One of the MP's in my platoon (SPC) was passing by an officer. He did not salute her. She stopped him and told him he needed to salute her. He responded with "I do not need to salute you because I am under arms, ma'am". She said, "Oh okay, and walked away".

I talked to this MP and told him he needed to salute her and then I asked why he did not. He said that he did not need to salute her because he was under arms and it makes it easily accessible to reach for his pistol. He said he heard this from his old MP unit back in Korea.

I have never heard of this before. I told a few of my other MP buddies and they disagreed as well with the exception of another soldier. It happened to be that both of these soldiers were stationed in Korea.

Has anybody else ever heard of this ??? As far as I know, there is no regulation stating that MP's are excluded from saluting officers for the reason of having an M9 in their pistol belt.

Just from my own exp. but I have never heard of that reason. Unless of course in the performance of duties, but never because of being under arms.

I think that it is bogus. There is only one time that I know an MP doesn't have to salute an officer, and that is when he is pulling gate duty. Hang on, I'm not finished. The MP takes the ID card first inspects it, gives it back and THEN salutes. That's about it though..
You can solve this, besides proving it by looking it up, by telling the soldier that that might be the way they do it in Korea, but in the states or your post that is not how it works.

The only time anyone does not render an officer a salute is:
1. Not able to, b/c of objects in hand.
2. No hat No salute area.
3. In a tactical environment.
4. Officer/Soldier in confinment.
5. Work Detail. (only one needs to salute the rest keep working)

Walking across along, not chasing bad guy's is a piss poor reason for not saluting.

I've never heard that... if they don't return the salute.. i can see were that might be a problem... just like when saluting the flag. i put my left hand on my weapon... because the salute has to be held for a while..

Ok to tell you the truth, I have heard of that, but not in writing, just a few MP's told me this. I am an MP and I salute officers just the same as if I didn't have a pistol belt on. Now, at my last unit we were told not to stand at parade rest for NCO's because the pistol would be in reaching distance. But of course you need to use your head and if your talking to a very high ranking NCO then of course stand at parade rest. Even if I stopped an officer for whatever reason (patrolling) I would render a hand salute after the citation or verbal warning was given.

Any comments?

Some Soldiers read into things too much and make things much more difficult than they really are. I would like to think that I am trained good enough that I would be able to salute an Officer several feet away and still be able to use my left arm to push them away and reach for my weapon with my right hand should they decide to come at me.

I may even throw a salute at them as they are being hauled off in the patrol car.

I agree with SSG K.

I'm gonna have to raise the B.S. flag on that young trooper. I recently returned from 2D MP CO, Camp Casey, S. Korea after a long 3 year tour. I can assure you that this is not a practice taught or condone in the 2D ID.

i think it woulde matter during time and situation i can understand the reasoning behind it in korea down range but state side it dosent make a lot of sense

So I guess that because I have these guns (my arms) under my BDU top I won't Salute anymore. LOL

If you are in a combat situation, then you do not need to salute a commissioned officer becasue it identifies the officer to enemy snipers, as is evidenced by officer killings in Vietnam.

In a non-combat scenario, it is wise to saluate a commissioned officer, unless [i:4b2a0baf0d](as someone else pointed out)[/i:4b2a0baf0d] your hands are full or something like that. Whoever told that enlisted MP that he doesn't need to salute an officer was wrong. Oh well. [i:4b2a0baf0d]< shrugs shoulders >[/i:4b2a0baf0d]

As a side-note, an Infantry captain can legally command a company of enlisted MPs, but an MP captain [u:4b2a0baf0d]cannot[/u:4b2a0baf0d] command a company of Infantrymen. The point[b:4b2a0baf0d]:[/b:4b2a0baf0d] An enlisted MP must still salute a commissioned officer, even if they are both under arms. Please don't throw rocks at me, as I've been an enlisted MP, as well as a commissioned MP.

But I'm no longer on active-duty... I'm just an ordinary cop now. :shock:

you know what I don't understand is "Why they make such a big deal about giving respect to the officers" I know that some of them are goofy and do not know much but they are in the leadership position and we should respect that! How easy is it to salute?

I'm new to this but your reply will be part off my conversation tonight (as far as jokes) with my MP friends. Thanks for the smile.

[quote:2accde301d="SSG_K"]Some Soldiers read into things too much and make things much more difficult than they really are. I would like to think that I am trained good enough that I would be able to salute an Officer several feet away and still be able to use my left arm to push them away and reach for my weapon with my right hand should they decide to come at me.

I may even throw a salute at them as they are being hauled off in the patrol car. [/quote:2accde301d]