I am beginning a new project that will have me interacting with a lot of military people. I respect these people and want to treat them in a way that will reflect that respect, so, a couple of questions:
Is it proper to address an officer by his rank? I can read insignia, so it is easy enough to say, “Good morning, Colonel” or “Thank you, Major.” I would assume this is a polite form of address. Am I correct?
Non-officers are not so easy. How are they politely addressed? “Mr.” somehow feels inadequate. Almost condescending.
Say “sir” or ma’am." They’ll correct you soon enough if they don’t like it.
Title is ok to start with, until you know them well enough to ask how they would prefer to be addressed. “Mr.” would be just fine for anything other than sergeants among the enlisted ranks.
This data is old, since I haven’t regularly interacted with Army types in years. But that’s the way I addressed them.
Address officers and enlisted by their ranks. ‘Colonel Bogie’, ‘Lieutenant Longbottom’, ‘Sergeant Rock’, etc. I understand Warrant Officers are called ‘Mister’.
If they are in uniform, use their titles, definately, if you know them. For the enlisted folk, too – Corporal Smith; or Petty Officer Jones; or what have you.
And junior officers (Warrant Officers - 0-3) are commonly called Mr. (or Ms.). In the navy, anyway.
Only W-1s are called Mister or Miss. The rest are called “Chief”. For everyone else, use their rank- that goes for everyone from General to Private. If you want to be more familiar, just use the person’s last name. IME, civilians just call them by their first or last name anyway, so they’ll tell you to use that before too long.
I once read of a Lt. Colonel who was attending some sort of function where a woman, intending to be polite but was not quite up to speed, kept addressing him as “Lieutenant.” He told someone later he didn’t mind that much – at least she’d made the effort – but he’d love to be around when she met a Rear Admiral.
Which branch, primarily? There’s some nitty-gritties that work with one branch but are incorrect for another; for instance, in the Army a Warrant Officer is a Chief but the Navy already has Chiefs (and Warrants) and the Air Force has a Chief but no Warrants. Although, outside the specifics which you’ll pick up soon enough anyway, there’s some general rules of thumb that seem to work across the services.
Sir/Ma’am is overall good. Higher-level types like to be called by their rank, like Johnny L.A. already posted.
If you’re around the real junior types, I’ve found Sir/Ma’am and saying “Mister” is a nice thing for them. No honors are lost, and Seaman Schmuckatelli will appreciate the gesture a lot.
In general, civilians working for the military in any kind of white collar job are considered equivalent in rank to officers so you should address officers by their rank or rank and last name or Sir/Ma’am or by whatever they ask you to call them but it is hard to go wrong.
Enlisted should be addressed by their rank or rank and last name. I think you can also address them by their last name if you can’t figure out their rank but I agree with Poysyn that Sir or Ma’am are not appropriate.
As a rule, with officers it’s Colonel Suchandsuch, Captain Whojamacallit. If they’re on the same level as you, and address you by first name, you might as well call them by first name as long as they’re not a Colonel or Light Colonel. For the warrant officers, Chief Blahblah is perfect, and just Chief will do until you know their name.
When writing them, just make sure you capitalize their titles. Captain is CPT, Colonel is COL, etc.
I communicate with military all the time. If I’m not addressed as Mr. Shecky, I assume we’re on good enough terms that I can call you by your first name. That’s possibly why the 3-star GEN refers to me as Mr. Shecky and my other counterparts by their first names.
With Army and Air Force personnell, you can often abbreviate the title:
Lieutenant Smith, Sergeant Jones.
Marines often insist on the full title:
Second Lieutenant Smith, Master Gunnery Sergeant Jones.
Although Gunnery Sergeants and Master Gunnery Sergeants often prefer to be addressed as “Gunny”.
Naval non-comms are often referred to by job title. His chevrons may read Petty Officer 2nd Class, but he will be referred to as Widgetmaker’s Mate 2nd Class. I have never seen a concise explanation of the details.
You’re not part of the chain of command. That means that you’re the social equal of any officer or enlisted - as far as you’re concerned, they’re just human beings. If you address them by their rank, you do it out of politeness, not out of deference - it’s simply an alternative to “Mr.” or “Ms.”, and just as arbitrary. If they call you by your first name, you do the same.
Realistically - unless you’re the very first civilian who’s ever been assigned to your office, the military folks you’re working with will expect you to inadvertantly salute office furniture, or something equally amusing. Be polite, take notes when someone says they’d rather be called such-and-such, and I’d imagine you should be fine.
Again, no they’re not. A Chief Warrant Officer is called Chief. A Warrant Officer (W1) is just “Mr.”
For the Army, yes. For the Marines, however, it’s “Pvt.” or “Capt.” I believe. A Marine might have to correct me on the letters, but the ranks are typically in title case, with a period.
Military personnel should be addressed formally by their rank (at least when they’re acting as military personnel – you don’t have to call your old pal from high school “Captain” all the time). It’s like “Doctor”, or “Father” (for a priest), or “Officer” for a police officer. Basic rules of etiquette in more or less formal situations.
If you’re not in the military, you don’t owe a “Sir” or “Ma’am” to anyone, no matter what your relative positions in your organization. Are you required to address your supervisor at your (civilian) job as “Sir”? You’re not. You’re a civilian. Military rules do not apply to you.
Indeed. A friend of mine is an Army officer, and I call him by his first name, but having met a few of his enlisted soldiers, I didn’t feel right calling both him and them by their first names even if they did introduce themselves that way, so it was first name for my friend, Sergeant X, Corporal Y and Private Z for the others, or just last names for everyone.
I’d probably follow his lead for any other officers I may meet around him- if he introduces me with something like “This is Captain John X”, and Captain John X said “Hi- I’m John”, I’d call him John, but if it was “This is Captain X”, and no first names involved, it would be “Captain X” for me as well.