When an E-4 calls me "hey" or "hey man" knowing that I am an officer, should I bother to correct him?

If you are on rally point asking what to do in this situation, and you're an officer?
Resign your commission immediately!

Absolutely, this soldier needs to be corrected and his chain of command needs to be informed. This is a leadership problem from top to bottom. Anyone holding the rank of Specialist should respect the rank of an officer and understand they are in the Army not out on the street. When I was in we had a saying, 'Never walk by a deficiency." It didn't matter if it was a button not buttoned a crocked head cover or a statement. We are a disciplined uniformed service any breakdown in that discipline needs to be nipped in the bud. After you correct him, you need to find out who his Squad leader is. This troop needs some retraining.

This happened to me once, as a major in an Infantry Division Staff. I was at a Best Buy or Target or something afterhours.
BLUF: After this Soldier, who knew who I was (DIV PAO), approached me with his friends, showed his ass by saying, "Hey, man, how's it going?", I took his ID, found out who his company commander was, and had his commander report to me to get "my friend's" ID back.
We all make mistakes. Inexperienced and/or uneducated Soldiers will make more of them. It's part of a leader's charter to correct these mistakes with clarity and compassion.
We all make mistakes. Correcting these mistakes is not a waste of time.

You are an O-3, and ask a question like that?

Speaking of corrections, I need to correct my [original] statement. I've never memorized Army or Air Force [enlisted] ranks, and I didn't realize when I made my original comment that SPC is Army, and assumed it was Air Force. My apologies. No offense intended. But then again, that's one of the things I've always like about the Marine Corps. Eg: E-4 was my pay grade. Not my rank. My rank was Corporal....period. But in the other branches of the service, pay grade and rank are interchangeable, and it is something that has always gotten under my skin. Anyway, like I said, no offense intended. I'm the one who made the mistake of assuming in the first place, which is something I should not have done.

That being said, I stand by my original view that the SPC should be corrected. Not necessarily have his ass chewed, but he should be corrected.

Lastly,
Has anyone besides me noticed that this thread was originally started almost a year ago?????
Regardless of what direction things went, this situation was over a LONG time ago.

Since he did it outside of work, and out of uniform, it's pretty much up to you. Were the two of you ff base????? Does "on or off base" matter in the Air Force???? Well, anyway, in my day, such behavior, (in or out of uniform, on or off duty, and on or off base), such behavior was SACRILEGE!!!!!....and they could, and WOULD court martial you for "Disrespecting a commissioned officer"....I forget the UCMJ article number. But then, we are talking USMC vs. USAF. The Air Force has always been more relaxed that the Marines.

Another memory that just came back to me: The only ranks that could even MILDLY get away with ANY KIND of disrespect, (towards an officer), were Warrant Officers, Sgt's Major, and Master Gunnery Sgt's., and only because the [usually] large number of years in service it takes to achieve those ranks. In my day, if junior officers had even the slightest idea what was good for them, and their career, they knew better than to cross anyone of these ranks. Typically, back in my day, the ONLY person, (in an individual unit), (in my case, an aircraft squadron), that a Sgt. Major answered to, was the unit the C.O. Group C.O., and Base C.O. were a whole different ball game....for the Sgt. Major. And yes. In my day, if you were an enlisted rank, (even a Sgt. Maj., or a MGSgt.), you still saluted a Warrant Officer when in uniform if you knew what was good for you.

But, again, we're talking Marines vs. Air Force, and this was [roughly] 30 years ago. I am aware that times have changed....dramatically. My next door neighbor is retired Army, and one of his biggest complaints, is how disrespectful the younger generations are, and the serious attitude problem they have. It's one of the several things that convinced him to retire from the Army. Sounds like you're dealing with the same issue. But God forbid we hold the younger generations to the same standards that we were held to. It's not politically correct to do so any more. From what I hear, you just might get written up for harassment....or worse, maybe even hazing.

So, I think I'll close with: Use your very best judgement that you possibly can. You don't need to over-analyze it, but definitely do your best to consider all ramifications....either way you choose to go. Because you should know as well as I do, that if you get it wrong, being an officer, (especially in the society we live in these days), the mistake will follow you around like a ball and chain. But something else that just occurred to me: Was his disrespect intentional???? Or just a relaxed familiarity out of uniform????? With this in mind, if you want to correct him, you might do your best to be nice about it so you don't create any animosity. You also mention that he's not directly under your command, and that factors in as well....in both respect, and disrespect. You can also talk to your peers, and maybe even your superiors....but that's a judgement call on your part. Eg: "How you look in their eyes if you ask them what they would do"??? This is why I hate politics. Anything you say or do, can, and just might, be used against you, because there is also the fact that, as a commissioned officer, (who's been promoted a couple of times), you're expected to know how to handle this. If you go to your peers, or your boss, with this, they must might start wondering if you're fit to command....which brings us back to the issue of respect. In my day, he would have been corrected, and be done with it. Possibly in a nice way, but he would have been corrected....especially when it's between an officer, and an enlisted. Or a top Sgt. and a junior enlisted. But again, we're talking Marines vs. Air Force. Hope I helped....at least a little bit. Sorry my comment got so long. I didn't plan it that way.

CPT (Join to see)
I'm shocked you feel you even have to ask that question.
You can only lead from the front! SMH

He's got Cpt. bars next to his name.....not a real question. And if it's a real question, he should know.

Your first name is “Sir”. End of comment.

There are multiple ways to approach this and its not necessarily a clear cut answer. Some people are mature enouhh that simply pointing out he should be adding sir somewhere in that conversation may be enough to fix the issue. Some may need to be locked up and informed in a more direct manner. You dont have to be super confrontational or even angry about it. There are situations where a sir could be dropped (youre in a company fantasy football league and he is speaking to you about the games) but henerally, an enlisted should not feel that comfortable. I am in aviation, so we are generally more lax than most but enlisted really should have the good practice of addressing officers as such.