Posted on Jul 9, 2014
Anyone saluted the wrong rank working on a Joint Base?
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Out of curiosity how many members have saluted the wrong rank working on a Joint Base or Assignment. With me working on JBAB (Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling) it has happened a couple times. I find it hard to recognize the Navy ranks sometimes at a distance. And found myself saluting a Chief. I have always followed the rule "when in doubt whip it out". Most just laugh and we carry on about our day. Would love to hear some stories.
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 302
Don't feel to bad Air Force folks don't know what to do around Warrant Officers. Since they don't have any. Nice question SPC!
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SrA Dane Noecker
Very true, in the AF we preferred the KISS method. To this day I still don’t know what a WO actually does.
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LCDR (Join to see)
SrA Dane Noecker - And the WO prefers it that way.
The simplest explanation is that the WO does the same thing, over and over again. Unlike a commissioned officer (set aside, for a moment, the fact that W2-W5 are commissioned) who is not allowed to stagnate, the entire purpose of being a WO is that you never "rank out" of the technical job you're doing... but still have the legal authority that comes with being an occifer.
The simplest explanation is that the WO does the same thing, over and over again. Unlike a commissioned officer (set aside, for a moment, the fact that W2-W5 are commissioned) who is not allowed to stagnate, the entire purpose of being a WO is that you never "rank out" of the technical job you're doing... but still have the legal authority that comes with being an occifer.
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SMSgt Lawrence McCarter
At present also its only the Air Force and Space Force that don't have Warrant Officers. the Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard all do.
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MSgt (Join to see)
SMSgt Lawrence McCarter - That is correct today! But when I responded 8 yrs ago Space Force was just somebody’s dream! LOL!
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No confusion whatsoever I'm a Sailor brought up, in and through the system that causes the rest of you Heartache. 3 yrs in DC and I can sympathize with Rank Dilemas. Working with the Royal Navy wasn't too bad since it is the same Sleeve Decorations.
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SFC Steven Borders As a Brown Shoe Soldier, I do fret about y’all! We din’t have such problems in the “Old Army”! Soldiers, and others, recognized my rank and status ! LTC Stephen Conway LTC Stephen C. LTC Stephen F. SFC William Farrell
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SSgt Brian King
No doubt. Take out the brass, or in this case, the chevrons, and the rest will fall out in their minds. But we had the best damn military, both in training and mission ability.
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PFC Larry Cunningham
I always preferred the pickle suit to the bdu's. They looked so much better and professional.
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Haha I remember in HIGHSCHOOL ROTC prior to joining the Marines, when we would go on base for a trip and had our shiny "cadet" rank on our collar- we were often saluted, especially by PFC's and young LCpl's.
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SMSgt Lawrence McCarter
True, I had gone onto a base as a Cadet 1st Lt and got saluted. We had the two silver metal disk on our hat and also our collar.
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OMG!!! Officers and their egos. I can only speak at being on Bagram AB, Manas, Saudi. But Bagram was the worse. You couldn't walk 10 ft without having to salute. Tennis elbow?! Hell, I think we can claim "Salute Elbow and Shoulder". LOL So being there for visits for my Advisor Team, I made sure I walked with one of the CPT's on the team. Made it easier since he had to do all the saluting. I didn't. :)
J-bad main was just as bad. As an advisor embedded with the Afghan Border Police, our COC was a Marine COL out of Blackhorse. He gave us orders for relaxed facial hair cause we covered the whole Kunar, Nangahar Provinces and the Tora Bora region. And J-bad, (FOB Fenty) was our supply hub. Always getting stopped by someone about facial grooming and not saluting. One incident after being out for over a week, I was heading to the S-2 shed for intel briefings. I passed a butterbar who lost it cause I didn't salute him. So I did and said "Sniper Check Sir!!! He did this half ass salute and then I stopped him. I pointed out their security failures from where we were standing, that the enemy can see right into the camp and can see him perfectly. So I repeated, with salute, Sniper Check. He gave a quick and proper salute and hurried off. They tore down their HESCO walls for a stone wall that wasn't even high enough. One could see right down the main entry coming off the air field, to chow hall and other command buildings, one huge delight for the right sniper.
Now getting to NATO military. GOOD NIGHT!!! It was a nightmare trying to figure out those little clusters on their Soldiers as you approached them. Even harder since their rank was worn up on their shoulders. I even had difficulty sometimes with the 1SG and CSM ranks. Couldn't always tell their rank until you were right up on them. Stitching on those ranks sucked.
But you are correct SSG. When in doubt...Whip it out.
PS. Sorry for the long story.
J-bad main was just as bad. As an advisor embedded with the Afghan Border Police, our COC was a Marine COL out of Blackhorse. He gave us orders for relaxed facial hair cause we covered the whole Kunar, Nangahar Provinces and the Tora Bora region. And J-bad, (FOB Fenty) was our supply hub. Always getting stopped by someone about facial grooming and not saluting. One incident after being out for over a week, I was heading to the S-2 shed for intel briefings. I passed a butterbar who lost it cause I didn't salute him. So I did and said "Sniper Check Sir!!! He did this half ass salute and then I stopped him. I pointed out their security failures from where we were standing, that the enemy can see right into the camp and can see him perfectly. So I repeated, with salute, Sniper Check. He gave a quick and proper salute and hurried off. They tore down their HESCO walls for a stone wall that wasn't even high enough. One could see right down the main entry coming off the air field, to chow hall and other command buildings, one huge delight for the right sniper.
Now getting to NATO military. GOOD NIGHT!!! It was a nightmare trying to figure out those little clusters on their Soldiers as you approached them. Even harder since their rank was worn up on their shoulders. I even had difficulty sometimes with the 1SG and CSM ranks. Couldn't always tell their rank until you were right up on them. Stitching on those ranks sucked.
But you are correct SSG. When in doubt...Whip it out.
PS. Sorry for the long story.
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While attending a DoD level school as a 1st Lt, my new roommate introduced himself as, "Lieutenant Colonel Bowe". I thought he looked a little young to be a Lt Col but it turned out his real first name was "Colonel" and he was a 1LT in the Army. Go figure. Out of over 300 students attending this course, we also had a "Sergeant Major Flassor". Of course he was an Army E5 whose first name was "Major".
As for other services' ranks, my Father was a Marine E8 so I grew up on Marine and Navy bases. I was saluting Marine and Naval officers by the time I was eight years old. Not a lot if differences between Army and Air Force ranks, so no problem there. My biggest problem was when the Air Force went to universal leather name and rank patches on BDU's in the early 90's. Sometimes you had to get pretty close to someone walking in the opposite direction before you could see their rank clearly.
As for other services' ranks, my Father was a Marine E8 so I grew up on Marine and Navy bases. I was saluting Marine and Naval officers by the time I was eight years old. Not a lot if differences between Army and Air Force ranks, so no problem there. My biggest problem was when the Air Force went to universal leather name and rank patches on BDU's in the early 90's. Sometimes you had to get pretty close to someone walking in the opposite direction before you could see their rank clearly.
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MSG Thomas Currie
Those leather name/rank patches are the only case where I understand there being much of a real problem among the US services. There are certainly some other situations that can be confusing at a distance, but by the time you're close enough to be saluting it seems that it should be pretty clear if you are paying attention to your surroundings.
Of course if you throw a bunch of assorted foreign NCOs and officers into the mix, then things really do get confusing.
Now, as an American NCO, if you want to really confuse someone, salute any Commonwealth officer and include the appropriate greeting along with correctly identifying his rank. "Good morning, Major" will leave a British major absolutely speechless (assuming that you did get the rank right). I never had a problem with Army and Navy ranks, but I'll admit that I never did get the RAF ranks all sorted out (fortunately I usually only had to deal with British, French, and Soviet army ranks).
Of course if you throw a bunch of assorted foreign NCOs and officers into the mix, then things really do get confusing.
Now, as an American NCO, if you want to really confuse someone, salute any Commonwealth officer and include the appropriate greeting along with correctly identifying his rank. "Good morning, Major" will leave a British major absolutely speechless (assuming that you did get the rank right). I never had a problem with Army and Navy ranks, but I'll admit that I never did get the RAF ranks all sorted out (fortunately I usually only had to deal with British, French, and Soviet army ranks).
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While working as an observer controller trainer at Canadian Forces base Wainwright, I would often confuse a Canadian major with a warrant officer.. a warrant officer is an equivalent to an E7 Sergeant First Class. SFC William Farrell SMSgt Lawrence McCarter 1SG John Millan CSM Charles Hayden SFC Michael Hasbun PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
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Yes I sure have. I work at Joint Base San Antonio - Fort Sam Houston. About 2 weeks ago I saluted a Navy E-5. I know when i see a bird-shaped object in the Army, I render a salute and give the greeting of the day. I came back from TDY, and there were Navy personnel working in my building. I'm thinking I was doing the right thing, but it ended up being a mistake(that I was willing to take, instead of mistakingly walking past a possible O-6). He laughed it off and gave me a small "class" about Navy rank structure. After lunch, I printed a Army and Navy rank structure paper, and posted it on the bulltin board for all to see.
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