Posted on Dec 14, 2018
SPC Practical/Vocational Nursing
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I was walking with a Navy LT and an Army Maj. (My hospital has both services) from the USO across the street to the hospital and a PFC passed and didn’t salute. I stopped and asked her, “Do enlisted soldiers not salute officers anymore?” The Maj. with me said I didn’t have to be so aggressive about it. What’s a better way of addressing it without coming off as aggressive?
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CPO David Russell
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You did good! I would’ve lit them up, it’s the military not McDonald’s
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SP5 Ed Ehrlich
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In 1970 I was at a rear-echelon Army base in Vietnam. I was a Spec-4 (E-4). I arrived at (believe it!) a Tennis court to play tennis against a Captain in my unit. We worked alongside each other. I forgot to salute him. Without hesitation or delay he matter-of-factly reminded me to salute when approaching or passing an officer -- especially away from the "workplace". I instantly did so and learned a valuable lesson. Don't get casual. Maintain your decorum no matter what, as it's clearly important to the maintaining of military discipline at all times whether in uniform or not. Undisciplined behavior while away from the combat zone, like weak training and individual/unit discipline, erodes our readiness and must be avoided "at all costs", as they say.
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SGT Team Leader
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I think you're completely in the right battle. Although the MAJ may not have liked your style as a future NCO its your job to maintain standards and discipline. I don't see what you did as toxic leadership or a bad way of addressing it. Good work.
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CW3 Michael Bodnar
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I don't think you did anything wrong. You can ask many different ways but the bottom line is, the PFC was definitely in the wrong. I would've handled it slightly different by asking the PFC to chat off to the side. I would've asked the question about saluting and if he/she knew what the regulation was and if they could explain it to you. It also depends on whether they were looking at you all and just blatantly walking by - that would definitely change my approach.
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CW4 Craig Urban
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Hate to say it but nurses and doctors generally do not care much about customs.
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SSG Michael Davis
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Keep your head down and move on. If you are right but the seniors are wrong, very little can be gained on trivialities. If the stakes are high and the results matter, that's another story. But, at the end of the day who does or who does not salute whom really doesn't matter in the bigger scheme of things.
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CPT Gurinder (Gene) Rana
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Peel away from the Major and stop the PFC. Have a direct chat with the PFC expressing her error by imparting to her the military customs & Courtesy. Have the PFC approach the MAJOR, apologize and render the proper salute with the greeting of the day. Correction of mistakes is never wrong; overlooking an error deliberately is error squared. The Major should not have interfered and allowed compliance.
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CDR Tom Davy
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Your "question" was hardly aggressive, I would say it was a mild response. As a retired Medical Service Corps officer and former Corpsman, I know that medical commands are often lax re saluting.
I also know of several medical department officers who are not "into" being saluted.
The underlying problem lies in the poor military training given to our medical personnel.
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PO2 Larry Hensch
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I walked by a Marine Captain and an Air Force Lieutenant when checking in to my "A" school fresh out of boot camp. The Captain asked me if I saluted officers, and I said yes and did so. He and I later became friends! I had all the Naval Insignia down pat, but this was a combined command. At the time every Airman or PFC looked like an officer in their dress uniforms to me, but I quickly set about learning what officers from the other services looked like!
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SFC Ron Shaffer
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This is one example why basic trainer for all services needs to go back to how it was. I retired in 2002 and am happy beyond belief that I retired when I did, because I know the things I see on Facebook and the news would be corrected right then and it wouldn’t be pleasant. I was traveling around a few Eastern European countries with a friend and saw some severely drunk and disrespectful US Navy sailors in Odessa Ukraine. I pulled them aside and let them have it. I told them that they need to remember that they are representing the USA and the way they are conducting themselves should never happen as long as they are wearing that uniform.
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