If I am saluted by an enlisted member, is it acceptable to stop them and tell them I am not commissioned?

That is where my confusion comes into play LTC. We do not have our commissions what gives us the authority to be saluted? Thank you for the clarification.

OFFICER CANDIDATE. That is your authority. Warrant Officers don't have commissions either (at least not at the lower grades), yet they also rate salutes.

The way I'd play it is this: Don't go around expecting to get saluted. Most Jr enlisted won't know to (unless the cadre at Annapolis were briefed about it during their inprocessing), but Sr NCO's will. So, if you do get saluted, return it smartly.

BTW, don't they teach you guys military courtesies at USNA? I figure this would have been covered during your summer indoctrination before your freshman year started.

In my early days of being a W1 after having 14 years enlisted I had just received my Warrant while at sea. Officer berthing was limited so I was assigned to a 4 man Junior Officer bunk room which was currently occupied by two midshipmen. Space was quite limited and I had returned to the bunk room after lunch to find a young midshipman sprawled on the deck between the bunks taking a "nooner." When I asked him to move so I could reach my locker he informed me that he would move after his nap and that he was senior to.me anyway. After I informed him that I had passed more water through my kidneys than he had sailed over and was not adverse to walking through the middle of his anatomy to reach my gear he jumped to his feet and almost stood at attention while I proceeded with my business. He relayed the situation to the XO who advised him to reconsider his position from a realistic perspective and to stow his ego in the bottom of his seabag for the duration of the cruise.