Avoiding Saluting an LT; What do you do when you see this?

Sir, age has nothing to do with being a professoinal, you earn your rank just like they did so its just rude of them.

I disagree your not saluting the the person your saluting the rank whether the NCO was SNIFF lipped or having a bad day he should have saluted he should not o be dressed down in public he should of been pulled aside somewhere in private and been told exactly that right then and there.

the enlisted problem is lack of pride in their profession, and on the officer side the problem is entitlement. With all do respect to all the officers here, none of you were born noblemen, and I didn't enlist in hopes to own private land, so when I salute an officer I'm not bowing down to his/her authority or class. We are members of the armed forces and we should salute/greet and return salutes/greetings with pride. As per our customs and traditions the lower ranking service member will initiate the salute/greeting, officer or enlisted. I made sure all my marines understood that saluting and giving the proper greeting of the day was our way to say we were professional warriors to each other, so I expected every single one to initiate salutes and greetings with pride. I never saw issues with saluting as lack of discipline, its a lack of leadership and pride.

Get used to it. It happens a lot.

LT, do push ups for not correcting the NCO. You are an officer in the US Air Force. If you let him/her get away with this it will reinforce in their mind that they can get away with this type of behavior. To add insult to injury, any junior enlisted who saw this automatically thinks it is 'ok' to do this as well because the NCO did it.

It's not only that, when I was in 8th Infantry Division in 1975, I went to Division HQ to see the Division CSM. I was the Division Soldier of the Year. We were leaving his office and going down the stairs. There was a gaggle of Sr Officers and Enlisted waiting inside the door, Yep, it was almost 1700 and Retreat was about to be played, The CSM was livid, he shouted, I am going upstairs to get my boss and we are ALL going outside to salute the flag...The building emptied quickly. It's not only LT's it's military courtesy as a whole.

Unless you were on a static post and he knew you were there it seems he saw you and recognized you as a commissioned officer. If at that point he did not render the hand salute he is in violation of the UCMJ. You should have addressed the NCO to let him know you were onto his petty little game. If you approach this in a non confrontational manner and he did not see or recognize you, or he went out of his way to leave a note on a friends car, or whatever, no harm no foul. If he did avoid you on purpose it puts him on notice that you will not put up with that unprofessional behavior and if it happens again he can expect a different outcome.

I have a theory LT and that is "some people just don't get it". It applies to everything in life.
Smoking weed at 6am to take the edge off and get the kids ready for school? Sounds crazy, but we see it.
Walking 100 yards out of your way to avoid a salute? Ridiculous. Even more so when you think about this: -He either saw someone else salute and did not want to, or had vision so sharp that he recognized the shiny bars and had to take evasive action. Or, he possibly recognized you from afar and was scared that you were going to actually ask him for some advice!
Whatever the reason, it is weak and not demonstrative of honorable service. He shamed himself.
The next time you catch someone doing that (and are 100% certain) you should meander over and engage them in a few minutes of idle conversation. Then smile and walk away with the victory.
Here is the deal: The military is about tradition, discipline, courtesy and honor. You take away those things and you have a mob.
Good luck to you Sir.

Had some great ones over the years...the I need to go a different direction, shift a box to the other hand or even putting on chap-stick to avoid to look at the ground. It is almost comical to see what some people will do to avoid a simple salute.

Hello LT,

I actually find this quite common.  Not only that, but I've seen it go both ways.  Enlisted members avoiding an officer so they don't salute, and officers avoiding entire groups of enlisted.  We've actually had conversations about this in my workcenter.  I'm no expert, but I can take my guesses to why this is happening.

#1: The individual suffers from social anxiety.  I personally fall victim to this.  Any time I walk by someone (or greet them), I get irrationally nervous.  Make that person an authority figure, such as an officer, and the feeling multiplies ten-fold.  It's natural, and it's something I've been working on my entire life.  Though I would never go out of my way to avoid saluting, I still go through a state of panic every time I do salute an officer.  I find this reason to be the most likely, simply because I know many people who suffer from social anxiety worse than I do.

#2: The individual has an injured shoulder and would rather not explain why he/she didn't salute.  It's certainly not likely, but it happens.  An Airman in my workcenter recently went through surgery on his right shoulder and was unable to salute for at least a week.  And, naturally, he was questioned every time he didn't salute.

#3: The individual may have been under the impression that you didn't want to salute either.  And to make it easier for both of you, he took a separate path.  Some enlisted get tired of saluting, so they assume that officer can get tired of it as well.  In rare cases, they are correct (which could explain the officer avoiding the enlisted). 

Having been in for 2 years, these are all from personal experiences with other Airmen.  I don't find avoiding an officer excusable, but I understand their reasoning.  Please don't take it personally, sir.  Most of the time the individual does not mean any disrespect.  Simply pulling them aside, preferably at a later time and away from his troops.  Respectfully find out why he took a different path, and tell him that you find it unacceptable.  Usually just expressing your opinion on the matter will fix their behavior.  However, if it continues, then you should take further corrective action (e.g. talk to his/her supervisor).

Hope this helps, sir.