Anyone saluted the wrong rank working on a Joint Base?

I Salute te Person not the Uniform...

In the early 90's I was a junior enlisted Airman working in a TACP on Ft Lewis. With the Ranger BN there and the fact we both had black berets I did get saluted at night if the lighting wasn't enough to distinguish that I wore a different flash & crest. Was especially bad when the powers that be decided we didn't need pewter(ish) crests and supplied us with bright & shiny chrome ones.....

As a very old Specialist (40+), I used to get saluted a lot. From a distance the Army E4 rank Insignia looks similar to that of a LTC, just a black blob. So I got saluted a lot when out and about garrison and in the field. To save time and the explanation, I would just salute back and keep moving. When the mistake was discovered, almost everyone was very cool about it and would laugh it off, always ending the conversation with 'and how old are you?'. Very rarely someone would make a big deal about it and I would have to listen to them for a while before getting back to work.

Funny you should mention it SSG Borders, I was a SP5 (In case people don't know that's a Specialist 5/ E-5 in the Army back then) stationed in Hawaii in the mid 80's, where all U.S. Military Branches are there, I was at the Pink Palace, Tripler Army Medical Center, I'm a Medic/O.R. Tech, I must have Saluted quite a few Navy and Air Force people when I first got there, mostly Navy, some just laughed and smiled and told me they were enlisted but Saluted right back, heck some Marines were saluting me cuz they thought I was and officer, I'd smiled and Saluted right back, you know SP5 rank, but I learned as time went by. I chuckle about it every now and then when I think about now, like you, I whipped out my best snappy Salute, just in case. Thanks for the memories.

As a very young airman (USAF) I had to go to Pensacola NAS for training. The eagle on a Navy uniform had me saluting everyone.

Not on a joint base but after returning from Nam in 70 I had to go into the MCRD marine base in San Diego.
I was in class A's that day and when I went on base the gate gaurds saluted me and of course I returned it.
I was an e-5 but I think they saw the flash on my beret and that is why the saluted.

Many many times that same thing happened to me when I was stationed at MCRDPI. And many, many times I kicked myself in the ass for doing it. But I was there to do it right or wrong and during that time in history, just being there had a lot to say.

Always the Navy ranks. When I was an A1C I was assigned to NSA. We worked in a red seal door, which meant you needed to have a key to open the door (replaced by cypher locks now) or you had to knock. Knock at the door. I go to see who it is and it turns out it was a Naval officer. I told the guy he was looking for some Navy Captain is at the door for you. He jumps up and runs to the door shouting you left him in the hallway? He gets to the door and I hear him say LT was there a Captain with you? The LT says no just me. I said well shit he has on Captain's bars...

I did salute a Navy Chief once. Couldn't see the insignia so I followed the WIDWIO rule too. He laughed and said nah, that ain't me.

Back in 1962, as a private at Ft. MacArthur, California, a fellow private and I mistook the base Fire Marshall for a Navy admiral and rendered an outstanding salute.

As a young Marine private, I saluted a Marine L/Cpl. His rank was worn and shiny. I made his day!

Saluting is the custom in the military to show respect - or to just say good morning. Military officers expect to be greeted with a salute - a sign of respect and a formal way of saying "good day". Enlisted guys can be salute but they don't expect it - if confused, just salute and give whomever you are saluting a verbal "hello" or "Good Day." Nice!!!

We were told in AF boot camp, “If it moves salute it, if it don’t piss on it”.

Hell I was 32 when I joined, at Ft. Leonardwood wearing Class A uniform, I got saluted by privates even though I was just a PFC myself. I guess when in doubt salute.

If you've never saluted a Navy E4, have you even been in a joint environment?

I was found n Bosnia at Tulsa Airbase. Finance office was where NATO headquarters were located in “Salute Alley “ as it was called. Going there was a nightmare. American service members along with NATO officers and enlisted from other countries. I know I screwed up a few times but nobody called me on it!

When I was still in flight status and wore my flight suit on a daily basis, I would get saluted quite often. That flight suit is pretty tricky.

I have saluted more Navy Chiefs then I know what to do with. They all look the same with shiny brass. We were always taught salute the brass, but they all wear it and I felt stupid every time I did it.

I graduated AIT and within a couple months found my self deployed to Iraq, and saluting every damn Navy enlisted, or Navy corpsman I saw.

I just kept thinking to my self how young some of these colonels were... and how damn many of them there were.

My only excuse was I was an E-2, and after several puzzled looks and laughter, a Navy officer set me straight. All worth a good laugh now. Stupid Navy eagle...haha

I was just talking about this the other day. Bagrum was a salute zone and we were always getting yelled at because we would visit for re-supply and forget to salute. When we were there I could not tell you how many Navy PVTs I saluted after dark! The first thing you see is the bird. I would get so mad once I got close enough to realize who I saluted. I would be like... "really! Your just goanna let us salute you and not say anything?" Eventually we gave up on trying and just excepted getting yelled at.

When I was a CPO at the US Merchant Marine Academy my crew and I were saluted constantly be the Midshipman. Now that I am a CWO on a Navy base they all look at me like I am the first CWO they ever saw. The odd thing is there are quite a few CWOs on this base both USCG & USN.