Military Buffs - A question
 

I was just curious, after watching K-19: The Widowmaker, how a salute from a civilian is interpreted by military personnel. There's a scene in the movie where a small child salutes Harrison Ford, and he returns it.

Is it a gesture of respect to get one from a civilian, or is it interpreted a different way?

Depends on how it's given. Not only that...depends on whether you are an officer or enlisted.

If a child saluted me, despite being an enlisted man, I would smartly return it!:up:

I'm pretty sure it depends on the higher ranking officer. They don't have to return the salute, I think they do it out of respect.

Well thats my point. If I saw a soldier in, say, an airport and saluted.

It would be situational. If they through you were taking the mickey then you'd probably get ignored. If it was obviously a sign of respect then you'd probably get a salute in return.

If they were out on a run (drinking), then you'd most likely get asked to buy them a beer.:lol:

When in doubt, salute back. :D

I'll expand on my answer.

If a civi salutes me, it all depends on their attitude. If some smart arse salutes me with a crappy grin, than I'll just look at him and nod my head.

Just like in the military, it's all a matter of attitude. If you saluted a higher ranking officer with a bad attitude, you might get your arse chewed out.

And if I saluted you sincerely?

http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/generalinfo/a/salute.htm
I don't know about Britain or anywhere else, but in the US the military is considered to be subservient to civilian control. No civilian is ever expected to salute someone in uniform. On the other hand, like the police or anyone else in uniform, members of the military do tend to think of themselves as a private club, and military procedures initiated by civilians are not appreciated, and in fact privately joked about. I would recommend not doing it.

As for a little kid saluting you, that's an honor and a delight to be treasured, so of course it would be returned. Kids don't know any better, and it's cool.

Then he would return it sincerely. Its saying you respect him and 95% of the time he'll return it.

I've been saluted a couple of times while in greens. I'll smile and return it if I believe it's sincere. I take it more or less like a shake of the hand.

In New Zealand your indoctrinated/encouraged to believe being non-civilian is a medal all of it's own. There is something privately special about this, like Steve said about it being a 'club'. This in no way reduces respect for civilians, but surely would make it hard to return one to a civilian as a pure reaction.

An airport is not a good place to try.

If the guy doesn't like it, he will feel even more refrained from returning it, since there's a ton of people all around.

If he doesn't like it but pitties you so much he does return the salute, he will feel bad for having done it with a ton of people all around and you'll be guilty of this, you evil monster.

That's it.

I'd include the third option of the guy liking it and happily returning it for all to see, but I've since learned that in Subsim we are supposed to deliberately cut off the options that don't suit our case and present only those that do.
:arrgh!:

I've never saluted a soldier, but I do stop them whenever I can to praise them.