Should a 2LT salute a 1LT?

If it were only that simple.

it is that simple

it may seem trivial, but you see that's the basis of discipline. you know that thing we play lip service to all the time. that thing we use at the end of "good order and ..." This is the world we love in. this in the military. I'm in the United States Army, not the Salvation. here, we follow orders. we follow orders when they make perfect sense. we follow orders when we don't understand. we follow orders when they sound like the most ridiculous thing we ever heard. we do because of our discipline. some of those things may seem trivial but they build on the whole. it is the basis for everything we do and to start picking and choosing what we obey will be the snowball that develops into the avalanche. the bottom line is the regulation says this is what we do. so we do it. And the Soldiers are watching. if a 2LT doesn't salute a 1LT, because hey its only one rank away, well them why should they have to listen to their teamleader. he's on one rank higher than them. and eventually the platoon sergeant figures out he's been in the service for 18 years and has been promoted 6 times, why should he have to listen to this snot nosed butter bar still wet behind the ears. and eventually it's looking more like some rag tag military from the Congo rather than the most professional, fit, trained and lethal military on the planet. and this is why we follow orders.

Lieutenant Steve P., I apologize. I was just giving my take on saluting in the Marines as an Enlisted man. I did say there was no question about this (I meant as far as a junior saluting a senior) but I guess I made the mistake of assuming ALL Marines show respect to someone senior to them, regardless of rank. I guess I'm wrong. I kind of made my response sound like it happens at all times, but, of course, I don't really know. The only time I saw a 2ndLt around 1stLts was once when one was in the area of my unit but we were indoors so there was no saluting. Since I was in the aviation side of the house all the Lts I came into contact with in my job arrived and reported in as 1stLts as they had all completed flight training at Pensacola. I wish I could ask my dad, who had 26 years active duty in the Air Force (starting in the Army Air Corps) but he died on active duty in 1968. Having flown through 3 wars I'm sure he'd seen a lot more than most. I tried to call my brother, a retired Navy vet but couldn't get a hold of him and, as usual, he hasn't answered my email. But in my 16 years active I just didn't come into contact with 2ndLts. So I'd have to assume going by that logic a LtCol doesn't salute a Col and a BGen doesn't salute a MajGen, LtGen, or General. Seems like a lot of disrespect but I never had to worry about saluting. Even if they were from other nations and I didn't know what rank they were, I saluted. Just seemed safer. Got laughed at when I was younger a few times for saluting enlisted personnel from other services but they had so much shiny sh*t on their uniforms I couldn't be sure, so I whipped it up.

No Sir, when I think about it, I realize there probably wouldn't be any disrespect in it. I suspect that long ago men of close rank probably decided that continuous saluting between them was time consuming and actually unnecessary. To be honest with you, I can't think of really seeing too many 2Lts during my entire career. I guess the transition to 1stLt from 2nd is like the promotion from Private to PFC in the Corps; fairly automatic if you keep your nose clean and perform your duties in a satisfactory fashion. Again, for me, just assuming.

I very agree with you. It seems the NCO side of us, as I was a SSG, made us this way.

Understand your view, however I still believe its the right thing to do. Understand that when promotions to 1LT were happening at 18 months and there was a backlog for PLT LDR positions that it may seem a bit much...but there already is a hierarchy in LT positions...that goes with experience and performance. Again...Understand your view...but not convinced that my previous comments are way off yet.

I totally disagree. you may not want to see a hierarchy of LTS but that's not your choice. that's like saying I don't want to see a hierarchy of NCOs. that's just how it is. I challenge you to find one regulation that states all LTS are equal and I will show you every regulation ever that says rank will be respected. I'm really concerned for the state of our army that this is even a discussion.