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
I didn't because my dad was a senior chief, but at NAS Cubi Point I was with B Co. MARBKS Subic Bay and I would laugh like hell at all the jarheads saluting Chiefs. CPO's and officers wear the same working khakis, but chiefs have an anchor on the collar and left side of the pisscutter, and officers wear rank and branch on collar if not line, and officers insignia on left of pisscutter and rank on right. Miss my dad. Retired EMCS and Korean War vet USS Shelton DD790.
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Suspended Profile
Well, I guess RPB is run by snowflakes and cupcakes by evidence of my deleted (disappeared) reply. My, my, my what thin skin you all have! Figure I'll have to delete my account in kind.

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All these responses has me wondering what exactly are they teaching in the military rank identification classes being held in today's military. Or, is everyone more concerned with NOT misgendering the snowflakes? Hmmm...?

Never the wrong rank, but I recall being at Shepherd AFB in the mid 80’s. A fellow Marine and I were walking across the street towards the PX when a young Lt approached. We snapped up a couple of crisp salutes with the accompanying “Good Morning Sir”. We thought he was gonna faint.
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For us Marines, if somebody had something shiny on his collars, he rated a salute. I saluted more than just a few Navy CPO's before I learned to look more closely.
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Back at Fort Bragg in 1968/9 the saluting was so bad the C General made everyone salute anyone else that outranked them. Yes, enlisted saluting other enlisted.
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....I Never Had A Problem With Saluting The Wrong Rank....
But I DID Have Some Fun, Not Saluting At All.
What Was So Funny Was Seeing The look On Their Face,
When They'd Start The Salute & I'd Just Pass Them By.....
Oddly Enough I Seldom Got Called On It..."Seldom", Not "Always"
But Making Up Excuses Was Fun Too... "Sorry Sir, I Didn't See You Coming".
Then There Was Dave Libby, My Good Ole Friend.....Dave Would Stop The New 2nd Lieutenants When They Confronted Him. (Shiny New Silver Bars Gave Them Away. As Did New Attitude, New Officers Get)......Dave Actually Had The Balls To Say "Lieutenant, Are You Not Familiar With The New Base Regulation (Then Rattle Off Some Arbitrary Numbers)...Which Clearly States: "After 1800 Hours On This Base, Saluting Is Not Required Of The Enlisted Staff"? ....He'd ALWAYS Get An Apology... Not Once Was He Ever Questioned... We Were Of Course, Wearing Our Badges...
I'm Relatively Sure That Helped A Little!....
But I DID Have Some Fun, Not Saluting At All.
What Was So Funny Was Seeing The look On Their Face,
When They'd Start The Salute & I'd Just Pass Them By.....
Oddly Enough I Seldom Got Called On It..."Seldom", Not "Always"
But Making Up Excuses Was Fun Too... "Sorry Sir, I Didn't See You Coming".
Then There Was Dave Libby, My Good Ole Friend.....Dave Would Stop The New 2nd Lieutenants When They Confronted Him. (Shiny New Silver Bars Gave Them Away. As Did New Attitude, New Officers Get)......Dave Actually Had The Balls To Say "Lieutenant, Are You Not Familiar With The New Base Regulation (Then Rattle Off Some Arbitrary Numbers)...Which Clearly States: "After 1800 Hours On This Base, Saluting Is Not Required Of The Enlisted Staff"? ....He'd ALWAYS Get An Apology... Not Once Was He Ever Questioned... We Were Of Course, Wearing Our Badges...
I'm Relatively Sure That Helped A Little!....
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Yes. Numerous times. Always Navy. Now I did have SOME fun at Naval Base Great Mistakes doing training, with the crowds of Junior Enlisted guys walking around that would salute the Capt I was with (USMC) and ignore me. I would growl "Well I guess a CWO doesn't rate around here does he!". They would scatter, Capt would tell me I was being a dick. It was my little private joke, because Camp JeJune 1987 a group of us had just checked in for school (Pvts/PFCs) and were walking around checking things out and saw a weird sight, it was a CWO walking right towards us. We'd never seen one before. Not at Boot Camp for sure. We stopped and stared for a few seconds (what is that? I dunno, a Sasquatch maybe?). He flipped out "I guess I don't get a Salute OR a proper greeting today, do I!". He got his snappy salute and Greeting, walked off and we hi-tailed it. Turns out that particular CWO was half Ghost AND half Sasquatch. Or perhaps a ManBearPig. The world may never know for sure. But as I stared, I said to myself "I wanna be that guy.".
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CWO2 (Join to see)
Oh crap, also walking out of the Class 6 there, I saluted a LT (supposed to as a CWO), the Capt also saluted and said "Damnit, you made me salute a Navy LT!". "No Sir, I didn't make you do anything." It was a fun TAD trip, '06. We also chartered a boat from MCCS with a few SNCOs on training with us. Best TAD/TDY ever.
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