'Where's my salute?': Military wife insists on being saluted, accidentally creates brand new rule for the entire base to 'salute vehicle stickers'

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Nov 18, 2023 3:00 PM EST

Being a military spouse is a big deal to some people. Their husband or wife joins the military, and in order to go with them, they travel to whichever base their spouse happens to be stationed at. It can oftentimes be a lonely life. So the military spouses become a tight-knit group. After all, who else can you spend time with while you're at the base?

Maybe that's why so many military spouses take their partner's ranking so seriously. They think that because their husband or wife is an official who should be saluted and treated with the utmost regard, that they should get the same treatment. That's pretty silly to think about in regards to most other jobs, though. If your husband is a firefighter, you wouldn't go around wearing a fire helmet and borrowing their valor. So why do so many military spouses get so caught up in this? 

This person, u/CitizenAlpha, unfortunately had to deal with a military wife who wanted to be treated just like her husband. She even had the nerve to ask for a salute! How very entitled of her. 

Next up, if you want to hear a story of someone just as entitled, check out the tale of the aunt who wrote a scathing note in reply to a Christmas card from her nephew---it's totally worth the read. 

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    Cheezburger Image 9838673152
    via Jeffrey F Lin on Unsplash
  • 02
    Civilian dependent wife demands salute because of her husbands rank M OC TL;DR: Civilian dependent wife demanded to be saluted because her husband was an officer, used her clout to get enlisted to salute vehicle stickers. Enlisted followed orders and saluted vehicle stickers, prioritized them over officers, and even empty vehicles in parking lots.
    via u/CitizenAlpha
  • 03
    There are a handful of rules to saluting in the American military. The when, why, and how is drilled into you from boot camp until the day you leave. Even the order in which the salutes are rendered have meaning. When it comes to vehicles there are helpful insignia and stickers to indicate if its an officer such as a colored sticker located on the front windshield.
    via u/CitizenAlpha
  • 04
    My base was small enough where it was everyone's job at some point to do sentry duty at the front gate which had housing for military families. Sentry duty was pretty basic, you'd stop every vehicle, check ID's and then wave them through. If they were an officer you'd see it coming with those colored stickers and after verifying the identify of the officer, you'd salute and send them on their way.
    via u/CitizenAlpha
  • 05
    One day while on duty I approached a vehicle with an officer's sticker and there was only the officer's wife driving in the vehicle. I returned her ID, wished her a nice day and waved her through. Pausing with a stern look, "Where's my salute Petty Officer CitizenAlpha". Now Karen here was wife to a higher ranking officer and has clearly has fallen under the impression people are saluting her somewhere along the way.
    via u/CitizenAlpha
  • 06
    Some of the junior enlisted might've even been saluting her as they're pretty easy to bully and more prone ups. I politely replied, "Ma'am salutes are only rendered to commissioned officers." Angrily pointing her chubby little fingers at the front of her windshield towards her husband's officer sticker, "I have a sticker and you need to salute the sticker." Curtly I continued, "I'm afraid that sticker is not an officer either."
    via u/CitizenAlpha
  • 07
    Frustrated she pulled through and left my post. My cover guy (the guy keeping me safe with a big gun) and I watched her drive down the street and pull right into the administrative building with the top brass and huffed into the building as quickly as her soft body would take her. We exchange a look between us with wry smiles knowing exactly where this is probably going.
    via u/CitizenAlpha
  • 08
    Later that day we get a new official base- wide mandate. From here forward all enlisted will salute vehicle stickers of officers regardless of who's in the vehicle. Rodger that. This is where the malicious compliance comes in. It's worth noting that when you salute an officer as enlisted, you do it first, and you hold that salute until you are saluted in return and they lower theirs. Only then do you lower your salute. It signals that you're saluting them, and they're replying.
    via u/CitizenAlpha
  • 09
    Additionally when saluting a group of officers, you generally direct your salute and greeting to the highest ranking individual. Now as far as I know this stupid sticker salute order has no accommodation for how a 2004 Toyota Camry fits into the officers pecking order. Additionally if the car is unoccupied, its not like that sticker is removed.
    via u/CitizenAlpha
  • 10
    After that order came through we all began saluting stickers. Personally I'd direct my salute to the sticker. I would also prioritize sticker salutes over officers. Let me tell you, walking through parking lots was a blast as I saluted empty cars on my way to where ever. More and more people saw me doing it, and more and more people started doing it.
    via u/CitizenAlpha
  • 11
    Not long after the order was publicly rescinded, which hilariously had the balancing affect of never rendering a salute to anyone but a clearly known officer cementing Karen never getting her unearned salutes.
    via u/CitizenAlpha
  • 12
    SteamingTheCat I'm picturing a group of officers meeting on an otherwise routine morning. Why is nothing getting done? Where are the enlisted? They eventually find all of the enlisted on base saluting a sticker on a 2004 Camry. Some have been there for hours. Why? Because the sticker has yet to salute back or dismiss them.
    via u/SteamingTheCat
  • 13
    Tenpat "I'm afraid that sticker is not an officer either." Hysterical. Actual laugh out loud.
    via u/Tenpat
  • 14
    wubrgess you do it first, and you hold that salute until you are saluted in return and they lower theirs. Only then do you lower your salute. How did you ever stop saluting the first vehicle? 691 Reply Share CitizenAlpha OP My commitment to malicious compliance stops just before it is personally inconvenient for me, but long after it is awkward and embarrassing for others. :)
    via u/wubrgess

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