My new role includes meeting with senior personnel of both the UK and US armed forces.
I am a civilian contractor, and am a bit confused as to how I greet officers and even NCO’s.
eg.
Do I greet a full US Air Force Colonel as: Colonel, Sir, Mr [Surname], or simply [Firstname]?
What about a Master Sergeant in the US Army? Is simply using Sergeant [Surname] improper?
What about UK armed forces? Am due to meet an RAF Squadron Leader next week, would it sound fascetious to say “Good Morning Squadron Leader”, as a civilian?
Okay, I realise that the forces and the people in them are varied in their views of proper formality, but I don’t want to piss off someone off unnecessarily.
Well, since you are a civilian, you can call them “Bob” if you like. But you’ll probably get along better if you use the military courtesy they’re accustomed to.
Here’s how Army military courtesy works:
Never call NCO’s “Sir.” Use the abbreviated rank and last name. For example, all NCO’s under the rank of first sergeant are simply “Sergeant York.” Whenever that gets repetitive or you don’t know the last name, you can just use “Sergeant.” But for the ranks of first sergeant and higher, never use abbreviations or last names. First sergeants are always “First Sergeant” and Sergeants Major are always “Sergeant Major.” Just look for the diamond or star.
For officers, likewise use their abbreviated rank and last name. If that gets repetitive or you don’t know their name, you can just say “sir” or “ma’am” just as you would any civilian customer who signs your paycheck. Abbreviated ranks: both first and second lieutenants are “lieutenant.” There are no abbreviated ranks for captain or major. Both lieutentant colonels and full colonels are “Colonel.” Generals of all grade are “General.” Warrant officers are “Mr.”.
I have no idea how military courtesy works in the UK. Hope this helps.
As an afterthought, just for specificity… most likely you would not say this. “Squadron Leader” is a job title and you never refer to anyone as their job title. A quick search through google tells me that squadron leaders usually hold the rank of Wing Commander which is analagous to a Lieutenant Colonel. Therefore, logic would lead me to use the abbreviated rank salutation of “Commander.”
Don’t worry too much about it… listen to what they call each other, and if all else fails, you can just ask them “what should I call you?”
Squadron Leader is a rank in it’s own right and believe it or not he can be in charge of a squadron- he needn’t be of course he could just have an administrative role somewhere.
My advice would be to call him sir the first time you’re introduced and go from there. He will probably say “just call me Tom or Dick or Harry” (or even just one of those three) or whatever his name is.
By calling him sir the first time you are recognising he’s an officer but I find it unlikely he would expect it after that.
During my time in the RAF ( I wasn’t an officer ) if we found ourselves in a non working environment eg. playing football we would address them by their christian name or something a little stronger if he made a balls up during the game.
Quite right. Wing Commander is a rank in its own right too (it’s the next one up from Squadron Leader) and I wouldn’t recommend abbreviating it to “Commander”, which is a naval rank.
Things may differ for you based on position, but I can tell you how I and everyone else I work with does it. I’m I mid-grade USAF civilian, working on a fairly rank-heavy base.
Company grade officers (Lts and Capts): First name if I know them at all. “Capt Soandso” if I don’t.
Majors and LTCs: “Major Whatsyerface” and “Colonel Thisandthat”
Colonels and Generals: Initial greeting may be “Sir” or rank and name, depending on what seems less awkward. After that, lots of “sirs” interjected in the conversation.
For enlisted personnel, it’s easy in the Air Force: “Airman Smith”, “Sergeant Jones,” or “Chief Brown” (Chief being a CMSgt)
As a civilian, none of the normal rules of protocol actually apply to me. But it’s still a matter of professional courtesy. Obviously, the higher up they are, the more humble and respectful I will be. But it’s not really any different than the “Dr. Soandso” and multiple “Sirs” I might throw out talking to a senior civilian. If I know their pay grade is well above mine, I like to be nice.
Also bear in mind a lot of it depends on the type of job they’re used to having. I work where Majors are a dime a dozen…literally. But some 0-4s may come from places where being a Maj is hot shit. If you already know that about them, or they have that swagger, it might be good to make them comfortable by heaping on the respect.
You shouldn’t address anyone in the Air Force or Army as “Mister” unless they are a cadet or a warrant officer, in which case it can be used. I don’t think this is common practice, however.
In the Navy, it is common for male officers lieutenant commander and below to be addressed as “Mr. So-and-so.” The title of a Henry Fonda play and movie comes to mind here.
Noncommissioned officers are generally addressed by rank or abbreviated rank. In the Navy, anyone E-7 or above will be addressed as simply Chief, Senior Chief, or Master Chief. E-3 to E-6 will typically be addressed either as petty officer or by their rating, as in Petty Officer Humptyscrunch or OS2 Humptyscrunch.
It is a good idea to address a Master Sergeant as “Master Sergeant Boozo,” or what ever his last name might be, the same as First Sergeants and Sergeants Major. Once you are on friendly terms with a First Sergeant you might address him / her as “Top.”
In the work environment I’d be very careful about calling any service member by his first name. The old rule in the service was that in a private setting you may call your subordinates and equals by their first name but superiors were always called by their grade and last name unless they specifically told you to do other wise. In the presence of the troops it was always the full title.
The best rule is to use the full thing, grade and last name, until the guy tells you not to.
All the old British etiquette books say that an Army lieutenant should never be addressed as “Lieutenant,” by a civilian, only as “Mister So-and-So.” I don’t know whether that still applies.
Very, very rarely will you ever see cadets unless you’re at an Officer Training School base or the Air Force Academy, and you will never see an Air Force warrant officer because they don’t exist, so for the Air Force you can totally disregard this bit of advice.
Anyhow, keep it simple. All of the advice you’ve gotten is predicated on some knowledge of rank. No Sergeant I know of ever got mad and yelled at a civilian for calling him Sir. Nobody ever got mad when someone overestimated their rank. Sir is just fine in most cases. They’ll let you know when it’s not.
I work for a military medical research facility, and in my experience, officers with medical degrees are addressed by their rank. I’m not sure how it would be in an actual hospital setting.
I’ll chime in here and say that you should never, ever call a staff sergeant, gunnery sergeant or first sergeant in the Marine Corps simply “sergeant” (or “sarge”), unless you want to get on his or her bad side.
If you bump into them or have to challenge them (as I have done), then “Sir” or “Madam” suffices - as in, “Excuse me, sir, I see that you have a visitor’s pass: who is your escort?” Doesn’t matter if they’re an Admiral or a Private. Ironically, it’s the non-military who get really stroppy about this