20.3 Respect for Individuals
Key Takeaways
- The senior person takes the position of honor on the right when walking, riding, or sitting; the junior person takes the position to the senior's left.
- Military personnel enter automobiles and small boats in reverse order of rank — juniors enter first, and the senior officer enters last and exits first.
- Salutes are not rendered indoors except for formal reporting; when reporting, halt approximately two paces from the officer or desk.
- In formation, members do not salute unless commanded; the person in charge salutes and acknowledges salutes for the formation.
- When outdoors in physical training gear, Airmen are required to salute during reveille and retreat, though rank-recognition salutes are not required in PT gear.
Common Courtesy
"Respect, consideration, manners, common sense, and politeness are all ways of demonstrating common acts of courtesy." AFH 1's examples are deliberately ordinary: saying "please" and "thank you" and respecting other people's time; in the workplace, being helpful, taking and delivering messages, and offering assistance. "All USAF personnel should demonstrate common acts of courtesy while on- and off-duty."
Distinguished Visitors
A distinguished visitor (DV) may be defined as any:
- General or Flag Officer
- Government official with rank equivalent to a Brigadier General or higher
- Foreign military officer or civilian designated a DV by the Under Secretary of the Air Force for International Affairs
- Visitor or group designated by the commander
"Persons in certain positions may be given DV status as designated by the commander," and "a DV visit is an important event and should be given close attention to detail." References: DAFI 90-1202 and AFPAM 34-1202, Guide to Protocol.
Positions of Honor
"Junior personnel shall employ a courteous and respectful bearing toward senior personnel. Give the senior person, enlisted, or commissioned, the position of honor on the right when walking, riding, or sitting. The junior person takes the position to the senior's left."
Senior on the right, junior on the left — walking, riding, or sitting.
| Situation | Rule |
|---|---|
| Entering or exiting an area | Rise and stand at attention when a senior official enters or departs a room. If more than one person is present, the person who first sees the officer calls the area to attention. Exception: when an officer already in the room is equal to or higher in rank than the officer entering, do not call the room to attention |
| Entering or exiting vehicles | Military personnel enter automobiles and small boats in reverse order of rank. Juniors enter first and take their appropriate seat on the senior's left. The senior officer is the last to enter the vehicle and the first to exit |
The vehicle rule — last in, first out for the senior — is a reliable item, as is the exception to calling the room to attention when an equal or higher-ranking officer is already present.
Ranks, Titles, and Terms of Address
"While all USAF personnel are Airmen, it is appropriate to address officers by their grade, such as Lieutenant Colonel, and enlisted members by their grade, such as Master Sergeant." It is also acceptable to address enlisted members relative to their tier — Airman, Sergeant, Senior, Chief, as appropriate — and members may also be addressed as "Sir" or "Ma'am." Chaplains may be addressed as Chaplain or by their ecclesiastical title.
| Group | How addressed |
|---|---|
| Civilians and civil service employees | "Mr.," "Mrs.," "Miss," or "Ms.," and their last name; "Sir" or "Ma'am" is appropriate |
| Retirees | Entitled to the same respect and courtesies as active military members; addressed by their retired grade on all official records and correspondence, except in matters relating to civilian employment |
| Other uniformed forces and friendly foreign nations | Extend military courtesies; pay the same respect to the national anthems and flags of other nations as to those of the United States. Learn the ranks, grades, and insignia of the most frequently contacted nations, particularly overseas |
Rendering the Salute
"Saluting is a courtesy exchanged between members of the U.S. Armed Forces as both a greeting and a symbol of mutual respect," and "an expression of recognition for one another as members of the profession of arms."
Salutes are appropriate to: the U.S. President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense, Service Secretaries, all superior commissioned and warrant officers, all Medal of Honor recipients, and superior officers of friendly foreign nations. A salute is also rendered as a sign of respect to the United States flag and during official ceremonies.
Medal of Honor recipients appear on that list regardless of rank — a fact that connects back to Chapter 8's note that members are encouraged to salute Medal of Honor recipients whether or not in uniform and regardless of rank or status.
Salutes are exchanged between officers (commissioned and warrant) and enlisted personnel of the Armed Forces, and also with the Uniformed Services of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Public Health Service.
The core protocol: "When a salute is exchanged among individuals, the junior member always salutes the senior member first. The junior member should initiate the salute in time to allow the senior officer to return it." AFH 1 declines to fix a distance: "To prescribe an exact distance for all circumstances is not practical; however, good judgment should dictate when salutes are exchanged."
The Situations Table
| Situation | Rule |
|---|---|
| Indoors | Salutes are not rendered indoors, except for formal reporting |
| Formal reporting indoors | Knock once, enter when told, march to approximately two paces from the officer or desk, halt, salute, and report: "Sir (Ma'am), (rank and last name) reports as ordered" or "...reports." When finished, execute a sharp salute, hold it until the officer acknowledges, perform the appropriate facing movement, and depart |
| Outdoors | The salute will be exchanged — outside a building, on a porch, a covered sidewalk, an entryway, a reviewing stand, or at a bus stop. This applies both on and off military installations |
| Carrying items | Individuals carrying articles in both hands that cannot be transferred to the left hand need not initiate or return the salute when impractical, but should nod or offer a verbal greeting |
| In formation | Members do not salute or return a salute unless given the command to do so. The person in charge salutes and acknowledges salutes for those in the formation |
| In a work detail | Individual workers do not salute. The person in charge of the detail salutes for those in the detail |
| In groups | The first individual noticing the officer calls the group to attention. All members face the officer and salute. If the officer addresses them, all remain at attention until the end of the conversation, at which time they salute |
| Public gatherings | At sporting events, meetings, or when a salute would be inappropriate or impractical, salutes between individuals are not required |
| In vehicles | Exchange of salutes between members in moving military vehicles is not mandatory. For pedestrians, when officer passengers are readily identifiable — officers in appropriately marked staff vehicles, or senior officials distinguished by vehicle plates and/or flags — the salute must be rendered |
| Civilian attire | Persons in uniform may salute civilians or senior military members in civilian clothes upon recognition |
| "No salute" areas | Saluting is not required |
| Physical training gear | Saluting individuals due to rank recognition is not required in PT gear, but may be expected during specified academic training environments. When outdoors in PT gear, Airmen are required to salute during reveille and retreat |
| Military funerals and memorials | In uniform, salute the caisson or hearse as it passes and the casket as it is carried past. Also salute during the firing of volleys and the playing of Taps |
Three Exceptions Worth Isolating
1. The PT gear rule has two halves. No rank-recognition salute is required in PT gear — but reveille and retreat still require a salute when outdoors. Items often present only the first half.
2. The vehicle rule cuts both ways. Members inside moving military vehicles are not required to exchange salutes, but a pedestrian must salute when officer passengers are readily identifiable by markings, plates, or flags.
3. Taps at funerals versus Taps at lights out. AFH 1 attaches a specific note: "Many installations across the USAF play Taps to signify 'lights out' at the end of the day. For these purposes, the salute is not required." The salute during Taps applies at military funerals and memorials, not to the nightly bugle call.
One more distinction worth carrying: indoors, the only salute is the formal report — and that report has a fixed geometry, approximately two paces from the officer or desk.
An Airman in physical training gear is outdoors when retreat begins. What is required?
In what order do military personnel enter an automobile, and who exits first?
A group of Airmen is working as a detail when a senior officer approaches. Who salutes?