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Democrats protest as Elon Musk salutes: Trump’s address to Congress – in pictures
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2025
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Civilians don't salute. Only military, vets, and law enforcement may salute the President. I guess there's nothing really barring a civilian from doing so but frankly it feels a bit like stolen valor.
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
That is certainly not the tradition. I looked it up before posting but maybe you have a better source. It just didn't seem right because for example civilians don't salute during the national anthem unless they are veterans, and it made sense that they wouldn't salute the president, I looked it up and the first site I checked confirmed my thought.
But maybe you have an authoritative source.
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:
Just FYI I am a former soldier so I probably took it more seriously than I probably otherwise would. I know there's no law against it but it certainly doesn't feel to me like Musk has earned the right to assume military tradition. He doesn't have to follow the norms but it does nothing to ingratiate him to me.
Completely relate. It's frustrating watching someone LARP something you take pride in. Absolutely nothing wrong with disliking the guy for his actions. And hell, you can still not like him for this, with the knowledge he's not really in the wrong. This time.
V2V Respect.