Posted on May 21, 2016
Have you ever seen a Flag Officer stop his vehicle and reprimand a person for not saluting?
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Responses: 73
I was once stopped for not having a hat on and not saluting a Flag officer on Ft Dix. He thought I was a cook trainee, and stopped his car to have his aide reprimand me. When the Aide reached me I reached my ambulance. The Aide realized what I was doing and returned to the vehicle. The General, his aide and driver all came to assist us. When we transported the Pt to the ER the General followed us and actually apologized to me. Best General I ever met. He realized somethings are more important then his getting a salute.
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SGT Eliyahu Rooff
When I was at Ft. Campbell in the early 70s, I worked at the hospital. One morning, I was sent to do an emergency x-ray in the newborn nursery. To save time, I left the portable machine there and jogged across the parking lot to get the films processed and read. Halfway across the lot, I was stopped by a Captain in a staff car who started chewing me out for not having my hat on. (We didn't normally wear headgear inside the hospital, so I didn't have it with me.) I told him I was on an emergency run, gave him my name and office number, and then took off. About a half-hour later, I got a call to report to the Hospital Commander's office. When I got there, there was an angry Captain who turned out to be the 101st Airborne Division Standards Officer and who took his job very seriously. The Hospital Commander heard him out and then asked for my side of the story. I told him that I was running a STAT x-ray for a newborn with hyaline membrane disease when I was stopped. He turned to the Captain and told him that the hospital grounds weren't part of his jurisdiction and he didn't want to see him anywhere near the hospital again. The Captain started to protest, at which point the Colonel offered to call the Division Commander so he could relay it downward to the Captain. The Captain backed down and excused himself. Before I left, the Colonel told me he was fine with my conduct and that he would have done the same thing.
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When I was in Vicenza, early 80's, the CG had an unmarked BMW as his car for security. But he still wanted to be saluted, so units were expected to call and make an appointment to have the CG driver bring the car to the unit to familiarize them with which car to look for and salute. Then a CPT in our BN bought a BMW of the same color/make, and whenever he drove on post everyone saluted him. IMO the whole idea of saluting an unmarked car was a case of ego over practicality.
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SSG Robert White
If your saluting a car, then everyone knows there is an officer in that car or the wife of an officer. If your afraid of terrorists, why bring attention to ones self?
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PO1 Donald Hammond
There was a guy in the motor pool that used to drive around with the Star Placard in the windshield or the flags on the front even when nobody was in the car just to look important.
Yeh. He got busted.
Yeh. He got busted.
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MSgt James Mullis
TSgt Paul Schmidgall - Were you in when the AF decided to save money by eliminating all patches including ranks on the sleeves and collar? Everyone was issued velcro flight suit badges with their name, rank, unit and function on it. Everyone in the Air Force spent their day, bent over looking at people's chests, while trying to figure out the rank of anyone they were approaching. I remember lots unnecessary and last minute salutes. Fortunately, it was a failed experiment and ranks were quickly returned.
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Yes, daily...so what happens is an education, no yelling, just a simple education on customs and courtesies. This is due to a lot of Soldiers just flat don't know. It's a failure on leadership at all levels
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CPO Byron Sargent
Interesting, in 26 years 4 army and 22 Navy I have never seen this happen. Lower ranking officers yes but not a General or Flag officer. I would think that if he or she saw a big problem in this respect, he would call his commanders together and direct them to provide some training on military courtesy. I would have been surprised to see a very senior officer do it himself. Interesting.
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SP5 Gerald Senear
I have at Ft. Lewis before my unit went to Nam. In fact it happened frequently. If the vehicle was flagged even if the Officer was not in the Vehicle the drivers would stop and ream the enlisted man out. That was in the mid 1960's. Have no idea how it is now.
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