because that is the way that things are done in the Air Force. In the Navy, the same position might be restricted to commissioned officers only.
An Air Force officer might lose it an Army base when an Army officer stops, then publicly and loudly chastises a soldier for looking like a slob in his uniform. That is the Army way. In the Air Force, the general rule is to “praise in public, chastise in private”. Not that these rules are universally followed, but the mission and the nature of the day to day work, plus the style of the leader and follower involved can vary wildly between and within the branches.
Overall, romantic relationships between officer and enlisted personnel were shut down during the early to mid 1980’s. There are no romantic relationships that are tolerated between superior and subordinate. These relationships still happen, though, as does much behavior that would be considered unacceptable, but tolerable. In all branches, discretion is the only truly formal rule that is universally enforced. When that rule is violated, then the consequences are serious.
Off duty and personal relationships, again are as varied as the living situations allow. Officers and enlisted personnel can be off base neighbors, members of the same church, or in a community sports league. Or, they and their families could just be good friends who enjoy socializing with each other. While the official social separation between officer and enlisted is clear, the military is no longer a place where there is an expectation of stringent off duty or interpersonal distinction between officers and enlisted personnel. Many officer and enlisted friendships that last a lifetime are formed and enjoyed as military work becomes more technical and requires more of a collaborative approach.
