Even when under arms (duh! that's like 99.9% of the time) if I am not in uniform* the salute is rendered by placing the right hand over the left breast, or if wearing a hat by removing the hat and placing the hat over the left breast.
I do not give a good [expeltive deleted] [a few more expletives deleted] what those rule-writers say. I am a vteran - as in I used to be but am no longer a <insert branch of service>. That goes for folks who EAS'd and for those that retired from the service. As far as I'm concerned (curmudgeon alert!) only active-duty and Reservists on drill/active duty are entitled to render the military hand salute. Quasi-military organizations like firefighters and police have co-opted the hand salute and it will probably be impossible to take it away from them. I do not see mail carriers or water meter readers (both wear uniforms that include a hat) rendering the hand salute - probably because they know better.
Why is skidmark such a curmudgeon about this, when in the big picture it is such a petty thing? Because I see so many people who cannot be bothered to put down their cell phones or stop shoving a hot dog into their face when the National Anthem is played, or those that cannot be bothered to get up off their fat fourth point of contact when the flag passes in a parade. I am not rendering honors because I am a used-to-be <insert branch of service> but because I am a citizen.** Thus I do it like the rest of those [expletives - many of them - deleted] are supposed to. Possibly I do it in the hope that if someone shows them how they will copy it.
For the record - I am proud of being a veteran, but it does not define me. The Marines and I parted on such good terms that after they told me that even if I wanted to reenlist they would not take me (no bad time, one Article 15 that was to save me from civil suit for having done my duty, and an average 3.7 proficiency score over 5 1/4 years) they also told me to never refer to myself as a "former Marine" as they wanted to be done and through with me as opposed to that BS about "once a Marine always a Marine".***
stay safe.
* - When at a VFW or AL meeting and I have their hat on I consider that a uniform. And I play by their rules in their house and render the hand salute.
** - I have seen visiting foreigners and overtly illegal aliens show more respect to the the flag than a whole lot of citizens do.
*** - Before my involuntary extension of enlistment, convenience of the government, I had already established my reputation as a royal pain who used the rules to get away with everything short of murder (never tried to murder anybody so don't know if I could have gotten away with it or not) while at the same time making them play by the rules. Secretaries and mid-level bureaucrats rule the world!
