As noted by SFC(P) (Join to see), it boils down to respect and it appears this Administration is lacking in that department.

amen

President Obama once entered and then departed Marine 1 to speak with the Marine after he missed the salute. He apologized and re boarded the AC.
The President has made several visits to Dover to salute returning casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan with no press.
Like all Commanders in Chief he gets it, he does know his responsibilities and this President does honor the Military.
You may not like the politics with the military budget, the poor services of the VA or withdrawing from Iraq but those are policy and financial issues.
Also remember most resent Presidents have not served in the Military, the salute is not automatic to a civilian. There is no protocol for making a speech about our dead. Standing or sitting there is nothing that says which is required. By this Marines rant am I to believe Roosevelt should have been standing when he announced the bombing of Pearl Harbor? He was in a wheel chair.
I have my own feelings about this President and his policy's but I also know and can see the stress the office has on every President. I'm willing to cut him some slack because some staffer with no military experience arranged for the speech to be seated.
The Marine was wrong, write a letter to your elected official, write to the White House Military office and ask why he was seated if your so upset. But don't lost your bearing.

I can cut the CIC some slack for a missed salute. While on AD, I was not perfect when it came to returning salutes. Sometimes you get caught off guard.

That said, intentionally breaking the law and failing to inform Congress releasing 5 Taliban operatives and paying millions in ransom (plus releasing other, less high profile captives) in exchange for 1 POS Army Deserter who walked off his post in a war zone and who, by his actions, got several GOOD soldiers killed looking for him... THAT! I can't overlook.

Nor can I overlook the President firing General Ham for putting together a team to rescue our Ambassador in Libya. And as if that was bad enough [getting fired for doing the right thing], the White House lied and said nobody was close enough to intervene... The White House knowingly lied and followed up with false narratives about the reason for the attack on our embassy at Benghazi, which they called a demonstration that got out of control which was caused by an obscure video on the Internet depicting the prophet Mohammed. [Personally, I think it was a botched kidnapping that the Administration was in on, and which got screwed up when the former Navy SEAL contractors acted on their own to protect the Ambassador and his staff. I believe Obama wanted to trade the Blind Sheik for Ambassador Stevens, but it's just speculation. The public will never get the truth about Benghazi because the Administration won't come clean and has obfuscated every investigation into what happened.]

Nor can I overlook the President's covert support of terrorist groups. He not only rendered aid to the Libyan and Syrian rebels (both of which were sympathetic with and had ties to Al Qaeda), he propped up the terrorist Morsi Muslim Brotherhood gov't in Egypt. Furthermore, he appointed members of Muslim Brotherhood to cabinet level posts in OUR government and gave them access to our classified. Obama's actions in the Middle East were in large part a catalyst for the Arab Spring out of which ISIS sprang up.

Bottom Line: I can't in good conscience support a treasonous fraud that was never properly vetted for the office he currently squats in.

YES DRILL SERGEANT! those were the days.

YES SIR HE ALSO NEEDS A SET OF BALLS...QUIT BLAMING OTHERS

GREAT POINT sir!

It's not a difficult movement, you just have to know a handful of rules of when and how. Someone else posted a pic of Pres. Bush giving an ugly salute while holding a dog. He could have been told ahead of time that even we don't have to salute with our hands totally full.

I totally agree. President George W. Bush was even supposedly have been in some kind of Texas Air National Guards, and an Officer at that. He is supposed to know all about Military etiquette. That includes the proper way of saluting your superiors and government officials. That also shows me that he to was disrespectful to those in Uniform, and what they said about him is true.

Yes Sir, I kept my trap shut when it came to my opinion of our Commander in Chief and his decisions, his administration and all his other cronies. It's liberating to be a civilian again and I am free to express my opinions. Personnel in uniform need to zip it. It's one of those situations where everyone is thinking it.....but no one says it out loud.

CPT Mike M. Sir, spot on!

Regardless, the President sets the supreme example. Within 24-hrs of taking the oath office the SOP should be for the SecDef and the Joint Chiefs to brief the President not only on national security, but on simple military protocols like saluting!!! Bush, Obama regardless every President not to look the fool should be made aware of this and always demonstrate respect, so that others, by ANY President's example know is appropriate.

Simple as that.

Going back and forth with pics of Presidents being less than Presidential is a waste of time!

- Regarding Marine 1 pic, his military aide should have "handled this" and reminded him. The aide could have give the cup to his wife. she is not required to salute, only the CinC.

- Regarding the pic of Bush, I don't know context, but again his "military aide" failed him and should have known better.

In both cases, the President is NOT well served with aides who are NOT looking for the President's interest 100% of the time and being aware of how certain things look - especially with the possibility of media coverage. Also, while the Chief of Staff is charged with managing the staff, they also must lookout for these situations that make the President look stupid and at worth - disrespectful, especially to the military. Given Bush 43's father (Bush 41), and his ANG service, he definitely should have known better!