I just barely (like, less than a week ago) put on A1C, and I’m so new out of tech school that I’m not in charge of anyone. They want to get me flying first and then I’ll have other responsibilities.
Another thing is I am the youngest in my squadron. Actually, for the entire time I’ve been in the Air Force, I’ve only met one person younger than me, and I’ve already been to at least 5 bases. So with me being so young (19) it’s a good idea for me to say ‘sir’ because chances are they’re older and it’s better to be safe than sorry.
I’ve actually been saluted before. Makes sense though. If you’ve never seen a flightsuit before chances are you’re going to assume it’s an officer.
I’m 24 and I love being called “sir,” “that gentleman,” “monsieur,” “vous,” whatever. And I’m not a precocious fogey either (at least not on my good days); as soon as this election is over I’m getting my hair dyed blue.
I think the only thing that makes someone sound old is complaining about how old proper forms of address make them feel.
the male nurse in my pediatricians office used to work in the hospital as the guy who went around giving all the shots, it broke his heart, he had to change jobs.
Let’s say is name is Bullwinkle. Bullwinkle is a very nice guy, good with the kids, handles new, neurotic mom’s like a pro. All around good guy. He tells me this story of this mother who threatened her children in front of him by saying “If you don’t behave, I am going to make Bullwinkle give you a shot.” The kid stopped immediately and the mother told Bullwinkle that it “works every time.”
Imagine, having to change careers because there is something you just can’t do anymore and some random psycho mom uses that exact thing to threaten her kids with.
What’s so shitty about it? Same thing as if she said, “If you don’t stop I’ll spank you.” Or even “if you don’t stop I’ll punish you.” Dude, shots hurt and suck. I still don’t like getting shots.
Please note the “I’ll” in your post. She didn’t threaten to give him a shot, she threated that the nurse would, and would give him a shot for being “bad.”
No, not the same thing at all. Someday, perhaps soon, kid’s gonna need a shot. How are you going to explain it if he’s been very, very good? “A shot’s a punishment, but you’re getting punished even though you’re good.” How screwed up is that kid going to be?
At least spanking, if you’re into that sort of thing, is never needed outside of punishment.
And, as **Auntbeast **notes, you’re making yourself the bad guy in your examples, not some poor nurse who hates hurting kids even when it’s required and good.
Yeah, it’s surprisingly difficult to figure out the rank on those things. I spent a lot of time (three months) in BMT (320 TRS/FLT 363 → 323 TRS/“Get Fit” flight → 319 TRS/Medical Hold) so I got pretty good at doing an automatic cover-collar-shoulder-arm sweep to pick up stars and stripes, but it took a while to discern rank on flight suits. I don’t even remember where the rank is, now. It’s been a few months. Anyway, I don’t even think I saw people walking around outside in flight suits on Lackland except once or twice–generally I just saw them walking around Reid if at all.
BTW, I’ve been saluted–after my discharge!–at the MCRD down here. Granted, my car has a very high-rank officer sticker on it because I live with a Navy CO, but I certainly don’t look like I could’ve put in near enough years to make that rank. I guess it was because I stopped to ask her how to get to the BX, and she probably freaked out because she thought I was going to chew her out for not saluting an officer, and she pulled one out of her ashtray pretty damn quick.
I’m around them all the time so for me it’s really easy. With BDUs my scan is shoulder, collar. By then I know I have to salute (I hate Airman Basics for this very reason. You can never tell until you get closer). For flightsuits, it all relies on cover, whether or not they have the shiny stuff. Also, enlisted has there rank on their nametag and officers have just their name on it but their rank is on their shoulder.
Every once and a while at my old base we’d have academy or ROTC kids. I hated them because they’re in BDUs, no strips on their sleeves, and from far away I see something shimering in the sunlight. My mind immediatly goes to the “do I salute or not” mode and stays in said mode a good one second before I pass them and then I make a decision. You’d think saluting would be easy.
Yeah, that was pretty annoying with the cadets on Lackland too. Actually, I prided myself on being one of the only people in my squadron who didn’t freak out when trying to figure out whether to salute or not. Honestly, age is such that you might not be able to tell the difference between a 2LT and a cadet, but you can usually tell by the way they carry themselves. Cadets walk, talk, and look like trainees, and officers walk, talk and look like officers. But yeah, it took me a while to figure out what the hell those cadet insignias were and that, no, I didn’t have to salute them.
