What’s the proper way to correct someone when not saluting an officer?

I'm assuming you were walking with a doctor who the Army happened to hand major rank to. His opinion on how to handle soldiers is worthless.

My own technique was usually to call them out with these specific words "Hi, Private, how are YOU today?" use a strange voice, be fairly aggressive physically (lean in toward them) while delivering this polite question, and arch your eyebrow. Worked wonders.

Even 20 years ago there were grey areas about when and where to salute. For example, flight lines had different rules/expectations. I found it more confusing than anything and preferred to salute all the time. That rank deserves respect...

I find this funny, even though you are correct. I just remember once coming around the corner of a building and a Lt. Jg (O-2) came running the other way around the corner and we almost knocked each other down. After making sure he was okay, I turned to walk off and he says "Don't enlisted salute officers anymore?" At first I thought he was joking. But the ring thumper (academy grad) was dead serious. So I pulled off a super smart salute. As he left I gave him the salute he deserved. 1 finger. There are times when salutes may not be called for but in general you had it right.

50

I retired as a LCDR. For me I would look at circumstances: Is it 2AM on the pier, raining, and we are 30 feet separated? Or, is it at a training command, just us, and a sailor walks right by me. I always gave the person the benefit of the doubt that he/she forgot, etc because I've done the same thing, and that usually was all it took. If there's a sailor with a chip on his/her shoulder for some reason, getting shit on by an officer for not saluting isn't going to improve that sailor's morale and performance.

My first day, reporting to my joint-service headquarters as an Army 2LT. Saw an older Navy guy approaching, scanned his uniform to figure out his rank, saw something resembling an oak leaf, so I saluted and said Good Morning, Sir. The Chief Petty Officer politely (maybe with a small smirk/grin explained my mistake and said that he should be saluting me) and I continued on my way. That afternoon I saw another Navy fellow with what appeared to be similar brass insignia, so I patiently waited for the salute and greeting. It didn't happen, and then the Commander (my intermediate rater, as it turned out) explained to me that he was equivalent to an Army LTC. Rough first day on the job!

The proper way to correct someone when not saluting an officer? We were all trained to recognize rank and insignia's from any branch of service. However, if an error is made, correct them in private and tell them if in doubt salute first, or apologize (if you mistakenly salute an enlisted person).

I've mentioned this before. In '72-'73 I was a student at Ft. Sill for the Advance Course. I was one of
four lieutenants, three of us US and the other Thai, IIRC. One of the required daily things was to check your mailbox. This was somewhere close to half way through the course, so we knew each other fairly well. Anyway, I was walking along back to Snow Hall and we were talking/joking/wondering about the next class when suddenly I heard a "Lieutenant - where is your salute?" I looked up to see a captain from a class several classes behind us. So I popped him one. What did my section mates do? 'WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THAT GUY?"

A big part of the is Most military Hosptil have a no saluting policy.
How ever the greeting of the is still mandatory.

Too bad, you correct that enlisted right then and there! Screw feelings! This is the Military, not a Fucking college campus! You want "feelings?" Go there! You want warriors? That's what the military's for!