halfwaythere

Tradition sure. Most people don’t. But they most assuredly can and do. I speak as the person who had to give a death by power point to my company due to a soldier in our unit getting into a scuffle with a civi that saluted during reveille and as per tradition PowerPoint/education based on history and regulations was the answer for preventive measures.

The only reason I even spoke to this now is the “stolen valor” aspect you presented initially and to inform the rest of the people that feel this is awkward for just anyone to do.

The truly awkward part is the way most do the “military” salute wrong. American or otherwise. I’d say it’s a tell tell sign of them not being in the military but there are plenty of soldiers that don’t do it correctly either so :shrug:

So misinformed. Civilians absolutely can and do salute. They have since the beginning of time. It is a sign of respect and acknowledgement. Whether a full fledged “military” style salute or a hand wave like the royals and civilians do or a tip of the hat like “cowboys” do. There is no implied “stolen valor” if a civilian wants to salute another civilian or a person in the military or of high position.

And of course you can choose not to salute like I assume you do.

Edit: this in no way should imply I support the people in this article. Just stating facts