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

There is no way of correcting a fellow soldier for disregard of army regulations than by being aggressive. You should also correct the Major by telling him or her that you are a professional soldier who hopes to become an effective NCO and that you are duty bound to correct all violations of established regulations in that endeavor. The Major was wrong in not correcting the PFC himself. You are to be commended for your actions in this matter.

I think you should have been more aggressive! What is up with the Pfc? He/she should have been doing push-ups!!!

Stepping aside and giving a stern reminder would be appropriate. I notice some officers (especially dr.'s and chaplains) aren't as concerned with missing a salute but saluting is not only a matter of respect but of dicipline and situational awareness.

A habit of maintaining situational awareness (and following procedure) can save or cost lives...so you can remind them of that next time you see someone skipping a salute.

You could have easily left the sarcasm and condisending remark out of it. I am a firm believer that all military customs and courtesies must be followed and respected. However, your approach sounds to me like you were trying to impress the two officers you were with more so then to correct an obvious discrepancy. Showboating is an awful trait, especially for an aspiring NCO. Just my opinion of course!

You were right about it, when I was on active duty I was visiting my sister who was in the navy at the time, I was a E6 Army NCO pasted a LT(jg) any he barked at me about not saluting ( didn’t see those litty bitty butter bars) but later passed a CPO and saluted him( hey I saw shinny shit) and he corrected me, (SQUIRREL) but you should correct someone because they might not have seen or didn’t know protcall and don’t let the officers tel you don’t worry about it,stand your ground, I was a 3stars aid driver and Bodyguard and he respected me for knowing customs and courtesy while in and out of uniform, don’t get lacks in your training and discipline in uniform we....umm y’all have to take up the slack of us old retired NCO’s and teach theses young officers the proper ways.....again (SQUIRREL) got off in a tangent....in other words, you were right to correct them

What is wrong with what the Navy Lt. said. In the good old days you would have gotten a good @ss chewing, the 1SG would have been called, and the PFC would have been dealt with by the chain of command.... depending on what the circumstances were. Not enough details here.
A friend of mine had a bad habit of always looking down, didn't salute the CG because he didn't see the CG's jeep. He got a free ride to the Division HQ ... and another free ride back from the 1SG.

My line was always: "Excuse me, a little military courtesy is appreciated." This always resulted in a salute. I didn't have to explicitly say "salute" - people know what is expected. All you're doing is holding them to a standard.

Does the Army no longer have the Army Officer's Guide (original published in 1930, the copy I have is 45th edition, dated 1990) and the NCO Guide (original published in 1954, the copy I have is 4th edition, dated 1992)? Customs and courtesies remain virtually unchanged. How to salute is described in FM 3-21.5, Drill and Ceremonies, and whom to salute is defined in AR 600-25, Salutes, Honors, and Visits of Courtesy. You were indeed correct in making an on-the-spot correction IAW AR 600-20, Army Command Policy. I say to you: well done.

I believe that your direct handling by calling out the individual was correct in every way, and it displays both knowledge and courage. When I was a young lieutenant I had a squad leader who was a large and powerful individual, SSG P. I watched him handle this exact thing once. He wrapped his left arm around the offending soldiers shoulders, and walked down the sidewalk speaking gently into his ear. The I noticed the young soldiers feet were barley touching the ground, and I thought - now that is a handling for the problem.

I have seen it vise versa when an enlisted salutes an officer but officer didn't return the salute. A salute is a jester showing respect of rank (Not the person), acknowledge of a command/order & returning the salute shows the recipient the same manner. I believe there is a UCMJ Article that covers this. I'm going to take this a step further. When I was in the Navy and we docked at a Thailand Naval Base in Thailand. A U.S. Navy enlisted man (not me) fail to salute a Thailand Naval Officer. He got the max punishment allowed by the UCMJ under that article. Remember that if you going to dress one down, be sure to use common sense & tact and your Ajay squared away and use a firm authoring voice.