How Close Is Too Close?

The professional relationship that military members develop stems from a necessity to conduct everyday operations. The high stress quick decisions that are required to be made by superiors have no room for items of personal distractions. As this paper unfolded, it defined Article 134 (Fraternization) in the Manual for Courts-Martial under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It continued by discussing how the Secretary of Defense's directive in 1998 provided the catalyst necessary to cause each service to revamp, if necessary, their stance on fraternization in light of the military moving toward an environment when joint operations become stand operating procedures. The paper continued by analyzing each of the service's input and identifying what changed and what remained the same.