I'm with Hawkmoon here in that I have been, for the 26 years since my discharge, under the impression that veterans were allowed and active-duty SMs were required to render the hand salute rather than place the hand over the heart. I'm doing some research on it because I'm sure I read it in the Code long ago. So far what I've found hasn't backed up my (admittedly faulty) memory, but has made me wonder why this amendment was added to a FY2009 bill (which must have passed in mid-'08) when several sites note that just such an amendment to a bill was passed in 2007.
*edit*
Interesting. Found a site called Govtrack that keeps up with legislation and it says there that the bill (National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009) never became law, and since the 110th Congress has ended its session the bill was cleared from the books. Checking a link to the bill's info at the Library of Congress confirms.
