How far do we go with the "rules"?

How far do we go with the "rules"?

Last week (as I shared in the service yesterday morning) I was out all week with some kind of viral thing (non-contagious). It put me down. Fever, headache, sore throat. Mean, nasty, nasty stuff.

One of the highlights of my week was watching Gomer Pyle (yes it got that bad).

Well, the story line is that Gomer and his platoon have been given MP duty in the town near the marine base.

Gomer is so kind hearted that the can't arrest anyone. He tries to talk them out of their problems. At one point he sews on a button for a marine who was missing a button from his shirt and was considered "out of uniform". He lets one marine "promise" to not get into a fight again and lets him go. The marine promptly begins to fight again.

Gomer is so bad at being an MP that Sergeant Carter decides to put him on guard duty at one of the gates to the marine base and tells him, "at non time, Pyle, are you allowed to let anyone come through those gates without proper identification."

Well, the story line is that Gomer is standing guard duty, and in the meantime Sergeant Carter is out on a date with Bunny, his girlfriend. They are about ready to order something to eat, and Carter realizes that he has forgotten his wallet. Bunny won't pay, in fact, can't pay, she doesn't have any cash, so in order to eat, they go back to the base, and guess what.

Yep. Gomer won't let them through the gates because Sergeant Carter doesn't have the proper identification.

Was Gomer right? Was he wrong? Is there ever a time when the rules are no longer enforceable?

Are there situations where following the rules would be more harmful than helpful?