WAVES RANK SALUTE FOR THEIR BRAID

With everyone concerned about the conflict the advent of the WAVES has raised between the rules of military courtesy and the proprieties of gentlemanly respect for ladies, the following simple formula has been devised as an official solution and approved by cognizant officers of the Bureau:

The rules of military courtesy apply--- rank takes precedence. But because military courtesy includes deference to women, and because a senior's wish is an implied command, if a senior male officer indicates he prefers courtesy to women above the strict military usage, the junior female should act accordingly without any hesitation or embarrassing counter-deference.

Simply stated, the normal military procedure for a WAVE ensign is to stand aside for a male lieutenant, and the senior male officer is acting in a perfectly proper manner if he assumes the privileges of his rank. But if the lieutenant indicates he wishes the ensign to go ahead first, the she is supposed to go without any fuss or feathers.

The question of salutes has also been settled officially by regulations prescribed in Circular Letter No. OP-13-C for WAVES and Navy Nurses alike; in general, the regulations and customs applicable to saluting of and saluting by men in the Naval Service apply for the women. Juniors salute first, whether it be a junior saluting a WAVE, or a junior WAVE saluting a senior male officer.

But in situations where the WAVES and nurses, being women, would keep their hats on even though men would remove their caps (in the theater, or church, or at mess, for instance) it is presumed that the hat is not being worn as a badge of office, but in conformance to civilian rather than military custom--and in such instances the salute will not be given.

The question of whether a senior WAVE should be called "Sir" as male officers are called, or whether she should be "ma'am" as some have suggested, has likewise been resolved in a simpler manner. If the officer is being addressed by name, it would be "Miss" (or Mrs.) Jones, following the Naval usage of addressing all officers of rank of lieutenant commander and under by that form. If the officer is not being addressed by name, simply use the rank: "Aye, aye, lieutenant," or "Good morning, lieutenant." The usage thus follows the Marine Corps and Army custom.

For written address, the rank is used for members of the Women's Reserve in the same manner as for other members of the Naval Service.

Addressing an elisted WAVE follows the same procedure as for enlisted men--last name only. Use of "Miss" would be confused with the usage for WAVE officers.

One further problem which has arisen is the question of WAVE officers attending social functions with enlisted men or enlisted women attending with male officers. The custom of the Service requires great circumspection in social relationships in order to avoid any compromising of their relative military positions. However, the commanding officer of the WAVES has ruled that officers and enlisted personnel of opposite sexes may attend social functions together so long as they conduct themselves in accordance with the general rules of conduct applicable to ladies and gentlemen in any social or nonmilitary situation.

The above information was supplied by the Bureau of Naval Personnel information Bulletin.