Do I need to render a salute to an officer when my hands are occupied?

The CSM needs to pull his head out of his butt. No, you do not need to drop everything and salute the CPT.

The CSM needs to pull his head out of his butt. No, you are not required to drop everything to salute the CPT.

As a lower grade person, You are always wrong. Even if you are right. The best you can do is try to shift every thing to your left hand.

A mug does not really constitute an important enough item not to salute. Not even with an Army logo.

Carry a copy of the applicable Reg with you, set down your cup, render the salute, then hand the CSM the Regulation.

You are not in a situation where following the order will cause problems (risk to life or property, etc), so you follow the order then dispel it.

Of course, you are likely to commit the cardinal sin of being too blatantly right against a superior which can be very problematic with people such as a CSM.

I notice the Army folks answer one way and others answer another. Are we talking a heavy 4" binder or a 1" binder that could easily be carried under your arm? We had those who would keep their hands "full" just so they wouldn't have to salute. That's pretty disingenuous and, no, it didn't fly. COULD you have carried both in one hand? Or, are soldiers imply prohibited from carrying anything that would require both hands?

When in doubt drop your things and salute. Better to be safe than sorry

The regs aren’t wrong, your CSM is. Did the CSM realize you had your hands full? I could easily see this being an oversight and they didn’t notice - but then again I doubt you’d be posting here asking if that was a possibility.

Some NCOs once told me that it was my problem that I had my both hands busy. This is not correct, however, because the reg is clear. Logically, I would not expect someone to render a salute if their hands are busy. I will also not salute someone who outranks me and has his/her hands busy because, at the very least, it will create an awkward situation where the other person would want to salute back. It's kind of disrespectful.

RU kidding me? It made my day when I hand both hands occupied and some boot Ensign would try that crap and I would have to remind them that I didn't have to salute. I didn't get along with officer corps vey well especially the ones that pushed rank and thought their stuff didn't stink. It's amazing the stuff that get lost for a period of time that makes one's life miserable.