Who are Sheldon's 9 friends?

We had our section’s coffee mess in our Instructor’s office. One afternoon, our Warrant Officer came in for a cuppa and sat down to chat for a bit. He mildly griped about his arm hurting from returning the salutes from all the enlisted men he encountered coming back from lunch. Considering the Officer to Enlisted ratio, and that one could go for weeks without having to salute an officer, we made some sympathetic sounds. Then he asked, probably rhetorically, “Do you know some men can say ‘Sir’ like it’s the worst insult ever?” and I couldn’t help myself and I looked up from my paperwork and asked “What do you mean by that? SIR!”