The fraternization policy comes down to where DoD draws the lines so that bosses are bosses and the people working for them understand that, said Vice Adm. Dennis Blair, Director of the Joint Staff, during a 29 Jul Pentagon briefing on the subject. Our superiors in the Armed Forces have incredible authority over their subordinates. In war, they send them out to die. In peacetime, the superior's decisions make the difference between professional success and failure in each of our service members' careers. He said fraternization is not limited to gender issues.
Fraternization deals with any relationship between superiors and subordinates.
The standards must be applied fairly or teamwork in the unit will break down. Any actual or perceived favoritism will corrode unit morale. It's going to ensure the impartiality of the chain of command, going to help us with keeping teamwork within the organization and maintain the standards which are the basis of what we do. He gave examples of acceptable and unacceptable levels of fraternization. You're going to have a division softball game, so you all go out in the afternoon and you play.