My Dad was in OCS in WWII. One night, the old sergeant came into the barracks drunk and abusive. He ordered everyone to get up & scrub the floor with their toothbrushes. As the only corporal in the barracks, my Dad said, “It is my duty to place you under arrest.”. The sergeant screamed profanities and threats at him as the other men got the MPs and led him away.
The next day, a colonel pulled him aside. “Are you the one who placed that sergeant under arrest?” My Dad thought he was done for.
“If you had done anything else, you would never have been an officer in the US Army!”
In hindsight, I think it may have been an elaborate test. But, my Dad thought it was real ‘til the day he died. I know this. It was braver than anything he did in combat.
I just am reminded of this because I doubt that kind of questioning of authority would be tolerated today.