I was taken by some footage of President Obama boarding the Marine One helicopter last week. He stopped before entering, and turned to the guard standing there. The guard was typical Marine: sharp, crisp, alert, and at full-starch attention.
The President returned his salute, and then put his hand on the Marine’s shoulder. He began speaking to the lad, who very gracefully relaxed his stance and turned slightly to clasp the President’s outstretched hand. His verbal response to the President was very short, maybe two or three syllables in terms of lip movement.
He then returned to his attention position with an extra snap, and a stifled facial expression almost bursting with pride, as he restored his salute. The president then boarded the chopper.
Here are my questions:
Did President Obama break military protocol by speaking to the Marine?
How might he have addressed the Marine. Would, “Hello, soldier,” be wrong — i.e., does soldier imply Army?
Was the Marine right to engage the President’s dialog? Should he have ignored the President and remained erectly standing?
When the Marine spoke to him, what did he likely say? Something like, “Thank you, sir.”?
If the Marine did break protocol, would he be punished? Wasn’t the President the one who was really responsible for the event?
The President is not a member of the military and is not required to follow any protocol. The custom of Presidents returning salutes at all is actually a fairly recent invention.
“Soldier” would be wrong, but perfectly understandable, for a civilian to say. “Marine” would be acceptable, though it would be more acceptable to address him by rank.
When a superior addresses you, you answer him. These aren’t the guys in the fuzzy hats outside Buckingham Palace.
It’s a mystery which will haunt you until the end of your days.
Generally speaking, POTUS does not give direct orders to military personnel below the level of the JCS members - it would be POTUS - Chairman,JCS - JCS - Service-specific leadersip … yada yada yada.
Orders are generally given with one’s specific chain of command.
What difference does it make if Obama is in the chain of command? If a four-star general wants to exchange a few words with a private, he’s free to do so - and the private better answer him.
Anyway, every time a President visits a military base, they always spend a couple of minutes chitchatting with the troops. I don’t see why different rules should apply to Marine details.
Newsweek once said that the Corps always has a Marine in dress uniform waiting wherever Marine One touches down. Bill Clinton was once surprised on a visit to the Grand Canyon to have an immaculate Marine salute him at the foot of the stairs when he debarked, out in the middle of nowhere.
I’m no lip-reading expert, but “Thank you, sir” is my best guess as to what it looks like he’s saying.
ETA on watching the clip again: I can’t figure out why the Marine kept saluting after Obama saluted back, and then continued after Obama shook his hand. It seems rather odd to keep saluting towards nothing as your Commander in Chief walks up the steps behind you.
No. The position of attention is designed for receiving intstructions (or other conversation) and responding to it. The whole point of being at attention is to, you know, pay attention to something or someone. And it wouldn’t matter anyway if the prez did break protocol. He does what he wants.
It would be offensive to call a Marine a soldier. I’m a soldier. He’s a Marine. If you want my respect, get it right. If I were a Marine and the POTUS or other high-ranking official called me a soldier, I’d outwardly let it go but inwardly think them a complete and utter boob. Same goes for if they called me a Marine, though I’ve never heard of the mistake being made that way. It’s quite common for me to tell a civilian “I’m a soldier” and they ask “Which branch?” My answer is always has a touch of education in it- “The only one that has soldiers in it- the Army.”
I’d say we was obliged to answer the president. Technically, if he wasn’t put at ease, then the Marine shouldn’t have moved, except to speak. That is, he should still have had his hands down, eyes forward.
Usually, a service member meeting the president is like a movie star visiting a children’s hospital or the pope coming to a church in the suburbs. It’s huge. They most likely bantered something like “How are you son?” “Oh gee gosh, sir, I’m so honored!” Well, at least that’s what the Marine was thinking.
No, he wouldn’t be punished. We’re people, you know.
When passing the flag, you don’t drop your salute until 6 paces after the pole. That always looks weird to me too. This Marine probably has some special instructions on when to drop it WRT Marine One.
A friend of mine had a job for a few months driving Secret Service/Staff around town before a meeting that GW Bush was attending.
Not only do they secure the area they do quite a lot of recon apparently.
