Legal Question in Military Law in Louisiana

Hi, my name is Michael, I am a Corporal in the Marine Corps. I am wondering is it legal for my Commanding officer to tell me I can not have a relationship with another Marine. It is not fratrenization. She is divorced, and nothing is pending, it is finalized. The Commanding officer is saying her and myself can not have a relationship because her ex-husband is in our command and that he Ex does not like us being together. Is it a lawful order to say we can not have a relationship.


Asked on 8/27/10, 4:29 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Adam Lambert The Law Office of Adam S. Lambert

First, thank you for your service to our country. No, that does not sound like a lawful order to me and your commander should not have given you that order. So long as none of the rules relating to dating someone in your command (such as an officer dating a subordinate) are broken, you should be allowed to date whomever you want. I would suggest that you bring the issue up to your local JAG officer for two reasons. (1) Your JAG officer will know the rules of fraternization better than any civilian lawyer, and (2) taking the issue to a JAG officer will document the issue in case there are later reprisals against you, such as refusing to follow a direct order. To be safe, I also think you should follow the order until you have spoken to your JAG officer. You can certainly speak to each other and socialize, but you should probably put any romance on hold until you clear the issue up with JAG.

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Answered on 9/02/10, 7:57 am


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