• Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?

    Go here:

    Edit Account Details and Profile

Any reason to salute with left hand?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Fly Navy

...Great Job!
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
squeeze said:
not really... i always switched hands to salute with the right. meridian kids just aren't coordinated enough to do such things.

Sh!t.... he knows.....
 

Super18Ordie

F/A-18 Ordnanceman
Brett327 said:
Having worked ARM/DEARM as an AO, I might know something about the whole sequence of events. The whole hands up while arming thing is different and happens earlier in the launch sequence. Once you're armed and the AOs are clear, they couldn't care less where your hands are. ;)

Brett


Ok let me break it down. Heres how I do it.

Once my guys are clear of the jet, I give the brakes off, throttle up, taxi forward and pass him off down the runway. THEN I salute and he salutes me back. As long as he does have his hand on the Master Arm switch or the EJETT pushbutton he could be playing with himself for all I care.
 

KBayDog

Well-Known Member
gatordev said:
My guess in the picture is that the guy just goofed. Don't forget, these guys are right out of boot camp and still in the school house, so they aren't as salty as some.

Eh, if that were the case, you don't think the "one of these things is not like the other" mode would have kicked in, and one of his buddies would have corrected him (if he was to slow on the uptake to figure it out himself?) Besides, when you are just out of boot camp, pretty much all you know is customs & courtesies. They are "new and exciting," so you look for them.

(Unless you are smoking and joking outside the P'Cola NEX with the rest of your E-2 buddies and happen to "accidentally" turn your back when an older-looking Marine lieutenant (who just might have enlisted when you were in fourth grade) walks directly towards you...but even then, you might get a customs and courtesies "refresher" ;) )
 

zab1001

Well-Known Member
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
KBayDog said:
(Unless you are smoking and joking outside the P'Cola NEX with the rest of your E-2 buddies and happen to "accidentally" turn your back when an older-looking Marine lieutenant (who just might have enlisted when you were in fourth grade) walks directly towards you...but even then, you might get a customs and courtesies "refresher" ;) )

What IS the deal with that place? I walked in there last October, in khakis, O-3, wings, 4 rows of ribbons, and have 3 enlisted Marines look straight at me and continue to dick around. Negative Corporal. After "speaking to them", I just felt kind of sick that I even had to do it to begin with. Not picking on the Marines, the Navy is just as bad...but of all the places I've worked, NAS PCola is the WORST for that kind of garbage.

Oh yeah, I also vote for the kid having a broken arm.
 

KBayDog

Well-Known Member
zab1001 said:
What IS the deal with that place? I walked in there last October, in khakis, O-3, wings, 4 rows of ribbons, and have 3 enlisted Marines look straight at me and continue to dick around. Negative Corporal. After "speaking to them", I just felt kind of sick that I even had to do it to begin with. Not picking on the Marines, the Navy is just as bad...but of all the places I've worked, NAS PCola is the WORST for that kind of garbage.

Oh yeah, I also vote for the kid having a broken arm.

Wish I knew. It has got to be the only place where they will look at your car, look at your blue sticker, look at you (with the shiny stuff on your collar), and keep walking. I know that at boot camp they are taught to salute blue stickers, and since they are literally months removed from boot camp, they should not have forgotten it. If you go to some ground units, the new guys there are sometimes so high-strung that they'll salute ANY brass on the collar - CPOs included!

That's alright - they'll slip up when they leave the friendly confines of NASP, and some friendly old sergeant major will...correct them.
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Super18Ordie said:
Ok let me break it down. Heres how I do it.

Once my guys are clear of the jet, I give the brakes off, throttle up, taxi forward and pass him off down the runway. THEN I salute and he salutes me back. As long as he does have his hand on the Master Arm switch or the EJETT pushbutton he could be playing with himself for all I care.
That's right, buddy. When I was down there, I always suspected that the aircrew had at least one of their thumbs up their a$$. Now I know that it's really both! ;)

Brett
 

robv182

Gotta have the Nutz
None
Its the new and improved military. It drives me nuts. Its just TOO much trouble to salute and nobody has the time or wants to make the effort to correct it. I had that happen a couple of times at the mini exchange and the guys I was with looked at me and were shocked when I fixed the problem. They didn't think it was that big a deal that they did not get a salute. I am not a salute monger, I just have trouble dealing with laziness. If someone has the time to look at me, then look at my rank, look at my ribbons, and then turn away, they need a good chewin. Why dissapoint them?
 

Schnugg

It's gettin' a bit dramatic 'round here...
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Clux4 said:
...and the mystery in the cockpit is known to those that have exeprienced it.

ah yes..."The Mystery"...I thought we called it a helmet fire. :)
 

SteveG75

Retired and starting that second career
None
Super18Ordie said:
Ok let me break it down. Heres how I do it.

Once my guys are clear of the jet, I give the brakes off, throttle up, taxi forward and pass him off down the runway. THEN I salute and he salutes me back. As long as he does have his hand on the Master Arm switch or the EJETT pushbutton he could be playing with himself for all I care.

Operative words there are "taxi forward and ...down the runway".

At the field, anyone can salute the jet and we will usually return the salute as a courtesy.

On the carrier, the only salute is from the pilot to the shooter signifying that he is ready to launch. You do not give unneccessary signals on the boat because it just leads to confusion and then somebody will probably die.
 

Super18Ordie

F/A-18 Ordnanceman
Well on the carrier when they are flying HARM or Maverick the PC would hand off to us while they are still parked whereever and we do our stray voltage and stuff llike that we would salute before we passed it back to the PC, but yes are you correct we dont salute when we arm them up on the cat.
 

Kolja

Git-r-done
Super18Ordie said:
Well on the carrier when they are flying HARM or Maverick the PC would hand off to us while they are still parked whereever and we do our stray voltage and stuff llike that we would salute before we passed it back to the PC, but yes are you correct we dont salute when we arm them up on the cat.

A lot less potential for confusion when the plane is still chocked and chained ;)
 

webmaster

The Grass is Greener!
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
"mysteries of the cockpit?" --- I'm DYIN here.....

I vote for the kid having a broken arm or something, and he saluted with his left hand like the properly trained nub that he is. Now, I searched for folk lore and rumor, and talked to my father in law (retired Chief, salty variety, back when Chiefs were Chiefs, and the sheep were scared, but I digress, and if he caught me saying that, LT or not, he'd take me out back and kick the **** out of me (aka counselling)), anyways, point of the matter, I recall under Navy Folklore and Urban Legend, that saluting with the LEFT hand was a specific sign of disrespect by a blue shirt (no broken hand etc)... Saw an E3 try to do that to an O4, and the fireworks ensued... Other funs items, blue shirts putting paper clips on their ball cap, or black electrical tape, signs of poor morale and resentment, that is until a chief catches them with it on... Recruiting command primer on saluting.

http://www.cnrc.navy.mil/DEP/customs.htm

Now this whole thing with Ordies and Linemen, saluting, flight deck, yada yada yada... There are so many permutations here, and as Brett said, when you have friggin weapons getting armed, there is definitely a reason for the hands being shown. Especially on the P3 when you have multiple ppl running all over the damn place out of view removing the pins, or doing voltage checks prior to the removal. For me, I damn well made sure that I saluted the lineman when I pulled out and he handed me off. Some of them have the "style" down, I don't know how many 3Ps I have had to remind, "dude, make sure you salute".... then after the salute, gotta throw the "shakka"... I have been all over the place, and have gotten a smile and a shakka back :D Surfs up brah!!

Ok, final point on this thread, if you see something wrong and you don't correct is as an officer, you are wrong. Whether its some enlisted making eye contact and not saluting, to them in a jacked up uniform, to blatant disrespect or inappropriate behavior. I personally am a very laid back person, and as previously mentioned by someone else on the thread, I don't fall into the category of being a "salute freak"... Periodically you will find base wide emails, or msgs in the Fleet calling on JOs and CPOs to enforce standards on the base/waterfront etc... If you aren't doing that, what kind of officer are you? Afraid of confrontation, "not my job", they aren't in my unit? All wrong answers, take pride in our customs and traditions. 90% will realize the mistake, and take the correction in stride. The other 10%, well.... after the initial push back, fire for effect and switch to "D!CK MODE"... :D Great stress reliever, and makes you feel like you have accomplished something for the day.... (man, I am spending WAAAYYY too much time with black shoes!)
 

JIMC5499

ex-Mech
When I was as NAS Jax in the 80's one of the favorite sports for some of the new JO's was to hang around the Exchange at lunch time and see how many enlisted they could b**ch out about salutes, uniforms and haircuts. I saw a couple of ensigns coming up the sidewalk walking along side each other about 5' apart so that I would have to pass between them to get to my car. As I passed between them I saluted with both hands at the same time said "Good afternoon sirs !"and left them standing there open mouthed.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top