[REPOST]
There are a handful of rules to saluting in the American military. The when, why, and how is drilled into you from boot camp until the day you leave. Even the order in which the salutes are rendered have meaning. When it comes to vehicles there are helpful insignia and stickers to indicate if its an officer such as a colored sticker located on the front windshield.
My base was small enough where it was everyone’s job at some point to do sentry duty at the front gate which had housing for military families. Sentry duty was pretty basic, you’d stop every vehicle, check IDs and then wave them through. If they were an officer you’d see it coming with those colored stickers and after verifying the identity of the officer, you’d salute and send them on their way.
One day while on duty I approached a vehicle with an officer’s sticker and there was only the officer’s wife driving in the vehicle. I returned her ID, wished her a nice day and waved her through. Pausing with a stern look, “Where’s my salute?”
Now, Karen here was wife to a higher ranking officer and has clearly has fallen under the impression people are saluting her somewhere along the way. Some of the junior enlisted might’ve even been saluting her as they’re more prone to f*ck ups.
I politely replied, “Ma’am salutes are only rendered to commissioned officers.” Angrily pointing her fingers at the front of her windshield towards her husband’s officer sticker, “I have a sticker and you need to salute the sticker.” Curtly I continued, “I’m afraid that sticker is not an officer either.”
Frustrated she pulled through and left my post. My cover guy and I watched her drive down the street and pull right into the administrative building with the top brass and huffed into the building as quickly as her body would take her. We exchange a look between us with wry smiles knowing exactly where this is probably going.
Later that day, we get a new official base-wide mandate. From here forward all enlisted will salute vehicle stickers of officers regardless of who’s in the vehicle. Rodger that.
Cue malicious compliance.
It’s worth noting that when you salute an officer as enlisted, you do it first, and you hold that salute until you are saluted in return and they lower theirs. Only then do you lower your salute. It signals that you’re saluting them, and they’re replying.
Additionally, when saluting a group of officers, you generally direct your salute and greeting to the highest-ranking individual. Now as far as I know this stupid sticker salute order has no accommodation for how a 2004 Toyota Camry fits into the officers pecking order. Additionally if the car is unoccupied, it’s not like that sticker is removed.
After that order came through we all began saluting stickers. Personally, I’d direct my salute to the sticker. I would also prioritize sticker salutes over officers. Let me tell you, walking through parking lots was a blast as I saluted empty cars on my way to where ever. More and more people saw me doing it, and more and more people started doing it.
Not long after the order was publicly rescinded, which hilariously had the balancing effect of never rendering a salute to anyone but a clearly known officer cementing Karen never getting her unearned salutes.
TL;DR: Civilian wife demanded to be saluted because her husband was an officer, used her clout to get a rule enlisted ordering us to salute vehicle stickers. We all followed orders and saluted vehicle stickers, prioritized them over officers, and even empty vehicles in parking lots until the rule was rescinded, ensuring the civilian wife never got her salutes.
Back in the 1990’s I was a member of the USCG Auxiliary, which, while made up entirely of civilian volunteers, we worked/trained with active duty USCG and wore very similar uniforms & insignia. The primary differences in our uniforms was we use silver wherever the USCG uses gold, and our insignia, epaulets, etc. have a big “A” in them. So if you know what to look for it’s fairly obvious, but to the casual observer there’s not much difference.
As civilian volunteers we don’t salute one another and don’t expect salutes from active duty USCG, but if someone did salute we would return it out of respect.
I was appointed a position on the USCGAUX National staff for a couple years and had a position that roughly equated to a commander (3 stripes). I occasionally traveled to various USCG training centers as a result, along with other Auxiliarists, and we’d wear our uniforms while on those trips.
We used to chuckle at the various reactions we’d see as we walked around these facilities. Virtually every senior USCG officer could spot us a mile away and offered nothing more than a polite nod or greeting as we passed. Younger members that had been in the USCG for a while would obviously start paying close attention as they got close, looking for a clear sign, then obviously relax when they realized they didn’t have to salute. Cadets and newer USCG personnel would only see the three stripes and immediately salute.