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

I would absolutely nip it in the butt now while it’s a minimal thing. The second you let the standard slide once then it will become the norm for that SM. This is one of those take care of it at the lowest level or someone else will.

Absolutely. But correct him aside and in uniform.

Sir, put an end to the nonsense. Anything short of him saying Hey Sir when within voice rage of you is disrespectful , i had a couple of this when I was a First Sergeant that thought talking to the 2LT Platoon Leader like that was okay until I made it abundantly clear if they had career aspirations that would personally ensure they ETS'ed on schedule. There are just some behaviors that start this was and generally do not end well when such a soldier gets promoted, I actually fired a Platoon Sergeant because he thought he could behave like this

Does he know your name? If he’s yelling to you like that, maybe he doesn’t or didn’t remember at the time. I would’ve asked with a smile not to embarrass but still correcting him, “What’s up? Did you forget my name? It’s (say rank & name).” Then carry on the conversation! If he calls out like that a 2nd time, by all means a correction, maybe even a reprimand might be warranted.

Well sir, in today's military it's hard to properly answer this question. With the PC leadership it seems to me you may get in trouble if you take corrective action. I mean they are now teaching proper pronoun usage, when the only proper pronouns need are Sgt., 1st Sgt. Petty Officer, Chief, private, airman (etc.), sir or ma'am. If it was still the real Army, I would say not only should you, but I believe you have a responsibility to, both for yourself, but more importantly, proper standard and discipline of that specialist. It is always up to senior ranks to enforce structure and discipline, customs and courtesies. I believe also that you are allowing yourself to be disrespected and you should never let that go.

Just to add to this, when I worked with officers (which were myriad), I always followed protocol and rendered proper respect for the rank. Many of these guys owned homes with me in my subdivision outside of Bragg. When we were all working in the yards and lending out tools, we were just neighbors and friends. Once we were on mission and in uniform that switch was flipped and it was a different environment. Some people can't manage work and home. The officers I worked with loved that I could switch roles without any issue because it makes a huge difference in how you work with others. I've been dressed down by a neighbor at work for dumb stuff that wasn't any fault of my own, but I had the mental maturity to let it roll off when we were at home. I guess it's a mentality that much of society is no longer able to reproduce?

Outside of work. If you are in uniform yeah. If you're not, no. Like all the officers appointed over me says many times over. Rank doesn't exist Outside of work.

If it is in front of other soldier/marines/sailors, then you might pull him aside and remind him of the courtesy due an officer. If it is off base and in a civilian setting, I would let it go.

I had several friends and colleagues who were officers. Even lived with a LT when I was a L/Cpl.

When we were at church together it was first name basis. However, if either of us were in uniform and/or around other marines it was always sir.

Military courtesy is just that. Courtesy. It helps to show professionalism going up the chain and down.

As an officer or any leader as far as that goes, should always enforce the standards of conduct and performance. If the “smaller” standards are left without enforcement, you can be sure the standards of discipline and performance will also degrade. It will impact every subordinate and leader in your organization. If you’re having trouble enforcing the standards in a garrison/peacetime environment, you can be sure your organization will fail during combat operations. If the soldier displays this type of disrespect, it may also be a conversation that needs to be had with the soldiers direct supervisor or even his/her chain of command. Good Luck and be the officer that your team deserves!

It does depend on the setting you are in... if you are on station and in uniform then yes correct the person, but if you are friends and are hanging out then i would let it slide