Thanks, UB.
Exactly. Both the Marine Corp branch of the armed services and the Naval branch of the armed services both report to the civilian Department of the Navy.
We were always taught that you can “delegate authority, but not responsibility.” (Something private business has bass-ackwards.) So, a low ranking securty guard or policeperson could easily be granted authority over all sorts of matters, and that authority outweighs rank.
Imagine a Colonel getting pulled over for drunk driving by a low ranking military policeman. He can’t say"I order you to let me go."
The whole saluting thing, we can nit pick, drag out the rule books and debate it to death, but in my experience saluting really isn’t all that cut & dried on a day to day basis. Saluting is a form of respect & courtesy, not a power thing. Any two people can salute each other, regarless of rank. My rule is, if someone salutes me whether they should or not, I salute back. It’s just polite. If I salute someone when I don’t need to & they don’t salute back, it’s damn rude.
Depending on how formal your unit is, it can even be used to joke around. We used to wait until late in the day for our commander to try sneaking out of the office, both arms full of books, papers, etc. Then run up, salute & say “good afternoon, sir!” Then watch in amusement as he struggled to reshuffle all his junk, or just say “carry on, assholes!”
As for saluting in civilian clothes, why not? If you’re on base and you recognize the person is your commander or superior officer, why not salute? They’re your superior officer 24/7, 365. Not just in uniform. If I encountered them off base, downtown, I wouldn’t salute, but I’d still give them the greeting of the day i.e. “good morning/afternoon/evening Sir/Ma’am.”
That’s cool by me. There are specific times when you do NOT salute (in the Marines, anyway), but I have seen that as a sign of respect above and beyond respect for the rank and position. When I was a 1stLt there was a 2ndLt who saluted me. He was prior enlisted, and I had a hell of a lot of respect for him, and that meant a lot to me.
(Sidenote - a Marine Corps 2ndLt does NOT generally salute a 1stLt, “there is no rank among Lieutenants”.)