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Pet Peeve
I hate seeing some of the salutes given to our fallen brothers. I wish it was something that never had to be done again but we are fooling ourselves if we think we will never have to bestow this honor again. The salute is an honor given to them and should be done properly.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Loyd Dittfurth on
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so are you for or against honoring men and women that died in line of duty deaths
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Permalink Reply by Jay Nicholson on
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I am ALL for honoring those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. But the salutes need to be given properly. Curved hands, limp wrists look bad and to me are a sign of disrespect. You don't need to look like a Marine, but I've seen Cub Scouts give better salutes than what I've seen at funerals from FFs.
This is the last chance we have to honor a LODD, we need to do it right.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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Jay, I've heard a lot of fire chiefs say that salutes should be reserved for the military, and that firefighters shouldn't salute at all. My personal opinion is that if we're going to salute, there should be a standardized way to do it, and we should be able to have a group of firefighters salute in unison instead of some of the raggedy salutes I've seen at parades and LODD funerals.
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i have never had the mis fortune of going to a firefigher funeral in the big city but at home we had one and we blocked the streets and when the chiefs pickup went by with the casket in it we all hit one knee and bowed our heads (bear would have been proud)
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Jeff,
The point made was that there's a difference between the military, which routinely salutes as part of military courtesy, and non-military, which does not.
There is a difference.
And...you'd flip off a chief at a LODD funeral just because his opinion differed from yours???
That would be pretty disrespectful to the LODD and his/her family and department.
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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Being former military, practicing and learning the salute was drilled into you. In the fire service there is no training on how to salute unless the person is on an honor guard. Thing is most people find that they may have to salute and do it the best way they can, for the most part there is really not many reasons, nor opportunities to salute in the fire service. Should salutes be properly done, sure, but not everyone in the military has the sharpest salute either.
Also, there is a bit of difference when wearing a cover. As a former sailor our salutes were at the bottom edge of the hat. For the fire service our salute is the edge of the brim. I find I still have to practice because I'm not used to catching the edge right away and to me it feels a bit awkward and could be similar reasons to others.
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My point exactly. I would rather see a respectful bow than a crappy salute. I've never heard of a chief not wanting a salute done, but it is an interesting topic.
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Jeff, there are different ways to "show respect and honor". Did it ever occur to you that most fire departments, unlike the military, don't train anyone in how to salute, stand at attention, or anything else that resembles military close-order drill?
There's nothing disrespectful about a firefighter who does not salute because he or she has not been trained in it or because his/her department does not use a salute because the chief believes that honor should be reserved for the military.
There are different ways to show honor and respect. We should realize that the ones who don't salute like the Marines just probably haven't ever been shown how to do it that way.
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Permalink Reply by Reg Mathis on
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Hey Jay,
I understand completely how you feel. But you have to remember that many of our brothers and sisters have never had a friendly Drill Instructor to patiently explain the intricacies of the proper way to present arms.
I proudly passed this tradition on to at least 40 Cub Scouts.
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"Must" ???
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Permalink Reply by Shareef Abdu Nur on
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Jay is absolutely correct. The Fire Service needs to learn how to salute properly. Being in the military, it was something that was taught and expected. Every Fire Department has members that were either in the military or are serving now in some capacity. these members can train the others who have never been in the military. It is a sign of respect, no more and no less. Also, all members attending a funeral should be in the proper uniform and all the same.
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