OPNAVINST 5370.2C

Question 1

Officer and enlisted members are prohibited from engaging in such unduly familiar personal relationships regardless of the service affiliation or service
rules of the other person, including unduly familiar
relationships with members of foreign military services.

Answer 1

Personal relationships between officer and enlisted
members which are unduly familiar and do not respect differences in rank and grade are prohibited and violate long-standing custom and tradition of the naval service.

Question 2

This instruction and the prohibition of fraternization found in Article 1165 of reference (a) are lawful general orders effective without further implementation.

Answer 2

Unduly familiar personal relationships between officers and enlisted members have traditionally been contrary to naval custom, because they undermine the respect for authority which is OPNAVINST 5370.2C
26 Apr 07 essential to the Navy’s ability to accomplish its military mission.

Question 3

“Fraternization” is the term traditionally used to identify personal relationships which contravene the customary
bounds of acceptable senior-subordinate relationships.

Answer 3

Personal relationships between officer and enlisted
members which are unduly familiar and that do not respect
differences in grade or rank are prohibited.

Question 4

Personal relationships between Chief Petty Officers (E-7 to E-9) and junior personnel (E-1 to E-6), who are assigned to the same command, which are unduly familiar and that do not
respect differences in grade or rank are prohibited.

Answer 4

Personal relationships which are unduly familiar between
staff/instructor and student personnel within Navy training
commands, and between recruiting personnel and prospects, applicants, or Delayed Entry Program (DEP) personnel that do not
respect differences in grade, rank, or the staff/student
relationship are prohibited.

Question 5

A prospect becomes an applicant when processing for enlistment or appointment in any of the Armed Forces by beginning to complete a DD Form 1966, NAVCRUIT 1100/11, or comparable form.

Answer 5

Officer and enlisted participation on command sports teams and other command-sponsored events intended to build unit morale and OPNAVINST 5370.2C
26 Apr 07 camaraderie are healthy and clearly appropriate.

Question 6

The actual or apparent loss of objectivity by a senior may result in the perception in which the senior is no longer
capable or willing to exercise fairness and make judgments on the basis of merit.

Answer 6

Conduct, which constitutes fraternization, is not excused

or mitigated by a subsequent marriage between the offending parties.

Question 7

Service members who are married or otherwise related
(i.e., father, son, etc.) to other service members, must maintain the requisite respect and decorum attending the official relationship while either is on duty or in uniform in public.

Answer 7

Compatible with sea/shore rotation policy and the needs

of the. service, service members married to each other will not be assigned in the same chain of command.

Question 8

Address the offending conduct by taking appropriate
action, to include counseling, issuing letters of instruction,
comments on fitness reports or performance evaluations,
reassignment, and by taking appropriate disciplinary steps when necessary.

Answer 8

The responsibility for preventing inappropriate

relationships must rest primarily on the senior.

Question 9

Commanders will provide indoctrination and annuZI
training to all hands on the subject of fraternization, including examples of appropriate and prohibited personal relationships.

Answer 9

Prejudice to good order and discipline or discredit to the naval service may result from, but are not limited to, circumstances which: call into question a senior’s objectivity; result in actual or apparent preferential treatment; undermine the authority of a senior; or compromise the chain of command.