What is your funniest salute story?

In my earliest days as an USACE officer around 1990, I was approached by a newly direct commissioned medical officer. He was a full colonel (a speciality surgeon), and I was a second lieutenant, so obviously I was prepared to salute immediately as we passed. Unfortunately, the Colonel was wearing his rank upside down on his patrol cap, and decided to salute with his LEFT hand. I had to correct him, as it was obvious that it was not a joke, and no one had explain the basics of military regulations. He thanked me and laughed. He had only been in the US Army a single week...

I was working at the Naval Annex as PVT (right out of school) in the USMC promotion board dept. There are not very many PVTs working in that facility . Every day I got saluted. I even had someone come up to me and tell me I forgot my brass.

When I was in basic training at Ft Leanardwood I was a road guard while we were marching. I was blocking a street and a Budweiser truck pulled up and I gave it a rifle salute. My drill instructor did not like that

Was walking over to the base dispensary while in Basic Training in San Antonio and saw an officer loading stuff into the trunk of his car. Not sure what to do, I saluted him and he returned the salute while still bending over with his head in the trunk.

While stationed at Shemya AFB, AK, my squadron commander was an ex-enlisted member who had received his commission. In casual meetings many of us would give him a left handed salute to which he returned a left handed salute. I met the captain in one of the hallways with the customary left handed salute which he returned. Little did I notice that a second lieutenant was following. That lieutenant looked like an owl with his head spinning between the captain and me.

US Navy:
I had completed boot camp at Camp Nimitz, San Diego and was at the airport ready to fly home on leave. Every time a commercial airline pilot passed me in the terminal, I would stop and salute him/her due to the gold band on their hats. Took me a while to correct the habit.

Even though I was a brand-new Ensign attending Naval Nuclear Power School in Orlando Florida (1983), I wasn't a novice regarding uniforms and seasonal changes. However, I remember one particular Friday morning walking into the NPS complex, I was returning salutes to quite a few enlisted folks who were noticeably happier than normal, many laughing and grinning as we passed each other.

I got up to the 2nd deck, where my class was located, but in the hallway noticed one of my VMI classmates whose class was usually downstairs. I said "Steve, what are you doing up on MY deck??" Very quickly, he responded with "What are *you* doing wearing a khaki cover with dress whites?!?"

I had changed my insignia & nametags over to the whites (we wore whites on Friday), but in the rush to get out the door I grabbed my cover without thinking (or looking) at it, and it was still decked out in Thursday's khaki. That sure explained the grins on all those sailor's faces. Yet another notch in the 'brand new Ensigns can be so stupid' trope....

While in Marine Corps boot camp a fellow recruit and I were sent to early chow at Zero Dark 30 with instructions to double time. As we rounded the corner to the chow hall entrance we noticed a Captain exiting the building. While in full running stride we simultaneously launched ourselves into a flying posture of attention, snapped a salute in mid - air, and shouted "Good Morning, Sir!" as we flew by him. The moment our boots hit the deck we heard the Captain respond, " I don't stinkin' think so! Get back here and try this again!" Second time through we kept ourselves grounded and gave a respectable and worthy salute.

When I first arrived in Vietnam I tried to get Hiers to salute me, but he simply wouldn't do it, mustering at most a "Howdy, Lieutenant, how's it hanging" as we passed. For every time that he didn't salute I told him he would have to fill a hundred sandbags.

We'd reached several thousand sandbags when Hiers took me aside and said "Look, Lieutenant, I'll be happy to salute you, really. But if I get in the habit back here in the rear I may salute you when we're out in the bush. And those gooks are just waiting for us to salute, tell 'em who the lieutenant is. You'd be the first one blown away." We forgot the sandbags and the salutes. Months later, when Hiers left the platoon to go home, he turned to me as I stood on our hilltop position, and gave me the smartest salute I'd ever seen. I shot him the finger, and that was the last I saw of him for fifteen years.
Bill Broyles • Vietnam 69-70 from "Why Men Love War" article

When I first arrived in Vietnam I tried to get Hiers to salute me, but he simply wouldn't do it, mustering at most a "Howdy, Lieutenant, how's it hanging" as we passed. For every time that he didn't salute I told him he would have to fill a hundred sandbags.

We'd reached several thousand sandbags when Hiers took me aside and said "Look, Lieutenant, I'll be happy to salute you, really. But if I get in the habit back here in the rear I may salute you when we're out in the bush. And those gooks are just waiting for us to salute, tell 'em who the lieutenant is. You'd be the first one blown away." We forgot the sandbags and the salutes. Months later, when Hiers left the platoon to go home, he turned to me as I stood on our hilltop position, and gave me the smartest salute I'd ever seen. I shot him the finger, and that was the last I saw of him for fifteen years.
Bill Broyles Vietnam 69-70