Posted on Nov 12, 2013
Avoiding Saluting an LT; What do you do when you see this?
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I was at Luke AFB and personally witnessed an NCO take the longest path possible to get to their car to avoid saluting me. I didn't try to get into his path to "force" a salute but it just seems unnecessary for that kind of animosity. I understand that people may not be fond with the idea of saluting a fresh new 22-year-old LT. <div><br></div><div>What do you guys think? What situations have you guys been in? For those who have experienced this, how did you handle it? </div>
Posted in these groups: 
Saluting
Leadership Development
Saluting Leadership Development
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 82
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If he truly did that simply to avoid rendering the proper salute/respect, he is an undisciplined military member. The fact that he is an NCO makes it worse.
Funny story... Back 100 years ago, when I was about to enter Ranger School at Fort Benning,, Georgia, five other new Second Lieutenants and I had been assigned to Ranger School a week before the school actually started. We were required to show up for morning PT with the cadre and then basically had the rest of the day off.
As we were assigned to Ranger School as students (even though the class had not started), we had already stripped our uniforms clean of anything but name and "US Army" tapes. No rank, no branch insignia, no unit patches, etc.
Following PT, we typically went to the chow hall at Olsen Hall, the main BOQ at Benning, for breakfast. Although we really should have changed back into a regular uniform (and sometimes we did), at times we simply went in the Ranger School stripped down version if we were running late. One day, as we were walking out of the chow hall, we passed by a group of about 4-5 brand new Lieutenants reporting in for the Infantry Officer Basic Course. We walked past them without so much as a glance when one of them, bellowed "Don't you soldiers salute officers?", to which one of the folks in my group responded with a "F*#k You" and we kept on walking. Of course the Lieutenants did not know that we were also Lieutenants. The group just stood there dumbfounded at the lack of respect they got and we probably shattered their vision of what it was going to be like to be an officer in the Army. :-)
I feel pretty bad about that now; but it was funny.
Funny story... Back 100 years ago, when I was about to enter Ranger School at Fort Benning,, Georgia, five other new Second Lieutenants and I had been assigned to Ranger School a week before the school actually started. We were required to show up for morning PT with the cadre and then basically had the rest of the day off.
As we were assigned to Ranger School as students (even though the class had not started), we had already stripped our uniforms clean of anything but name and "US Army" tapes. No rank, no branch insignia, no unit patches, etc.
Following PT, we typically went to the chow hall at Olsen Hall, the main BOQ at Benning, for breakfast. Although we really should have changed back into a regular uniform (and sometimes we did), at times we simply went in the Ranger School stripped down version if we were running late. One day, as we were walking out of the chow hall, we passed by a group of about 4-5 brand new Lieutenants reporting in for the Infantry Officer Basic Course. We walked past them without so much as a glance when one of them, bellowed "Don't you soldiers salute officers?", to which one of the folks in my group responded with a "F*#k You" and we kept on walking. Of course the Lieutenants did not know that we were also Lieutenants. The group just stood there dumbfounded at the lack of respect they got and we probably shattered their vision of what it was going to be like to be an officer in the Army. :-)
I feel pretty bad about that now; but it was funny.
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CW2 Ernest Krutzsch
Fort Benning is a different story, leaving Bldg 4 could be a nightmare for Officers as well as Enlisted :-)
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Sir, that's disappointing to hear. Any service member worth their salt shouldn't have a reason to avoid simply honoring our traditions, heritage, customs and rules. There's more to this than meets the eye with this NCO. It might bear watching in the future. That is not the example we want set for our junior members.
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I've never experienced that. Usually just the opposite, to the extent of getting a tired arm. <span style="font-size: 13px;">I especially like the people that space themselves at 8-9 step intervals in a straight line...</span>
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CPT Catherine R.
It's way more fun when the O's line up on the NCO's but throw a random SGT in the middle of the line... Not that I would EVER do that or anything!
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SFC (Join to see)
CPT Catherine R. - We did it to 0s as well. Walking in a group, see a young lieutenant coming, and spread out, single file, about 10 meters apart and salute. It's not necessarily disrespect. Sometimes it's just harmless ribbing. Can't call it hazing now, that would be evil.
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