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

Yes you earned the proper respect

It would be a good idea to correct him.

I am surprised that this is even a question. Where did you get your commission? You can't be "hey, man" on Saturday and "sir" on Monday and expect either one of those to mean anything. Pick one, and your answer better be the latter. The custom of saluting in mufti seemed to be waning as I approached retirement, but I always found it far less awkward to always salute my BC rather than try to figure out exactly how low customs had deteriorated at the moment.

Due respect should never be ignored. It should be corrected. All enlisted should regard even the lowest ranking officer with due respect. Sir is not that hard to say. I also feel it goes both ways. I had a SSGT I was on temporary duty with the called myself and other NCO's by whistling and snapping his fingers. I politely reminded him of what a Marine NCO has don and it deserve the minimum of calling me by rank and last name. I am not a dog, but someone that has made some accomplishments worth respect. He tried to balk at it, until the Captain behind him asked if this was true. Glad it was temporary.

That can be totally dependent on the circumstances. I was an E-4 section chief in a vehicle maintenance department at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, Alaska. My section was the materials handling section. It was during the Viet Nam era. Much of the equipment that my section worked on was main support for the Viet Nam war efforts. A Captain in the R & M warehouse and yard came to me with a problem. He only had two forklifts. One was an inside forklift and one was an outside forklift. The inside forklift had an engine problem and was dead lined for parts. In effect he was not able to perform his mission. He asked what he could to get a working inside forklift in service. I explained the part that l needed and he took the defective part with him to see if it could be matched. The next morning at roll call he was standing there in his dress blues with the part. Due to circumstances none of my men were available to work on his machine, so I told him that I would work on it as I had time during my other duties. He draped his dress blue jacket over my chair and stated, "what can I do to help?" I told him that I did not believe that it was appropriate for me to have a Captain assisting me. He again explained that his mission was in jeopardy. I sat on the forklift and he handed me the tools that I needed. The Captain asked me to quit calling him "sir" while there was no one else in earshot. I asked me to please call him Bill. I told him that I was not comfortable doing that but I eventually relented and called him Bill. When my JACKASS of a CO walked by he went ballistic. The Captain explained to my CO all of the circumstances. The Captain covered me. I saw the Captain many other times and when we were in private he always asked me to call him Bill.

This is a rather long explanation to explain my answer.

As I started my answer with, it depends on the circumstances.

If he is being disrespectful then by all means the E-4 should be disciplined.

Sgt. Frank E. Hupp, USAF, Retired

What the heck is going on? It’s always SIR! Begin or end each sentence with an officer with SIR!

If this is what today's Army has come to, then I'm glad I retired when I did. No respect for it now and would never recommend enlisting to anyone.

Always make a correction, don't let it slide, since I retired I work with the National Guard and the familiarity these soldiers, at all levels, have makes discipline and military customs and courtesies very hard to enforce

My humble opinion as a former O.C. I know a lot of officers from my time at OCS. Even if I know them, we're friends, and we have been through a lot of things together we show the military bearing and respect each other. That means that I call them Sir, Ma'am, Gentlemen or Ladies as apply, all that because I know them, I respect them, and I love them. In the military everyone deserves respect, and officers are not an exception, and that's why he should call you Sir. That doesn't mean that you're being rude or something. Your title wasn't free, you earn it.

Are you really an Officer asking this question?