I had to cut the quote short; it wouldn’t fit in the allotted character limit. Cite.
Is it? According to whom? Since when?
It’s contrary to American military training to salute while in civilian clothes (though many presidents have ignored this). In uniform, I’d never salute a foreign officer unless they were working with us in a joint exercise or an exchange program. But no one should kid themselves that Trump has the slightest idea about real standards of behavior in the military. He saluted the NK’n general because he’s impulsive and acts without thinking.
I don’t know if there’s any rule, but if you are saluted and you don’t return it, isn’t that a pretty clear insult?
ETA: Apparently not, iiandyiiii explained it.
I ran across this just a couple of days ago.
I think it’s safe to say that rules for the president are pretty much up to the president, but it’s common for presidents to return salutes. Obviously they have to be in civilian clothes to do this.
That said, while there are military rules for when to salute, there’s absolutely no guidance on when not to salute. To whit, you might get laughed at or worse for saluting another enlisted member, but there’s nothing that says you can’t. In uniform or otherwise. You can salute a trash can if you want. It’s not a sacred hand gesture.
IIRC you were Navy so maybe your rules were different, but per AFI 34-1201, there’s no caveat about the foreign officer being in a joint exercise or exchange program. If you’re in uniform and you see an officer, you salute. However…
There are only two reasons this whole kerfluffle is in the news. One, because the right lost their shit constantly over a bunch of piddly things Obama did, and the left now wants to point out conservative hypocrisy. And two, because the AFI I referenced above specifies that foreign offers requiring a salute must be from friendly foreign nations. So either Trump is making a broad announcement that NK is now a friendly nation, or he just reflexively saluted, but really, who cares?
The best thing about the picture is Kim’s face. He’s got this “Holy shit. Trump saluted my general” look going on.
Trump knows they have nukes. Maybe Trump is saying “Ave, morituri te salutant” but we can’t hear it.
Not really. This is the beginning, middle and end of it:
I think this is one of those interservice differences that gets assumed to be the same. On the Army side the regulation says that a salute is not required if one of the parties is in civilian clothes. It is not in anyway disallowed or contrary to any training I received. I certainly initiated and returned many salutes when one or both of the parties was in civilian clothes. Presidents, of course, trump DOD or service level regulations.
Perhaps. In the Navy, I was trained to always salute superior officers when I was in uniform – if they were in civilian clothes (which means I’d have to know personally they’re rank by their face), they would never salute back. But if I was in civilian clothes, I never saluted. If someone saluted me while I was in civvies, I’d just nod to acknowledge, but not salute back.
As I read AR 600-25(2-1)(c):
Is that not the rule?
That wasn’t andy’s rule but it was mine. He was Navy and the AR stands for Army Regulation.
Link to an article for those of us who missed what happened?
I don’t actually recall the exact Navy regulation for whom to salute, but from my memory we salute foreign military officers only when we are in uniform and we’re allies/working together. But my memory shouldn’t be considered authoritative on this – I’m certain that Navy regs say we don’t salute when not in uniform (or when we’re “uncovered”, meaning not wearing our uniform cap, which includes when we’re inside), but I’m not as certain about the rules for foreign officers.
In the USCG (and probably the USN because they copy everything the CG does) one only salutes if one is wearing a cover (hat). And one NEVER wears a cover indoors UNLESS they are under arms.
Translation: If I’m inside unarmed (even just a white guard belt with a baton) I don’t offer salutes or return them. If I’m outside in uniform I offer and return salutes. I don’t salute in civvies.
To be honest, there’s an unwritten rule concerning distance from the recipient. Where I was mostly stationed, in the training center there were a LOT more Enlisted than Officers and Warrants. Once after returning from lunch, my Warrant came to our office where the coffee mess was and griped about having to return all those salutes wore out his arm. So I’d often see Officers and Warrants walk on the OTHER side of the street so they wouldn’t be saluted and have to return one.
Then there was the rush for indoors when the bugle played the warning about raising or lowering the flag.
I think you got that backwards, shipmate. 
Nitpick – you do salute indoors when you’re reporting (although I can count on 1 finger the number of times I reported anywhere after my initial training), and I don’t think it’s written in the AF regs but it’s also customary to salute when receiving an award or honor from a higher ranking officer (i.e., take-shake-salute, which I’m sure you’ve done before).
But more importantly…
I’d bet that, like the AF reg I mentioned above, the Navy regs don’t say anything about when not to salute. It’s customary not to salute outside of the prescribed requirements, but there’s no repercussions for going above and beyond, or saluting whomever/whatever/whenever you’d like.
For the sake of the story, there’s absolutely no foul in Trump returning the General’s salute, other than whatever political hay anyone wants to make of it. Personally, it doesn’t even rank on the radar of things Trump’s done this week that we should be discussing.
At some point I’ll stop being lazy and look up the regs, but we were specifically taught in training to not salute while uncovered.
nm