ORAC wrote:
No argument, just taking it back to basics and repeating your own question from the last page, namely, Give me a reference, an official web page or something that says this. Goose for the gander and all that. One presumes one can find an official source?
If not, I repeat that saluting members of the armed forces of other nations is a curtesy or as laid down in an official agreement. If one exists, please cite it.
As an aside, would you expect a US naval rating to salute a UK coastguard officer? If not, why not, if so why? Would you expect a UK naval rating to salute a US coastguard officer, If not, why not, if so why?
As I am retired I do not have official resources available. I originally asked for an official reference because everybody was citing an unofficial website. I too cited that unofficial website to make my rebuttal.
I do know it is taught at all levels of initial training in the U.S. that you are to provide proper military courtesy to all officers senior to you regardless of service or country. This does not mean you obey their orders if they are not part of your chain of command. This means addressing them respectfully and rendering salutes. I had this training at basic as an Army Private and at OCS as a Navy officer candidate.
As far as your Coast Guard question - if the Coast Guard is considered one of the armed forces of the U.K., than yes a U.S. enlisted sailor would salute him. And yes, I would expect a Royal Navy sailor to salute a U.S. Coast Guard officer as he is a member of the U.S. armed forces.
The are 7 branches of service within the U.S. Armed Forces: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) and the USPHS (U.S. Public Health Service). NOAA & USPHS are unique in that they only have commissioned officers. They all hold military and Geneva Convention identification cards. In war, NOAA would provide the weather services such as the stations in Greenland in WW2. The USPHS would obviously care for the wounded. In you ever wondered why the Surgeon General of the U.S. always appears in an Admiral's uniform, this is why. He is an Admiral in the USPHS. Both the USPHS and NOAA use naval ranks and uniforms. In fact, unless you were to recognize the different crest on their uniform hat, you would never know that they were not Navy.