Military rank and Junior ROTC

Depending upon how accurate you want to be, your plot isn't going to work. Right at the moment most of the military is in RIF (reduction in force) mode, and just about anything will get you kicked out. My daughter is a Legalman in Navy JAG, and she's having problems explaining to the Lieutenants (the attorneys) that just because they won at the administrative review, their client is gone. When BuPers (bureau of personal) sees it on the record when they're up for reenlistment, they are not going to be offered the chance.

Further, the military is making aggressive moves to reduce the numbers of sexual assaults that occur in the military. Involvement of a recruit with a senior enlisted, especially a high school kid, is not going to fly. Not only is it fraternizing (which is a court martial offense), it would be viewed as coercive sexual assault, even with her consent. He's in a leadership position, and not allowed to fraternize with anyone he commands.

Sorry.

In the Navy and Coast Guard, ROTC instructors for enlisted personal are one of the various grades of Petty Officers (E-3 to E-9) with it most likely being a Petty Officer second or first (E-4 to E-5). In the Army, Marines, or Air Force, it would be one of the various grades of Sergeant, with the same E range.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

jclarkdawe said:

Involvement of a recruit with a senior enlisted, especially a high school kid, is not going to fly. Not only is it fraternizing (which is a court martial offense), it would be viewed as coercive sexual assault, even with her consent. He's in a leadership position, and not allowed to fraternize with anyone he commands.

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Out of curiosity, can I ask about fraternizing? Does this mean that you can't become involved with a fellow serviceman? What are the rules around that?

JROTC isn't really military.

I was in Army JROTC, Cadet Lieutenant Colonel in charge of first period in my senior year.

In all honesty, I went into JROTC to skin PE. And then, all I did was dress properly, marched correctly and showed up the parades.

After 2 years, the Staff Sergeant instructor asked if I wanted to lead a class under the current Captain at the time. I was made his XO and then I didn't want to go statewide, so they pushed me down to lead the first period of my senior year.

I don't know what you're trying to get at. Going through JROTC just tell your recruiter that I'll make a few extra bucks and I know how to march already. There is no real "rank" or system that you're already in the military.


If the guy would be a teacher, they wouldn't allow him to teach JROTC. Most instructors are long-time service men with excellent standings.
My Colonel was the highest and in charge of every. He was old, 50~ and had a poisonous smile.
Then the Staff Sergeant in charge of platoon one. He was nearing his 50s.
Then Sergeant who was in charge of platoon two. She was near her 40s.

Do you see the problem here? And all the other instructors I've met are also older. There is no young instructors in JROTC.

shaldna said:

Out of curiosity, can I ask about fraternizing? Does this mean that you can't become involved with a fellow serviceman? What are the rules around that?

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Here's some sites with good discussion on fraternizing:

• Army Fraternization Policies
  Air Force Fraternization Policies
  Navy Fraternization Policies
  Marine Corps Fraternization Policies
  Coast Guard Fraternization Policies
  Military Fraternization Policies

Relationships between equals are neither encouraged or discouraged, but depending upon where you are, there can be some serious considerations. For example, becoming pregnant means you've rendered yourself unavailable for many areas of military service. If you're in the Navy, and do it while you're posted to shore duty in the US, perfectly acceptable.

But if you're on a ship, or posted to many places overseas, you can actually be court martialed for becoming pregnant, under the same theory as shooting yourself in the foot. Further, the dude can be charged with basically destroying military property under the same theory as breaking another military member's nose in a fight for getting her pregnant. Rarely happens, but it could. And it won't help you when you're going up for promotion.

The military is a weird culture, and can seriously baffle civilians. To give you an example, several Marines were out drinking, privates and corporals. Several of them were not of legal age. Returning to base, one of the Marines gets popped by civilian police for driving while intoxicated. As a result, their command finds out about this.

Now in the civilian world, as long as you don't buy the beer for an underaged drinker, you don't get in trouble for being around an underaged drinker. But the two corporals, who were both of legal drinking age, were found guilty in non-judicial punishment of failure to provide leadership by allowing underaged Marines to drink, and were demoted one rank and some loss of pay.

And Will Sauger's answer, without knowing a thing about junior ROTC, rings very, very true. Being appointed to ROTC or basic training or recruitment is a distinct honor in the military, and you don't get it without being a very upright person.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

Everything jclarkdawe and WillSauger said is true, but I do have a suggestion to offer. You say that the service member is in his early twenties? Then chances are (if he's in the Army) that he's anywhere from an E-1 to an E-4, and thus wouldn't be an instructor of any sort. However, sometimes there are events held by the military that invite civilians (and JROTC members) to participate in. Perhaps they could have met at such an event? As for a jogging buddy/best man, an E-4 or E-5 would probably work.

JClarke offers some really great advice and wisdom in this thread, but i just want to make a slight correction.

When he says, in the civilian world, a person around an underage drinker can't get into trouble, absent buying the alcohol, that's not really true.

My state (and many others have similar) laws called "contributing to the delinquency of a minor". What does that mean?

Basically, you're of age and are around a minor doing something illegal or unlawful and not putting a stop to it. In the situation provided by JClarke, the older members could be arrested, or cited, for merely allowing the underage members to drink in the first place.

And, in my area, it's not a rare thing to be charged with, though I do believe military people would be cut some slack - depending on 'attitude'.

The other thing to consider, for the OPs scenario, are 'age of consent' laws. The scenario presented would be fine in my state, but you should probably check to see what Florida's age of consent is. Otherwise a person over the age of consent having sexual relations (and yes, my state kissing would apply) and the older guy would be charged with statutory sexual seduction or assault. Which basically means that no matter how willing (and desirous) the girl was, that she was under the age of consent makes the actions per se illegal.

Just a few more things to consider.

Rabe...

Rabe said:

JClarke offers some really great advice and wisdom in this thread, but i just want to make a slight correction. I always like to be corrected, since I'm not always right and always want to learn when I'm not.

When he says, in the civilian world, a person around an underage drinker can't get into trouble, absent buying the alcohol, that's not really true.

My state (and many others have similar) laws called "contributing to the delinquency of a minor". What does that mean?

Basically, you're of age and are around a minor doing something illegal or unlawful and not putting a stop to it. In the situation provided by JClarke, the older members could be arrested, or cited, for merely allowing the underage members to drink in the first place. Interesting. And I should possibly have been a bit clearer. I'm not sure. Normally a minor is someone under the age of 18. When you celebrate your 18th birthday, you obtain your majority, become a legal adult, with some exceptions, including drinking. In the case I was discussing, the Marines involved were 19, 20, and 21 years of age. So they were all adults, although not all of a legal age to drink. And I was limiting my thinking of that situation.

Rabe is right that sitting around drinking with someone under the age of 18 is contributing to the delinquency of a minor and you can be charged for that.

What I'm wondering is whether some (or most) states can charge the 21-year-old for allowing a 19-year-old to drink in their presence, providing they didn't supply the liquor. In the jurisdictions I know (mainly the Northeast), there's nothing the police can do without become very creative and not directly charging for the offense. For example, an underage drinking party where the over 21 people were charged with disorderly conduct, which played out with mixed results in court.

And, in my area, it's not a rare thing to be charged with, though I do believe military people would be cut some slack - depending on 'attitude'. The military often gets a sympathy factor from police, unless it's the police right around their base.

The other thing to consider, for the OPs scenario, are 'age of consent' laws. The scenario presented would be fine in my state, but you should probably check to see what Florida's age of consent is. Otherwise a person over the age of consent having sexual relations (and yes, my state kissing would apply) and the older guy would be charged with statutory sexual seduction or assault. Which basically means that no matter how willing (and desirous) the girl was, that she was under the age of consent makes the actions per se illegal. I'd notice the statutory rape potential, but that's gotten so complicated, especially with 16 and 17 and a partner that is near in age. And I don't know whether there are still some jurisdictions where marriage is a defense to statutory rape. A 17-year-old and a 20-year-old could be statutory rape, while in a neighboring state legal.

Just a few more things to consider.

Rabe...

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Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

I did Civil Air Patrol, which is similar to JROTC, in high school. We had adults involved in various capacities, but a 20-something-year-old getting involved with a HS-aged kid would have been... questionable, to say the least. You might want to consider him having just gotten to know her because she was a neighbor, a friend's sister, or some other chance meeting, because otherwise it doesn't necessarily reflect well on him.

Officer or enlisted? If your male victim is in his early twenties and an officer, he'd have already graduated college... as a 22- or 23-year old his grade would probably be an O-1, 24- and 25- an O-2, and at 26 would be an O-3 (after 4 years total service). If he's enlisted, depending on when he enlisted, he could be anywhere from a E-2 to an E-5. Depending on which service you decide works best for your story, you'll find the corresponding rank here:
http://www.militaryfactory.com/ranks/index.asp

I would think, given the location, you would probably want to go with Air Force or Navy -- they have the bulk of the military bases in FL. So if he's 22, he'd be a second lieutenant in the Air Force or an ensign in the Navy. His friend would be a first lieutenant or a lieutenant junior grade. Or if he's enlisted, at 22 with 4 years of service he might well be an E-4 or so. His friend could be an E-5.

I'm not that familiar with FL geography, so I'll just leave this here in case you need to figure out where the nearest base is they'd belong to: http://militarybases.com/florida/

I hope that helps!

jclarkdawe said:

Further, the military is making aggressive moves to reduce the numbers of sexual assaults that occur in the military. Involvement of a recruit with a senior enlisted, especially a high school kid, is not going to fly. Not only is it fraternizing (which is a court martial offense), it would be viewed as coercive sexual assault, even with her consent. He's in a leadership position, and not allowed to fraternize with anyone he commands.

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I'm not disagreeing - primarily because I'm clueless regarding anything US-related - just asking out of curiosity:

Where's the risk of a sexual assault it they're married?

In case you were referring to the stage prior to that - sure it's not allowed, it makes perfect sense, but such things do occur.

When I did my service in the Israeli forces I had a female-corporal-friend dating her lieutenant-commander. Sure it wasn't allowed and they would have been both trialed if anyone found out, but it didn't exactly stop them...

bob88 said:

Originally Posted by jclarkdawe
Further, the military is making aggressive moves to reduce the numbers of sexual assaults that occur in the military. Involvement of a recruit with a senior enlisted, especially a high school kid, is not going to fly. Not only is it fraternizing (which is a court martial offense), it would be viewed as coercive sexual assault, even with her consent. He's in a leadership position, and not allowed to fraternize with anyone he commands.

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I'm not disagreeing - primarily because I'm clueless regarding anything US-related - just asking out of curiosity:

Where's the risk of a sexual assault it they're married? Once they are married, the rules change. But under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, subsequent marriage does not remove any violations of the Uniform Code that occurred prior to the marriage.

In case you were referring to the stage prior to that - sure it's not allowed, it makes perfect sense, but such things do occur.

When I did my service in the Israeli forces I had a female-corporal-friend dating her lieutenant-commander. Sure it wasn't allowed and they would have been both trialed if anyone found out, but it didn't exactly stop them... Of course it occurs. And we all do stupid things, especially men when they think with their dangling part. But here's a case from the Coast Guard involving fraternization: Coast Guard's CAPT Hamilton receives his punishment: CAPT to LT ... and CG captain faces adultery court-martial

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Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

jclarkdawe said:

Of course it occurs. And we all do stupid things, especially men when they think with their dangling part.

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We all make mistakes, agreed. That's why I think that maybe such thing alone won't make an entire plot unbelievable...