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Cover me!

Dr. Drill

You can submit your questions to Dr. Drill via e-mail to : DrDrill@CadetStuff.org.

Dr. Drill,

My question to the above answer from a previous question is... Would Firefighters or Police officers (in uniform and without a cover) render a salute while indoors and/or outside when it's appropriate to do so or if ordered to do so? Also, how does the different branches of the military handle saluting without a cover or saluting while indoors?

Hope you can help because there is definitely some confusion on this.

Thanks!

Seth Roan
CRFD

Dr. Drill responds:


Hi Seth!

You've asked a multi-faceted question here, and there's no quick answer.

First, the Sea Services - the Navy and Marines - never salute uncovered. If your department follows the drill and customs and courtesies standards of those guys, then the answer is a quick 'no'.

You also know from reading the previous questions on this that the Army and Air Force do things a little differently...

When indoors, the Army and Air Force salute uncovered when reporting to an officer. When outdoors, they salute uncovered if the uniform they're wearing doesn't have a cover.

All services salute indoors when covered and under arms.

So, in answer to your question: if your uniform doesn't have a cover, then you should salute uncovered when you're outdoors.

If you're indoors and not under arms, you should salute when you report to an officer if you follow Army protocol for that sort of thing.

If you're indoors and under arms - and I'm not sure how a firefighter would manage that, since the definition of 'under arms' is that you're carrying a weapon - then you should wear the cover for your uniform and salute.

Thanks for all you do!

Dr. Drill

Caution: Dr. Drill isn't always one hundred percent serious. Please activate your Joke Detectors. And don't call us when you find yourself explaining to a membership termination board why you used a staple gun to keep a cadet's hands at his sides during "To The Rear, March". All we're going to say on your behalf is "Duh!"

And if you find yourself on the bad end of a serious counseling because you decided to go toe-to-toe with your squadron commander over the position of the guide during a squadron-in-mass formation or something similarly trivial, well, we're just going to point, laugh and call you names!

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