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- Sep 27, 2008
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The year: 1996, and I was in a brief prior to moving into the Delta corridor. The lance corporal with an intelligence MOS walked into the room with the CO at the head of the table and his battle staff seated on both sides of the table. He was there to give the weather report. The young Marine started with, "Good morning, gents." You could feel the atmosphere change and everybody's heart skip several beats, waiting on the CO to jump on him for the breach of protocol and customary way for junior Marines to address seniors. But he didn't. He waited a few moments through the awkward silence and then told the Marine to proceed.
Marines address seniors as sir or ma'am and not by their rank and certainly not "gents." Not only did we have gents in the room but we also had a couple of gals.
DH and I have some gentle fun with our USNA sponsor midshipmen who pick up certain things in terms of Navy terms and customary usage, but don’t understand yet how to properly use them. A frequent oops: “Very well” is never said by a junior to a senior; it is a standard response by a senior to a junior in response to a report or a confirmation. It’s all part of “welcome to the club.”
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